Kelley Drye Successfully Lobbies for New Legislation to Criminalize Acts of Eco-Terrorism

Larry Lasoff, Partner in the International Trade Group, helped achieve an important victory for the domestic fur industry when the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 27th. AETA expands upon the existing Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 to protect those individuals, businesses, and agencies even indirectly associated with animal enterprises from harassment, threats, and acts of violence.

Mr. Lasoff spent more than three years lobbying on behalf of the domestic industry’s Fur wRaps the Hill Coalition, which supported AETA alongside a broad coalition of biomedical researchers, agricultural producers, editors and publishers of fashion media, and other groups. The new law comes in response to increasingly violent tactics used by animal rights extremists to advance their cause.

Mr. Lasoff is quick to point out that AETA explicitly protects the First Amendment rights of those who peacefully protest the use or sale of animals in business or research.

“The law balances the need to curtail extremist violence with the right of peaceful protesters to voice their opinion,” says Mr. Lasoff. ​“Everyone in the animal use sector can now feel safer in their day-to-day lives, whether at home or place of work.”