AG Bird part of 22-state brief against Massachusetts pork regulations

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced this week that Iowa is part of a 22-state appeal asking a court to strike down a pork ban restriction out of Massachusetts.

The long-debated "Question 3" restrictions would ban the sale of pork from hogs born and raised in housing that does not comply with Massachusetts state standards.

The ban would also prevent other states, including Iowa, from transporting pork through Massachusetts if they don't meet the new requirements.

The other 21 states included in the appeal are: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Monday, Bird said in part,

"Iowa is the leading pork-producing state in the nation and is home to countless farms that Iowans have passed down through families for generations," Bird said in a statement. "Massachusetts does not get to tell Iowans how to raise their pork."

What is in the appeal?

The appeal to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from Iowa and the other 21 states begins with a comparison of Massachusetts's proposed ban to if other states tried to restrict fishing in their states in a similar manner.

"While that law equally affects Atlantic fishermen across the country, it likely would impose greater compliance costs on States that have a more meaningfully sized shell-fishing industry than Iowa," the introduction states.