Thursday,
Oct. 09, 2008 Prop. 2 healthy for hens, not humans? By
CAROL REITER AP
Source of Article: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/491579.html Is Proposition 2 a rotten egg that will put an end to Or is it just a push to make egg producers treat their
money-making hens a little more kindly? Paul Shapiro, a director with the Humane Society of the
United States, said allowing hens, along with pregnant sows and veal calves,
to have the ability to stand up, lie down, turn around and extend their limbs
is only being humane. “There’s currently no regulation on the egg industry,” Shapiro
said. Dr. Nancy Reimers, a Gustine
veterinarian who specializes in poultry medicine, said that while Proposition
2 may be well-intended, there’s a major problem with it: it will harm human
health. Proposition 2, on the November ballot, would require that
producers of egg-laying hens, veal calves and pregnant sows keep their
animals in humane circumstances. Nowadays, hens are kept in cages less than
the size of an 8.5-by-11-inch piece of paper. Veal calves are penned their short lives, unable to lie
down. Sows are basically unable to move in their crates so they won’t crush
their babies. If passed, the proposition would allow producers until 2015
to come into compliance with the new law. Reimers said the biggest health
concern with eggs is the disease of salmonella enteritidis,
which can make humans seriously ill, and is spread by eggs. “Producers in the mid-1990s got together with the
California Department of Food and Agriculture and universities and developed
a scientifically based program to minimize the amount of salmonella
contamination in eggs,” Reimers said. “It’s been
wildly successful.” In fact, it’s been so successful that Reimers
said there hasn’t been a case of salmonella enteritidis
in That may change if Proposition 2 passes, Reimers warned. “When you start talking about cage-free
or free-range chickens, you see an increased risk of salmonella,” she said. But Shapiro argued that the measure isn’t asking for
free-range hens. Getting the hens out of tiny cages would more than likely
push producers to raise the laying chickens loose in barns, the same way that
broiler chickens are raised. “This proposition would actually improve food safety,”
Shapiro said. Currently, hens in cages may defecate on one another, and
that’s one way that salmonella is spread, Shapiro said. If the proposition passes, Shapiro suggests that the cost
of producing eggs would go up less than one cent per egg. “Egg prices are already up 50 percent, which is far in
excess of other food prices, including broiler chickens,” Shapiro said.
“Producers are already jacking up prices.” He also said Proposition 2 will help smaller family farmers
and raise the bar on how growers treat animals. “Some of these guys treat
animals worse than prisoners, and the animals have
done no crime,” he said. Passing the proposition will more than likely put a lot of
egg producers out of business in “It will drive them out of the state, and possibly out of
the country,” she said. “Some are already looking at Shapiro believes the proposition will help in turning
around a low standard of how animals are treated in “The animals are at our mercy,” he said. “This is not about
animal rights — it’s about human responsibility.” Voters will determine whether the measure is threat to
human pocketbooks or a kinder, gentler way to deal with animal food sources. |
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