Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is part of a legal effort to block regulations in Massachusetts that ban the sale of pork from pigs kept in tightly confined spaces.
“We’re leading a big coalition of states, pushing back on that to help pork producers,” Bird said.
In July, a federal judge upheld a ballot initiative approved in 2016 by 77% of Massachusetts voters. It prohibits the sale of pork as well as veal and eggs from animals raised in confinements that don’t meet certain space requirements. Bird is leading a coalition of 22 state attorneys general who signed onto a brief calling that approach “unworkable” for pork producers and an “economic hardship” for consumers who will pay higher prices.
“We don’t tell Massachusetts how to fish for lobsters,” Bird said. “They don’t need to tell us how to raise bacon.”
Bird made her comments last night during a meeting in Atlantic with Cass County Republicans.
(By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)