On Nov. 3, 2009, voters in Ohio will have the opportunity to pass an amendment to Ohio's Constitution (State Issue 2) that will create a 13-member Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board made up of people from Ohio who are experts in animal care and will include at least two veterinarians.
This board will be charged with overseeing Ohio's livestock industry to help assure that food animal products are safe, nutritious and produced in facilities and in a manner that promote animal well-being.
State Issue 2 is important for Ohioans because outside interest groups (among them the Humane Society of the United States) have strongly indicated that it is their intent to bring an initiative to Ohio voters that would set very rigid, costly and impractical guidelines for raising livestock that would drive many producers out of business, greatly increase the cost of food to consumers and endanger Ohio's leading economic contributor, namely Ohio agriculture.
Similar restrictive laws are already in place in California, Colorado, Arizona and Florida and these laws have severely hampered animal agriculture in these states. Any parallel legislation in Ohio would be devastating to the economy of Wayne County, Ohio's third largest agricultural county.
We, the undersigned members of the Killbuck Valley Veterinary Medical Association, strongly support State Issue 2. The members of this Association, made up largely of food-animal veterinarians from Wayne County, have given the efforts of our professional lives to support not only animal well-being, but also the financial well-being of those who primarily care for those animals and the health of those who consume those products.
We believe State Issue 2 will help assure Ohio will continue to be a leader in animal agriculture, animals will be treated humanely and consumers will continue to have products that are safe, nutritious and affordable.
We urge you to support State Issue 2 on Nov. 3.
William M. Yost, DVM; Melvin D. Wenger, DVM; Gabe Middleton, DVM; Richard E, Wiley, DVM; Brad Garrison, DVM; David White, DVM; Mike Finney, DVM; Carlton Schlatter, DVM; Cody Stoller, DVM; Grace Kemp, DVM; Ken Blanchard, DVM; Mark Armfelt, DVM; Terrence R. Kline, DVM; Jeff LeJeune, DVM, PhD.
