Iowa law to criminalize documentation of animal abuses

animal cruelty

Iowa legislation has passed a bill, House File (H.F.) 589, which would prevent private citizens from documenting (filming or photographing) a farm without the farmer’s consent. 

The bill supported by the big agricultural concerns is aimed at preventing undercover work that would expose animal abuses in the factory-farming industry. The idea is to keep consumers from knowing abuses taking place in the industry. In the past such exposure by animal rights activists has led to conviction for abuse or neglect of factory-farmed animals.

Cultured meat - meat grown in laboratory test tubes

Test tube burger

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, it was announced that the scientists are working to produce meat in the laboratory to, potentially, replace conventional farm-animal meat production. The idea of “test tube” meat is to cope with the growing demand for meat but limited land resources.

Animal meat, as a source of protein or simply for taste, is an important part of diet for a large number of people. However, keeping the health issue aside, the cost of producing meat is significantly higher compared to
plain plant based food. It takes more than 2400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons.