Battery-cage hens watch as conveyor belt rolls eggs past a trapped, dead chicken’s head / Photo: HSUS

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

“This is a perfect example of how terrible the process in Washington can be,” said Paul Shapiro when Animal Issues Reporter asked him about a U.S. congressman’s move to nullify many state animal protection laws.

Vice president of The Humane Society of the United States’ farm animal protection campaign, Shapiro discussed the “Protect Interstate Commerce Act (PICA),” an amendment adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture during a markup of the farm bill on a night last month—in the middle of the night.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), would stop states from enacting laws to bar the sale of goods from other states that don’t have the same animal welfare standards for their means of production.

This might have the effect of overturning legislation like California’s recent ban on foie gras, a food made via a process that force-feeds ducks and geese—a ban that includes the sale within the state’s borders of any of the substance made out of state—as well as California’s Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, or Prop 2, giving egg-laying hens just barely enough room in their cages so they can spread their wings. It also prohibits eggs from smaller-caged hens from being sold in the state.

‘Restrictive laws slowly suffocate agriculture, says King’

On his website, King explained his reasoning: “The first amendment prohibits states from enacting laws that place onerous conditions on the means of production for agricultural goods that are sold within its own borders but are produced in other states.”

“I am pleased that the Committee passed my amendment, the Protect Interstate Commerce Act (PICA),” he went on, “because states are entering into trade protectionism by requiring cost prohibitive production methods in other states… By 2014 California will require only ‘free range’ eggs be sold and the impact of their large market would compel producers in every other state to invest billions to meet the California standard… PICA will ensure that radical organizations like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and PETA are prohibited from establishing a patchwork of restrictive state laws aimed at slowly suffocating production agriculture out of existence.”

King is known for his tendency to oppose animal welfare legislation. HSUS calls him “arguably the leading anti-animal welfare person in the Congress,” as he has attempted to block laws on a variety of issues ranging from horse slaughter to bear baiting to dogfighting.

Neither King nor several other congress members who sit on the agriculture committee have responded to AIR’s numerous emails and telephone calls in the past week requesting comment.

In the following email interview, HSUS’s Shapiro provides his insights and a status report on King’s PICA amendment.

Interview with Paul Shapiro, HSUS

Animal Issues Reporter (AIR): Rep. King has a reputation for opposing animal welfare legislation, but how about all the other congress members who voted for this amendment? How did he manage to get them to vote with him?

Shapiro: It was a voice vote, meaning there’s no record of how individual members voted.

AIR: Is it correct that the amendment was introduced and passed near midnight last Wednesday evening, after only about 20 minutes of discussion?   If that is correct, to some observers that might seem sneaky or surreptitious. How would you explain a measure with such far-reaching potential impact being accepted at the 11th hour and with so little discussion?

Shapiro: That’s true. This is a perfect example of how terrible the process in Washington can be, and it illustrates just how little support such anti-animal positions when they have to be voted on by voice only in the dead of night.

AIR: Why is HSUS opposed to this amendment?

Shapiro: See http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2012/07/farm-bill-house-ag.html

AIR: Might there be any change in the language of the amendment or other compromise that you think could address those concerns? Or will HSUS just fight to get it removed?

Shapiro: We will battle to delete the amendment.

AIR: Rep. King has said the goal of the PICA amendment is to fight protectionism in interstate commerce. But do you think the main goal of the PICA amendment is actually to suppress animal welfare laws and activism?

Shapiro: The main goal of Steve King’s amendment is to erase years of legal progress combating cruelty to farm animals.

AIR: If you look at the amendment from the ‘other’ side for a moment… What if a state passed a bill saying that in that state you can’t sell products from any state that allows gay marriage, for example?  What’s the difference between that and California’s foie gras and egg laws that prohibit the sale of products from other states on moral/ethical grounds?

Shapiro: Preventing cruelty to animals is a nearly-universal value. If California wants to ban the cruelty of force-feeding ducks for foie gras, it shouldn’t be forced to engage in the marketplace for such cruel products if it doesn’t want to.

AIR: What do you think are the chances that the amendment will stay in the Farm Bill?

Shapiro: Hard to say at this point for a variety of reasons, but given the enormity of the threat it poses, we must work hard to eliminate this provision.

AIR: What happens next regarding the PICA amendment and the Farm Bill?

Shapiro: Next step is that the House ag committee version of the farm bill will be brought to the floor and amendments will be offered. Hopefully one will be to alter this provision.

Responding to AIR’s request for any further updates on the bill this week, Shapiro said, “No changes yet, since the House farm bill is stalled. All still the same at this point.”

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Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Credits include hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for  outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner), a teleplay for CBS-TV, a short story for The Bark magazine, and 17 novels for Avon, E.P. Dutton, Simon and Schuster, and other major publishers.

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press).

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