News & Public Affairs

Small farms under threat from the FDA in "Farmageddon" listen

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Tags: Farmageddon, agriculture, FDA, USDA, food, farming, farms, Organic food, Organic, organic farming, organic gardening

Federal and state laws can create hurdles for small farmers, who face raids and arrests for such things as selling raw milk to customers. A new film, called Farmageddon, documents the struggles of independent farmers. Hundreds of people attended sold out screenings in Tampa.

Many viewers were shocked to find that all over the United States, federal food regulators are shutting down businesses, throwing fresh food in the garbage, and raiding families’ homes; ...

Florida Senate passes bill to make taking photos of farms a crime listen

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Tags: whistelblowers, farms, Jim Norman, Nan Rich, animal abuse, animal rights

Today The Florida Senate approved a bill that would make outlaws out of people who photograph farms. Democratic minority leader Nan Rich opposed the bill, saying it’s meant to crack down on whistleblowers.

"It's really about people who want to conceal animal abuse. Whistleblowers on farms alert the public to animal cruelty, to environmental abuse, and to dangers to our food supply. This bill discourages such reports and jeopardizes consumers. I think that whistleblowers actually should be...

PETA “chicks” in bikinis protest Tampa McDonald's for chain’s chicken cruelty listen

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Tags: PETA, animal rights, farms, McDonalds

Why were two slender young women wearing yellow bikinis and waving at traffic in front of a McDonald’s on 50th street in Tampa this morning? The activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, were drawing attention to what they say are inhumane chicken-killing practices in the slaughterhouses of McDonald’s suppliers.

Arthur Andrews from Tampa was passing by and says the information he learned from the PETA spokespeople will keep him away from eating at McDonald's. ...

PETA says farm photography bill would criminalize those calling attention to animal abuse listen

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Tags: PETA, animal rights, Jim Norman, Florida Legislature, farms, 2011 legislative session

One controversial bill moving through the Florida Legislature would make people criminals if they photograph or video tape farms without permission. Animal rights groups are concerned the bill will target activists trying to document cruelty. Last night, the senior vice president for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, spoke at the University of South Florida in Tampa. WMNF reporter Lenka Davis interviewed Matthews about the farm photography bill.

Senate Bill 1246, filed by ...