The meat and dairy industries already enjoy unprecedented legal protections under Indiana law. Indiana’s Right to Farm Act strips rural landowners of their property rights when a factory farm moves in next door. Indiana’s environmental regulations place no restrictions on factory farm air pollution, no restrictions on pathogen contamination of surface waters by factory farms, and only meager protection for ground and surface waters from nutrient pollution. The meat and dairy industry also already enjoys a statutory right to engage in its “generally accepted livestock production practices,” including factory farming. Apparently this is not enough–now the industry wants a constitutionally protected “right to harm.” Senate Joint Resolution 2 would amend Indiana’s Constitution to create a new, fundamental right to “engage in diverse farming and ranching practices” such that “any law” that abridges the “right of farmers to employ or refuse to employ effective agricultural technology and livestock production and ranching practices,” i.e., factory farming, would be deemed unconstitutional. The Indiana General Assembly has repeatedly rejected similar measures introduced in recent years for good reason–creating a constitutional “right” to factory farm on par with our guaranteed freedoms of speech and religion would make it incredibly difficult to pass new regulations (state and local) for protection of food and worker safety, animal welfare, public health, and the environment.
Blog
SJR 2 – Livestock Industry’s Renewed Effort to Create Dangerous Constitutional “Right to Harm”
Posted by: |
Posted on: January 8, 2021 |
Categories: