Anti-confinement Regulations Overdue in Massachusetts

At the start of 2021, animal protection organization Humane Farming Association (HFA) filed suit against the Massachusetts attorney general for failing to promulgate regulations mandated under the state’s Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. The 2016 law, enacted via a ballot measure that was approved by 77 percent of voters, prohibits the use of gestation crates, veal crates, and battery cages and requires producers to provide egg-laying hens with at least 1.5 square feet of usable floor space. The law also prohibits the sale of meat and shell eggs produced from animals confined in such a manner. HFA’s lawsuit seeks to compel the attorney general to promulgate regulations for implementation and enforcement of the law, which the office was legally required to do by the start of 2020.

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Program Terms: Farmed Animals

AWI Quarterly Terms: Government/Legal, Quick Read

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