See navs.org -- National Anti-Vivisection Society reports: The U.S. Congress is coming perilously close to the deadline for passing a Farm Bill, a bill that should have been passed last year but was given an extension until October 2013. The House of Representatives passed the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act, HR 2642, that contains a provision, known as the “King Amendment”, which would allow states without any humane welfare standards, such as a ban on battery cages or gestation crates, to market their products in states that have enacted such reforms. This will make it virtually impossible to pass legislation mandating more humane (and costly) farming measures because such welfare standards would drive producers out of business as cheaper products from other states flood the market. The Senate passed its own version of the Farm Bill, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013, S 954, which does not include this provision. The two chambers are now under pressure to convene a conference committee and speedily pass a single version of the Farm Bill. Please help ensure that the King Amendment has no part in the final version passed into law.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 05:45:31 +0000