Oppose: The EATS Act Would Undermine State Farmed Animal Protection Laws

In more than a dozen states across the U.S., voters and legislators have passed laws protecting farmed animals from some of the most egregious cruelty in the factory farming industry: intensive confinement in systems such as gestation crates, veal crates, and battery cages. Other states are currently considering similar legislation.

Now, federal lawmakers have introduced a bill that would likely jeopardize these humane reforms.

The bill, known as the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act  (H.R. 4417/S. 2019), could strip states and localities of their right to impose standards or conditions on the production or manufacturing of agricultural products sold or offered for sale in interstate commerce when those standards differ from federal law or the laws of other states. 

If this dangerous bill were to become law, years’ worth of legislative victories for farmed animals at the state level could be imperiled. The bill’s broad language could also jeopardize state laws that, for example, are designed to protect dogs from the cruelty of puppy mills, promote food and food packaging safety, protect rural communities, and preserve our environment.