{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-introduces-no-sht-act-bill-to-stop-the-feeding-of-excrement-to-livestock-on-factory-farms", "Booker Introduces NO SHT Act, Bill to Stop the Feeding of Excrement to Livestock on Factory Farms", "2024-06-17", "2024", "2024-06", "Democrat", "Senate", "NJ", "Cory A. Booker", "B001288", "www.booker.senate.gov", "booker", "https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the NO Stool in Herds\u2019 Troughs (NO SHT) Act, legislation aimed at eliminating the egregious factory farm practice of adding animal excrement to livestock feed. This measure comes in the wake of the recent avian flu outbreak that has spread to cow herds across the United States, intensifying concerns over factory farming practices that pose a risk of spreading disease from animals to humans.\n\nThe NO SHT Act specifically targets the alarming practice of feeding chicken litter\u2014which includes dead birds, feathers, and chicken excrement\u2014to cows in large-scale feedlots and dairies. This surprisingly routine factory-farming practice, which has been banned in other developed countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, has raised public health alarms due to the risk of spreading disease from chickens to cows.\n\nThe NO SHT Act would prohibit the intentional adding of excrement to animal feed. Specifically, the NO SHT Act would prohibit the manufacture or introduction into interstate commerce of animal feed containing excrement. This is an important step toward a rational public policy that protects the health and welfare of both animals and humans.\n\n\u201cWe must put an end to unsanitary factory farming practices that prioritize profits over public health, including the feeding of poultry litter to cattle,\u201d said Senator Booker. \u201cFeeding animal waste to livestock is irresponsible and cruel. A healthy food system cannot contain these types of practices that pose a danger to human and animal health.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the US, the feeding of poultry litter to beef cows is a known factor in the cause of botulism in cattle, and is a risk in the case of H5N1,\u201d said Dr. Steve Van Winden, Associate Professor in Population Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College.\n\n\u201cThe flu can be spread by fecal-oral routes, and so it\u2019s not an impossible scenario that chickens who are infected with H5N1 can shed live virus through feces, which the cattle then consume. It is a potential mechanism of transmission, although there are other possible explanations for the current outbreak in dairy herds,\u201d said Dr. Brian Ferguson, Associate Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge.\n\n\u201cFeeding excrement to cattle has to stop. It\u2019s a shame the U.S. has to pass laws to forbid what we already know to be wrong and a potential risk to cattle and humans, but apparently we do. We\u2019re thankful Senator Booker is taking the lead to put an end to it,\u201d said Bill Bullard, CEO of RCALF.\n\n\u201cThe practice of intentionally feeding cattle \u2014even a little\u2014 \u2018chicken litter\u2019 is awful in the best of times. Given the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, and it\u2019s well documented ability to cross species to bovines and humans alike, it is an even more egregious and ill-advised practice,\u201d said Michael Kovach, President of Pennsylvania Farmers Union. Senator Booker\u2019s thoughtful legislation prohibiting intentionally adding excrement to animal feed is a positive step toward reprioritizing our food system toward healthy, nutritious food for Americans \u2014 over profitability for the \u201cbig four\u201d meat packers who currently dominate the American beef market.\u201d\n\nFull list of endorsing groups, here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:11:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-introduces-no-sht-act-bill-to-stop-the-feeding-of-excrement-to-livestock-on-factory-farms"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.031473908573389, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}