Battery-Cage Opinion Piece in Today's Modesto Bee / Write a Letter to the Bee

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Criticisms of caging hens are faulty logic of fringe activists

 

By RICHARD MATTEIS

The Modesto Bee, May 31, 2006

Online at http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/story/12254648p-12993241c.html

 

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The recent commentary ( " In honor of egg month, let's free hens from cruel

cages, " May 22, Page B-7) demanding that egg-laying hens be freed from cages

could well have been penned by Chicken Little because the writer's concerns are

so utterly groundless and divorced from reality.

 

The criticisms of the state's egg industry from fringe animal activists with

self-serving agendas ignore the following facts:

 

California egg producers care for their birds according to a set of " best

practices " and recommendations from veterinary experts. The vast majority of our

producers are certified under a comprehensive animal-welfare plan developed by

respected animal-care professionals throughout the country.

 

Over time, these care standards have increased cage space and improved care for

laying hens.

 

Numerous studies have proven that housing hens in cages is humane, effective and

essential to ensuring the safest eggs and egg products on the market.

 

Both the American Veterinary Medical Association and American Association of

Avian Pathologists recognize the benefits of confined housing of poultry.

 

Cages protect birds from the threat of cannibalism, extreme weather conditions

and such diseases as exotic Newcastle disease and avian influenza.

 

Caged birds are efficient producers of eggs, which is testament to their care.

Bird welfare continually is monitored by animal-care professionals and poultry

veterinarians.

 

Our practices also have enhanced public safety — there has not been an

egg-related salmonella outbreak in California in more than five years. And

contrary to the misinformation promoted by animal-rights extremists, European

and other nations are stepping up the use of cages. They are doing this to

combat the potential spread of bird flu (H5N1).

 

As a reasonable industry, we respond to the requests of our customers. We

produce organic free-range and cage-free eggs; however, the majority of our

customers purchase eggs from birds that are raised in caged environments. We

believe that consumers should have the choice about the kinds of eggs they wish

to purchase — be it organic free-range, cage-free or caged environments. Our

association's members use all of these methods in an effort to meet the various

demands of the marketplace.

 

Finally, strip away the emotional rhetoric and one finds the true motivations of

extreme animal activists: fund raising, membership growth and a desperate quest

for relevancy. For them, the truth is a major inconvenience.

 

Our producers care about the birds in their facilities. Production decisions are

based on sound science and the recommendations of animal experts. Allegations to

the contrary have no basis in fact, science or an understanding of the egg

industry.

 

Just because someone claims the sky is falling doesn't make it true.

 

Matteis is executive director of the Pacific Egg and Poultry Association, a

Sacramento-based nonprofit agricultural trade association.

 

 

Christine Morrissey

East Bay Animal Advocates

P.O. Box 1406

Martinez, CA 94553

(925) 487-4419

christine

http://www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org