For years, animal rights organizations have been going undercover to expose abuse on factory farms. In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States released a video of diseased downer cows being used for commercial beef at a California slaughterhouse. That video led to the largest meat recall in United States history.

Now several states are introducing legislation that will ban these undercover investigations. Jane Velez-Mitchell spoke to Humane Society spokesperson, Paul Shapiro, to find out why states are trying to silence the whistleblowers.

For more on this story watch Jane Velez-Mitchell weeknights at 7pm ET on HLN.

To learn more about this legislation visit humanesociety.org

Editor’s Note: HLN reached out to the states with this legislation for comment. Calls were not returned.