Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on the President's executive order creating a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center within the office of the United States Trade Representative.

At my last routine checkup, my doctor brought in a physician's assistant who was 'in training' and there to observe.  He stood there, scribbling, as I chatted about my insomnia, my diet, my stomach issues.  I had to trust that he really was there to learn, maybe even add new information about recommended prescriptions (being a new medical school graduate, he should have the latest information, right?) or help spot impending signs of illness or concern.  I had to trust he was there to learn, not there because he might 'dish' about private information he learned about recognizable patients in this respected doctor's office.

If I sound hesitant, it's because I've had my medical privacy invaded many times when I was a TV news anchor in Des Moines, so have others I've worked with.  I'm sure you'd agree it's absolutely justifiable to expect that everyone who helps care for their personal or family medical needs  is well-trained and professional enough to let them know immediately if they saw something 'out of line', 'out of whack' or potentially dangerous.

Putting those same concerns in another setting, it also seems reasonable to expect that if a person comes to work on an Iowa livestock farm, they're well-trained and professional enough to let a farmer (or law enforcement agent) know immediately if they see something 'out of line,' 'out of whack' or potentially dangerous when it comes to animals that are raised for our food.

Consumers are justifiably concerned about how animals they eat are treated on farms in Iowa.  I'm not saying the Ag Protection Bill just passed at the Statehouse is perfect, but at least it gets to the heart of the matter: trust.  I want to trust that if an animal is being mistreated on a farm, the person who sees it says something, and the person who does it, is removed or punished immediately.  It would also be nice if farmers could trust that people who work on their farms know what they're doing and stand up to correct or report bad behavior.

I understand we all are concerned about animals; we don't have to live and work with livestock animals every day to get that they deserve good food, timely medical attention and a compassionate, safe environment during their (somewhat short) lives.   Maybe that's why the majority of farmers speak out against bad actors when they see it because it's not just the industry that gets smeared when some grainy, heavily-edited, undercover video emerges; it also smears the character of the 99.9% of farmers who also wonder why someone would just stand there and watch.

House File 589 passes Iowa General Assembly

NEW YORK–In response to the Iowa General Assembly's passage of House File (HF) 589 Tuesday, the ASPCA® (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is urging Governor Terry Branstad to veto the dangerous "ag-gag" bill. HF 589 would criminalize activities used to conduct undercover investigations on farms, penalize whistleblowers, and protect animal abusers instead of working to prevent such mistreatment.

This dangerous bill is aimed at preventing investigations on farms that expose inhumane and cruel treatment of animals. However, HF 589 also has the potential to suppress the exposure of child abuse, drug use, assault, theft, violations of workers' rights and other illegal or unethical activity. A broad spectrum of groups representing environmental, workers' rights, civil liberties, public health and food safety interests have joined animal protection organizations in opposing the ag-gag legislation.

"The ASPCA urges Governor Branstad to prevent this harmful and unnecessary bill from becoming law," said Suzanne McMillan, director of the ASPCA farm animal welfare campaign. "We need additional transparency, not less, regarding the production of our food supply. Documentation by whistleblowers exposes animal abuse, environmental dangers, and serious health problems with our food supply. Where there are problems, industry should direct its energy toward resolving them, not covering them up."

A newly released poll commissioned by the ASPCA and conducted by Lake Research Partners reveals that almost two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans oppose making undercover investigations of animal abuse on industrial farms illegal. Accordingly, 71 percent of Americans support undercover investigative efforts by animal welfare organizations to expose animal abuse on industrial farms, including 54 percent who strongly support the efforts. The nationwide survey also reveals that 94 percent of Americans feel that it is important to have measures in place to ensure that food coming from farm animals is safe for people to eat, and 94 percent agree that animals raised for food on farms deserve to be free from abuse and cruelty.

For more information on the ASPCA and to join the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade, please visit www.aspca.org.

About the ASPCA®
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is the first humane organization established in the Americas and serves as the nation's leading voice for animal welfare. One million supporters strong, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA is a national leader in the areas of anti-cruelty, community outreach and animal health services. The ASPCA, which is headquartered in New York City, offers a wide range of programs, including a mobile clinic outreach initiative, its own humane law enforcement team, and a groundbreaking veterinary forensics team and mobile animal CSI unit. For more information, please visit www.aspca.org.

To become a fan of the ASPCA on Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/aspca. To follow the ASPCA on Twitter, go to http://www.twitter.com/aspca.

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