Farmed Animal Welfare & The Law: USA

In the US, industrial animal agriculture represents the predominant form of farmed animal production, accounting for approximately 99% of terrestrial animals raised for food. This page provides information and useful resources for students seeking to understand the relationship between the law and intensive animal farming in the US.

Animal Law Education (ALE) resources

The expert lecture below was created for the Animal Law Education program to help students understand how factory farming in the United States jeopardises public health, the environment, and animal welfare. The lecture delivered by Dr Rajesh K. Reddy from the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School discusses the myriad ways the country’s legal framework fails to protect farmed animals, and explores the implications for both the planet and humankind.

Download a referenced summary of the video presentation here.

Download a copy of the PowerPoint slides used in the presentation here.

General resources

The History of Factory Farming in the US

Books

• O’Sullivan, Robin, American Organic: A Cultural History of Farming, Gardening, Shopping and Eating (University Press of Kansas, 2015) ch 4. Chapter 4 (‘Leaders, Land Lovers, Locavores, Labels, Laws, and a Little Lunacy’) provides information on the history of farming practices, in particular the emergence of the “organic movement”.
• Smith, Andrew F, Food in America: The Past, Present, and Future of Food, Farming, and the Family Meal (ABC-CLIO, vol 1, 2017). Volume 1 (Food and the Environment) of this book gives an overview of the history and current practices of food cultivation and production in the United States. Throughout the volume, there are deeper discussions on several controversies associated with factory farming, including; climate change, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), fertiliser, food waste, pesticides and sustainable food and water.

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Fraser, David, Animal Welfare and the Intensification of Animal Production: An Alternative Interpretation (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2005). This report provides an analysis of the shift from family-owned farms to large corporate companies using industrialised processes, such as confinement systems, to increase production levels. It explores standard and alternative critiques of intensive farming systems.
• Follmer, Julie and Roseann B Termini, ‘Whatever Happened to Old Mac Donald’s Farm… Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, Factory Farming and the Safety of the Nation’s Food Supply’ (2009) 5(1) Journal of Food Law and Policy This journal article analyses the shift to factory farming in the US, and the implications for animal welfare and human health.
• Leder, Drew, ‘Old McDonald’s Had a Farm: The Metaphysics of Factory Farming’ (2012) 2(1) Journal of Animal Ethics This journal article analyses the cultural and philosophical foundations of modern factory farming. The relevance of concepts such as Marx’s modes of capitalist production, alienation of labour and cultural anthropocentrism are explored.
• The Humane Society of the United States, Factory Farming in America: The True Cost of Animal Agribusiness for Rural Communities, Public Health, Families, Farmers, the Environment, and Animals (Humane Society of the United States Report, 2008). This report details fundamental changes to the landscape of American animal agriculture. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of industrial animal agribusiness on human health, family farms, the environment and animals.

Farmed Animal Transport

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Brindle, Kate, ‘Farmed Animals in Transport: an Analysis of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law and Recommendations for Greater Animal Welfare’ (2016) Michigan State University College of Law Digital Commons. This journal article examines U.S laws and regulations governing farmed animal transport, including the ‘Twenty-Eight Hour Law’, which provides the maximum number of hours farmed animals can be confined while being transported by rail. It details the mental and physical suffering endured by animals during transport and the deficiencies in U.S laws and regulations which fail to protect animals from suffering during transport.
• Greger, Michael, ‘The Long Haul: Risks Associated with Livestock Transport’ (2007) 5(4) Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice and Science 301. This journal article details the animal health risks associated with live animal transport, including disease spread. It focuses on livestock transport across the United States.
• Temple Grandin, Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines & Audit Guide: A Systematic Approach to Animal Welfare (North American Meat Institute, 2021). These guidelines are suggested for achieving more humane transport conditions for livestock to increase their welfare.

Legislation

• Transportation of Animals, 49 USC § 80502. This United States Code, dubbed the ‘Twenty-Eight Hour Law’, provides that animals must not be confined in a vehicle or vessel for more than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded for feeding, water and rest.

Internet Materials

• Born Free USA, ‘Driving Pain: The State of Farmed Animal Transport’ (2009). This video argues that there is poor compliance with the ‘Twenty Eight Hour Law’.

Farmed Animal Slaughter

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Animal Welfare Institute, The Welfare of Birds at Slaughter in the United States: The Need for Government Regulation (Animal Welfare Institute, April 2016). This report argues that poultry slaughter in the United States rarely adheres to good commercial practices (GCP) since compliance with GCP is voluntary. It further argues that the United States Department of Agriculture has inadequately responded to mistreatment of birds which has resulted in poor treatment of birds in slaughter houses due to violations of good animal handling practices.
• Dorovskikh, Anna, ‘Killing for a Living: Psychological and Physiological Effects of Alienation of Food Production on Slaughterhouse Workers’ (Honours Thesis, University of Colorado Boulder, 2015). This thesis details the psychological and physiological effects of slaughterhouses on workers in relation to poor pay, working environment, and psychological effects including perpetration-induced traumatic stress.
• Prickett, Robert W, ‘Consumer Preferences for Farm Animal Welfare: Results From a Telephone Survey of U.S. Households’ (Masters Thesis, Oklahoma State University, 2007). This thesis details results of a survey on consumer preferences for meat, indicating many American meat consumers are willing to pay a higher price for meat that is humanely raised.
• Welty, Jeff, ‘Humane Slaughter Laws’ (2007) 70(1) Duke University School of Law 175. This journal article argues that farmed animals in the United States suffer from cruelty during the slaughter process as the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act fails to provide adequate protection. It provides reform suggestions for a system of humane slaughter.

Legislation

• Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act, 7 USC § 1902 (2015). This United States Code requires the proper treatment and humane handling of all animals slaughtered for food in United States Department of Agriculture inspected slaughtered plants.
• Humane Slaughter of Livestock, 9 CFR § 313 (2017). Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations provides a list of designated and approved humane methods of slaughtering.

Internet Materials

• Kitty Block, ‘Breaking News: USDA Eliminates Speed Limits for Killing Pigs at Slaughterhouses’, Kitty Block’s Blog (Blog Post, The Humane Society of the US, 17 September 2019). This news article discusses the introduction of new federal laws a few years ago which permitted slaughterhouses in the United States to increase slaughter speeds, despite the heightened risk of inhumane incidents towards livestock.
• Hodges, Cynthia F, ‘Detailed Discussion of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act’, Animal Legal & Historical Centre (Web Page, 2010). This web page critiques the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, arguing that it does not regulate slaughter for all species, allows ritual slaughter and lacks effective enforcement mechanisms.

Ag-Gag Laws

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Fiber-Ostrow, Pamela and Jarrett S. Lovell, ‘Behind a Veil of Secrecy: Animal Abuse, Factory Farms and Ag-Gag Legislation’ (2016) 19(2) Contemporary Justice Review This journal article addresses the failure of America’s government institutions to protect animals on factory farms. Simultaneously, it critiques the silencing of animal rights activists through the creation and use of ‘Ag-Gag’ laws which, amongst other things, criminalise photography (without consent) of factory farms.
• Shea, Mathew, ‘Punishing Animal Rights Activists for Animal Abuse: Rapid Reporting and the New Wave of Ag-Gag Laws’ (2015) 48(3) Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems 337. This journal article discusses a particular form of ag-gag legislation which requires individuals to turn over video footage of animal abuse within 24, 48 or 120 hours of obtaining the video evidence. It notes that critics argue that these laws may impede the ability of journalists and activists to uncover and prove systemic patterns of abuse.
• Strong, Maggie, ‘The Show-Me State’s Hidden Cruelty: How Missouri’s Ag-Gag Laws Unconstitutionally Silence Animal-Welfare Whistleblowers’ (2019) 63(4) Saint Louis University Law Journal 611. This journal article explores the impact and constitutional implications of Missouri’s two ag-gag laws.
• Sumar, Al-Amyn, ‘Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Wasden and Newsgathering: More Significant Than It Appears’ (2018) Communications Lawyer This journal article provides a brief analysis of the 2018 case Animal Legal Defense Fund v Wasden, which held that portions of Idaho’s ag-gag law was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
• Whitfort, Amanda S, ‘Animal Welfare Law, Policy and the Threat of “Ag-gag”: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back’ (2019) 3 Food Ethics 77. This journal article examines the rise of ag-gag legislation in the U.S and Australia. It describes recent legal challenges in the U.S to the constitutional validity of ag-gag laws and considers ag-gag legislation in Australia. Subsequently, this paper evaluates the impact of ag-gag laws on animal welfare in the agriculture industry in both the U.S and Australia.

Case Law

• Animal Legal Defense Fund v Herbert (D Utah, No 2:13-cv-00679-RJS, 22 July 2013). In this case, the Animal Legal Defense Fund brought a constitutional challenge to Utah’s ag-gag law Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-112 (West 2012). It argued that the statute violated the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
• Animal Legal Defense Fund v Wasden (9th Cir, 15-35960, 4 January 2018). In this case, the Ninth Circuit held that portions of Idaho’s ag-gag statute were unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
• Animal Legal Defense Fund v Reynolds (2019) No. 4:17-cv-00362-JEG-HCA (8th Cir., entered July 27, 2019). This case found that Iowa’s ag-gag law was facially unconstitutional and granted the plaintiff a motion for summary judgment.

Internet Materials

• ‘Ag-Gag Laws’, Animal Legal Defense Fund (Web Page). This web page provides a colour coded map of ag-gag laws in the U.S, indicating in which states ag-gag laws have been struck down for being unconstitutional, a lawsuit has been filed, legislation has been defeated, or legislation has been passed.
• The Humane Society of the United States, ‘Anti-Whistleblower Ag-Gag Bills Hide Factory Farming Abuses from the Public’, (Web Page). This web page provides a simple and brief outline of the impacts of ag-gag laws. It also points to some relevant cases in the US.

US State-Based Ballot Initiatives

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Manfredo, Michael J et al, ‘Values, Trust and Cultural Backlash in Conservation Governance: The Case of Wildlife Management in the United States’ (2017) 214 Biological Conservation 303. This journal article contains data and analysis of ballot initiatives in the U.S from 1990 to 2016 for cases relating to the promotion or restriction of wildlife-related activities and management policies, including those protecting hunting rights.

Internet Materials

• The Humane Society of the United States of America, ‘Ballot Measure/ Initiative/ Referendum History – Animal Protection Issues’ (Web Page, September 2019). This web page provides a historical overview of ballot measures on animal protection issues since 1990.
• Wisch, Rebecca F, ‘State Ballot Measures, Propositions, and Citizen Initiatives (1998 to Present)’ Animal Legal & Historical Centre (Web Page, 2016). This web page provides a table of laws summarising state ballot initiatives related to animal law from 1998 to 2016.

Factory Farming & False Advertising

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Eberly, Kelsey, ‘Establishing and Enforcing a Right to Truthful Information About Pig Farming in a Fake News Era’ (2019) 34(2) Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law 291. This journal article asks the important question: “What do we have a right to know about pig farming?”

Case Law

• Animal Legal Defense Fund v. FDA, 13-17131 US (9th Cir. 2016). In this case, the Animal Legal Defense Fund sued the United States Food and Drug Administration for redacting certain commercially-sensitive information concerning egg-production farms in Texas. It was held that the Food and Drug Administration properly withheld information under the relevant Freedom of Information Act exemption, on the basis that the information was likely to cause substantial competitive harm.
• Compassion Over Killing v.S. Food & Drug Admin., 15-15107 (9th Cir. 2017). This case concerned the legality of government decisions to deny Compassion Over Killing’s rulemaking petitions, which requested that ‘each agency promulgate regulations that would require all egg cartons to identify the conditions in which the egg-laying hens were kept during production’.

Internet Materials

• Animal Legal Defense Fund, ‘Egg Labeling Regulations Guide’ (Web Page). This online legal resource provides a guide for terms used in egg packaging in the United States. The Guide helps American consumers avoid confusion caused by misleading or unclear terms.
• Animal Equality, ‘False-Advertising Law: A Tool for the Farmed Animal Protection Movement’ (Blog Post, 30 June 2020). This blog post provides an overview of how consumer protection legislation in the U.S allows animal activists to challenge issues of farmed animal treatment.
• Animal Legal Defense Fund, ‘How False Advertising Lawsuits Help Animals’ (Web Page). This online legal resource focuses on the benefits of false advertising lawsuits in allowing consumers to drive the marketplace through informed purchasing of more humanely produced food.
• Farm Sanctuary, ‘False Advertising’ (Web Page, 2020). This web page provides an overview of the issue of ‘humane-washing’, where companies and advertisers make misleading claims to consumers about the treatment of animals used to produce animal products.

Factory Farming & The Environment

Books

• Kirby, David, Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment (St Martin’s Press, 1st ed, 2010). This book navigates the experiences of three families and communities whose lives are changed by large, neighbouring animal farms which use CAFOs. In particular, it traces the impacts of factory farming on air, land, water and food contamination.

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Burkholder, J.A. et al, ‘Impacts of Waste from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations on Water Quality’ (2007) 115(2) Environmental Health Perspectives This journal article focuses on the contamination of water resources from CAFOs, especially in terms of nutrient pollution.
• Environment Illinois Research & Education Center, Factory Farms, Fouled Waters: How Industrial Livestock Operations Pollute Illinois Rivers, Lakes and Streams (Report, February 2014). This report discusses how factory farms negatively impact the health of Illinois waterways, which are critical to the environment, public health and quality of life.
• Environmental Working Group, Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health (Report, July 2011). This report provides useful information on the environmental and health impacts of various protein choices.
• Food and Water Watch, Factory Farm Nation (Report, May 2015). This report discusses key findings from Food and Water Watch’s research into the high costs of factory farming in terms of water pollution and air pollution, as well as the impact on farmers, communities, public health and animal welfare.
• Harwatt, H et al, ‘Substituting Beans for Beef as a Contribution Toward US Climate Change Targets’ (2017) 143 Climatic Change This journal article details the benefits of replacing ‘beans for beef’ as a climate policy option, arguing that the dietary change offers significant climate change mitigation and other environmental benefits.
• Horrigan, Leo, Robert S Lawrence and Polly Walker, ‘How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture’ (2002) 110(5) Environmental Health Perspectives This journal article outlines the environmental and human health problems associated with industrial food production practices and how these can be made more sustainable.
• Hribar, Carrie, Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities (Report, 2010). This report discusses the various environmental health effects of CAFOs on groundwater, surface water, air quality, climate change, odours, insect vectors, pathogens and antibiotics.
• The Humane Society of the United States of America, An HSUS Report: The Impact of Industrialized Animal Agriculture on the Environment (Report, 2008). This report explains how the continuous confinement of chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and other animals raised in industrialised agricultural systems jeopardises animal welfare and degrades the environment.
• Livestock, Environment and Development Initiative, Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options (Report, 2006). This report assesses various, significant impacts of the world’s livestock sector on the environment including exacerbating climate change, air pollution, water depletion and water pollution, and negatively impacting biodiversity.
• Mekonnen, Mesfin M and Arjen Y Hoekstra, ‘A Global Assessment of the Water Footprint of Farm Animal Products’ (2012) 15(3) Ecosystems This journal article provides an overview of the water footprint of animal products considering different production systems and feed composition per animal and country.
• Mitloehner, Frank M and Marc B Schenker, ‘Environmental Exposure and Health Effects from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations’ (2007) 18(3) Epidemiology This journal article provides commentary on the environmental and health impacts from CAFOs, which emit a variety of substances including ‘particulate matter, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds and various greenhouse gases’.
• Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Water Network, Cesspools of Shame: How Factory Farm Lagoons and Sprayfields Threaten Environmental and Public Health (Report, July 2001). This report discusses the environment and health impacts of factory farming, including those on water quality, and human diseases and human health.
• Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America: A Report of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (Report, April 2008). This report details current industrial farmed animal production systems in the United States and their associated risks and impacts with respect to public health, the environment, animal welfare and rural communities. It recommends the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices.
• Richards, R Jason and Erica L Richards, ‘Cheap Meat: How Factory Farming is Harming our Health, the Environment, and the Economy’ (2011) 4(1) Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture and Natural Resources Law This journal article discusses the environmental consequences of factory farming operations, which include ground water pollution, an overall decline in water quality, an increase in greenhouse gases and detrimental effects on wildlife and aquatic plant species. It evaluates known and potential health consequences of factory farming.

 Internet materials

• United States Environmental Protection Agency, ‘Agricultural Animal Production’ (Web Page). This web page outlines environmental regulations relating to the production of livestock and poultry.

Factory Farming & Human Diseases

Journal Articles/Research Articles/Reports

• Ali, Marvi, ‘Antibiotic Resistance and Ineffective Regulations for Factory Farming’ (2019) 10(1) Wake Forest Journal of Law and Policy 87. This journal article explains how factory farming practices in the U.S are accelerating antibiotic resistance. Consequently, it argues that subtherapeutic and nontherapeutic uses of antibiotics in animals should be prohibited to preserve the efficacy of antibiotics for use in human medicine.
• American Public Health Association, Precautionary Moratorium on New and Expanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (Policy Number 20194, November 2019). This policy statement by the American Public Health Association calls for a moratorium on the establishment of new CAFOs and argues the expansion of existing CAFOs should be done until regulation and enforcement conditions to adequately protect the public’s health.
• Blanchette, Alex, ‘Living Waste and the Labor of Toxic Health on American Factory Farms’ (2019) 33(1) Medical Anthropology Quarterly This journal article details research conducted within corporate pig farms, illustrating the negative human health impacts associated with living in close proximity to animal excrement.
• Carrel, Margaret et al, ‘Residential Proximity to Large Numbers of Swine in Feeding Operations is Associated with Increased Risk of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Colonization at Time of Hospital Admission in Rural Iowa Veterans’ (2014) 35(2) Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology This journal article and conducted study indicates that residential proximity to large numbers of pigs in CAFOs in Iowa is associated with increased risk of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation, an infection caused by a type of staph bacteria that has become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections.
• Chapin, Amy et al, ‘Airborne Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Isolated from a Concentrated Swine Feeding Operation’ (2005) 113(2) Environmental Health Perspectives This journal article details adverse human health impacts associated with inhalation of air from concentrated pig feeding operations, which may serve as an exposure pathway for the transfer of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens from pigs to humans.
• Kravchenko J et al, ‘Mortality and Health Outcomes in North Carolina Communities Located in Close Proximity to Hog Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations’ (2018) 79(5) North Carolina Medical Journal This journal article details research conducted on health outcomes of North Carolina communities near CAFOs, which found they had higher rates of all-cause and infant mortality, mortality due to anaemia, kidney disease, tuberculosis, septicemia, and higher hospital admissions/ED visits of LBW infants.
• Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Water Network, Cesspools of Shame: How Factory Farm Lagoons and Sprayfields Threaten Environmental and Public Health (Report, July 2001). This report discusses environment and health impacts of factory farming, including those on water quality, and human diseases and human health.
• Schiffman, Susan S et al, ‘Potential Health Effects of Odor from Animal Operations, Wastewater Treatment, and Recycling of Byproducts’ (2004) 9(2) Journal of Agromedicine This journal article describes how health symptoms from ambient odours have become more frequent in communities with confined animal facilities. These symptoms are often indicative of a wide range of airway diseases commonly associated with factory farming.
• Schiffman, Susan S et al, ‘The Effect of Environmental Odors Emanating from Commercial Swine Operations on the Mood of Nearby Residents’ (1995) 37(4) Brain Research Bulletin 369. Although dated now, this journal article details the experiences of people living near intensive swine operations. They reported significantly more tension, more depression, more anger, less vigour, more fatigue, and more confusion and mood disturbances than control subjects.
• United States Government Accountability Office, Antibiotic Resistance: More Information Needed to Oversee Use of Medically Important Drugs in Food Animals (GAO Reports, March 2017). This report describes antibiotic-resistant bacteria as one of the biggest threats to global health, infecting an estimated 2 million people in the United States each year. It also indicates that strong evidence exists that some resistance in bacteria is caused by antibiotic use in food animals such as cattle, poultry and pigs.
• S Department of Health and Human Services: Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States (Report, 2019). This report describes the threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the U.S, including mention of the need for limited use of antibiotics in agriculture. Each year, at least 2.8 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria or fungi, and more than 35,000 people die as a result.

Internet Materials

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ‘Zoonotic Diseases’ (Web Page, 2021). This web page provides information on the spread of infectious diseases from humans to animals. It explains that ‘scientists estimate that more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals’.

Last updated October 2021.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to the Voiceless Legal Volunteer Team (2020) for their significant research and writing assistance: Francesca Nyilas, Annice Savill, Filomena Rosella, Morgan Stonebridge, Masika Morris, Chloe Jung, Aashritha Kumar, Stephanie D’Amelio, Jacqui Maehrlein and Billie Shone.