Statement by Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, regarding Issue 2 in Ohio:.
"By packaging Issue 2 as pro-animal welfare and pro-food safety, the architects of the ballot measure went a long way to assure its passage.
We have not viewed Issue 2 as a poisonous package, but rather an empty one. The Ohio Farm Bureau and other agribusiness lobby groups cooked it up in an effort to block real reform.
Now that the Issue 2 campaign is over, we can get on with such real reform – a measure to phase out the extreme confinement of animals in veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages, where they cannot even turn around and stretch their limbs. Both sound science and common sense show that these confinement systems are inhumane and should be phased out.
We decided to spend nearly no money against Issue 2 and to reserve our energy and resources for an effort to promote the humane treatment of animals, protect food safety and the environment, and allow Ohio farmers to remain competitive in the decades ahead."
Please visit OhioAct.org for more information.
Updated on November 4, 2009
