Confinement Act

Last week, US House Representatives Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., and Diane Watson, D-Calif., introduced the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which would require that food purchased for federal programs come from farmed animals raised with adequate room to stretch their limbs, turn around, lie down, and stand up. The federal government purchases more than $1 billion worth of dairy, egg, and meat products for programs like the Bureau of Prisons, the National School Lunch Program, and the Armed Services. The bill has been referred to the House of Agriculture Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In 2008, California passed a bill by the same name, which will phase out confinement of hens in battery cages, pigs in gestation crates, and calves in veal crates by 2015.