Did you know? Most animals on your dinner plate are raised in extremely small crates or cages where they can barely move around. Big agribusiness wants to keep it this way. Through political maneuvering, they have streamlined a ballot issue through the Ohio General Assembly. As a result, Ohio voters will consider a proposed constitutional amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot that would create an industry-dominated “Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board” to develop and enforce guidelines for the care and shelter of livestock and poultry.

Although it sounds good on paper, unfortunately, it's not.

• An industry-dominated board would oversee the treatment of livestock in animal factories.

• The statehouse action was taken with limited debate.

• This action thwarts efforts to bring about significant animal treatment reform in factory farms in Ohio.

• The Ohio Constitution is an inappropriate place to conduct business.

The Ohio Sierra Club opposes this big agribusiness power grab. Sierra Club has endorsed the efforts of the Humane Society of the United States to get laws passed in six states (California, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, Maine and Oregon), which ensure reform on industrialized animal factories.

Here's what a 6/6/09 Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial had to say... "The General Assembly's rush to add a livestock standards amendment to the Ohio Constitution is as unseemly as it is questionable. Someone at the Statehouse needs to be an adult ... The proposed amendment is a classic Statehouse pre-emption. Agribusiness lobbies fear that the Humane Society of the United States may in 2010 initiate by voter petition a law or constitutional amendment on farm animal care ... No sooner did the livestock measure surface than Gov. Ted Strickland irresponsibly endorsed it. There seems to be more going on here than meets the eye -- but more than enough that meets the nose. The amendment and the 'process' that produced it invite a pungent description. But this is a family newspaper, so we'll just call the whole thing hogwash."

A 6/26/09 Columbus Dispatch editorial had this to say ... "Don't use state constitution to set livestock-care rules or other detailed policies ... Consumer views on how food is raised are evolving and will continue to do so. That's why government's agricultural policies should be set by statute, where they can be debated and changed relatively easily through the normal legislative process. Changing the constitution requires a statewide vote of the people, making it an unwieldy tool for day-to-day regulation."

Agribusiness are allocating megabucks for advertising to get this measure passed. Activists are needed to counter the slanted information. To help, contact me .