Utah Citizens to Protest Against AG-GAG Laws Outside Infamous Draper Slaughterhouse

May 16, 2013 - PRLog -- Salt Lake City, Utah  - On Saturday, protestors will wear the color red and red gags symbolizing the silence imposed on those who try to document cruelty and speak about abuses in agricultural facilities. The protest will take place outside the Dale T. Smith & Sons Meat Co., co-owned by Draper mayor Darrell Smith, which was recently in the spotlight when Utah resident Amy Meyer filmed the facility from a public street and became the first person charged under Utah’s controversial “Ag-Gag” law, which criminalizes persons from filming or photographing an animal agricultural facility under circumstances.

Under Utah’s Ag-Gag, Utah's residents are denied the right to learn how their food is being produced on farms and in agricultural production facilities, including slaughterhouses. Moreover, whistleblowers who film, photograph, or record instances of animal abuse happening at these types of facilities are subject to criminal prosecution. The law makes it illegal to record an agricultural operation while trespassing or entering the premises under false pretenses. Although Meyer was standing on public property, she was charged with a misdemeanor. After Meyer’s case garnered national attention, the charge was suddenly dropped. “It’s shameful the Utah legislature has moved to criminalize people who document and report animal abuse instead of the people carrying out the abuse,” says Amy Meyer.

Utah residents concerned about the impact of Utah’s Ag-Gag law have formed “Food Safety Utah” which is calling for a repeal of Utah’s Ag-Gag law. “We believe this is an issue of transparency and an issue of public health,” says Stephany Alexander, Food Safety Utah co-founder. “People have a right to know how their food is produced because this is the food we’re feeding our families.” She adds, “criminalizing whistleblowers, the media and undercover investigators who are reporting the truth about food production is unconstitutional, contradicting our freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and impedes on the Freedom of Information Act.”

Ag-Gag legislation has been rejected by 10 states this year.  Most notably, Tennessee's Attorney General released an opinion last week calling Tennessee's proposed Ag-Gag law, “constitutionally suspect.” The bill was vetoed by Tennesse Governor Bill Haslam.

Undercover investigations on factory farms recently led to the largest meat recall in U.S. history.  In August 2012, Dale Smith & Sons Meat Co. issued a recall (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/news/Recall_055_2012_Release/ind...) of 38,200 pounds of beef, believed to be contaminated by E. Coli.

Date:          Saturday, May 18, 2013
Time:          2:00pm MST
Location:   12450 S. Pony Express Road in Draper, Utah
Follow Utah’s food safety issues at FoodSafetyUtah.org, Facebook.com/FoodSafetyUtah (http://www.facebook.com/FoodSafetyUtah). To join the protest, please visit Facebook.com/events/245567995585313 (https://www.facebook.com/events/245567995585313).