Hello FAST members I hope these lines find you very well.. We wanted to tell you about the progress of the egg labeling bill in Peru. It's a very important moment, with daily updates from the Congress of the Republic. In November 2023, with the support of Fundación Veg (Chile), we succeeded in getting Congresswoman Sigrid Bazán to submit Bill No. 6448/2023-CR (hereinafter PL) to the Congress of the Republic of Peru. This Bill is titled "Law that Promotes Consumer Rights in Egg Labeling." This PL is based on three pillars: i) Transparency for consumers to know the origin of their food. ii) Animal welfare in laying hen farming systems. iii) Public health in the face of the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) given the antibiotics that caged hens receive as a preventive measure, which leave traces in their eggs. This PL is the first of its kind in Peru and is assigned to both the Agrarian Commission and the Consumer Defense Commission (CoDeCo), allowing us to work on its impact in two instances in parallel. It is undoubtedly in CoDeCo where the PL has made the most positive progress and where a substitute text was presented to reflect an observation from the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), which welcomed the transparency proposed by the PL, which aims to distinguish on egg labeling between "cage" farming, "shed" farming (or corrals), and "pasture" farming (or free-range farming), so that each consumer can choose between these three systems and make an informed decision. The PL has also received 12 favorable technical opinions, including those from the main consumer associations (ASPEC and APU), animal welfare certifiers (Certified Humane), cage-free chicken producers (Murlota), animal protection associations (Sinergia Animal, Fórum Animal, TerraAnimal, ARBA), the Center for Welfare Metrics, among others. On April 15, the CoDeCo presidency issued a favorable opinion on the PL (the first fav

Animal Outlook appealed the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division's dismissal of its lawsuit against the American Heart Association under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act, alleging that, in exchange for a fee, AHA allows companies to display its "Heart-Check" mark on certain meat products and market them as “heart healthy”--counter to its own prior statements about the effects on cardiovascular health of consuming those products. The lawsuit also alleges that AHA promotes its Heart-Check certification program as using standards more stringent than the government’s standards for beef, when, in fact, AHA only uses the government’s minimum standards.

Hi Fast, We are pleased to share that Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal has secured three new cage-free commitments, with the support of the Open Wing Alliance. These include La Subida, a restaurant located at the foot of Cerro San Cristóbal, a site of great historical significance; Rincón de Las Brujas, a restaurant serving in Pomaire, one of the most popular rural tourist destinations near the capital; and Madeline Panadería, a renowned bakery known for its high-volume production of cakes that use eggs as a key ingredient. We are very excited about the progress of this alliance and highly motivated to continue working for animal welfare. Best regards, Kiara Espinoza Corporate Relations Manager Desafío sin Jaulas (Cage-Free Challenge) – Fundación DyDAnimal 

Dear Friends, You are invited to a landmark animal protection and law event in South Africa (and online)! Join us for a first-of-its-kind event in South Africa, a Colloquium on ‘Transforming Animal Protection Legislation in South Africa: A Constitutional Imperative’. 📅 Dates: 5 & 6 May 2025 🕘 Time: 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM SAST (both days) 📍 Online & In-person [Zoom & @University of Johannesburg, Kerzner Building] This 2-day hybrid colloquium brings together a powerful network of legal minds, government representatives, scientists, civil society leaders, judges, prosecutors, veterinarians, academics, activists and members of the public to chart a bold new course for animal protection in the country, grounded in our progressive Constitution and in pursuit of achieving inclusive justice.  Co-hosted by Animal Law Reform South Africa (ALRSA), Humane World for Animals Africa and the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC) [collectively the Animal Law Project], it offers a critical platform to engage with and advocate for transformative animal law reform. Why This Matters: The South African government, through the Department of Agriculture, is currently overhauling the regulatory regime for animals through the drafting of a new ‘Animal Welfare Bill’. The existing animal ‘protection’ regime consists of antiquated laws, some 90 years old, passed during the abhorrent system of apartheid, and which are not aligned with our new constitutional ethos. Nearly a decade ago, South Africa’s Constitutional Court affirmed that animals are sentient beings with intrinsic value and connected human rights to the protection of animal interests - yet, the law has not been updated with this approach. As government initiates work on this new bill, it is critical that they develop a law that recognises these issues and developments.  This Colloquium builds on the Animal Law Project’s widely-endorsed ‘Manifesto for Transformin

The Veterinary Association for Farm Animal Welfare (VAFAW) is hosting a webinar that may interest you and your colleagues.  The webinar, Essential Elements for Successful Group Housing of Sows, will be held on Thursday, May 8, 2025 by renowed animal welfare scientist, Dr. Jeremy Marchant. He will walk through the challenges and benefits of housing sows in groups instead of gestation crates, with special emphasis on the Five Domains Model of animal welfare. This is the first webinar in our series “Promoting Living Environments That Meet the Animal's Physical and Psychological Needs,” and we are inviting others to help build awareness about the event.  We sincerely appreciate any efforts you can undertake to bring awareness to this important event. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.   Sincerely,  The VAFAW Operations Team

The IP28 campaign in Oregon—seeking to place a ban on slaughter, hunting, fishing, experimentations, and forced breeding on the 2026 statewide ballot—passed our 50,000 signatures collected milestone!  We also ended the month of April collecting over 5,000 signatures thanks to some of the new petitioners we onboarded earlier this Spring. After a slower winter season, we're excited by the renewed activity.