Humane Treatment Of Animals Up For A Vote
California's Proposition 2 Would Reduce Farm Animal Problems
Oct 23, 2008
California voters will decide November 4 whether to make factory farms provide more comfortable accommodations for chickens, calves and pigs involved in food production. Proposition 2, "Standards for Confining Farm Animals," is drawing comment both in favor of and against forcing agribusiness to use larger pens and cages. Proponents of the measure cite sanitary as well as humane reasons for the measure. Opponents say the bill will force some farmers out of business, and cause a rise in food prices.
Inhumane Treatment of Animals
According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which favors the bill, animals on factory farms are forced into small, uncomfortable and filthy quarters. Pigs are kept in pens that do not allow them to turn around or even stretch their limbs. Calves are confined in sheds that are similar. And laying hens, kept for their eggs, are forced into small cages with other birds, unable to even flap their wings. But animal comfort is not the only concern.
Animal Health Compromised
Wikipedia says that an August-September 2008 investigation of a Southern California egg ranch found chicken carcasses left to rot in cages where other, egg-laying chickens were kept. Many of the hens suffered from conditions that caused bacteria buildup within their systems.
Additionally, factory farms that have many cages crammed together provide a breeding ground for many diseases, including bird flu. Dr. Kennedy Shortridge, credited with the discovery of the first bird flu virus in Asia, says that bird flu occurred in China because the Chinese switched from small poultry farms to large factory farms over the past twenty years. He says that domesticated poultry on industrial farms are the cause of the bird flu virus.
According to Wikipedia, animals under stress, such as those in factory farms, have compromised immune systems. They are more prone to diseases such as Salmonella. Chickens pass the disease into the eggs through their systems, before the shells are formed. Wikipedia quotes a European study that showed that salmonella occurs more frequently in birds kept in battery cages.
No New Factory Farms
Research shows that people living near factory farms are exposed to noxious air and suffer more from diarrhea, coughing, burning eyes, headaches, and other ailments. Industrialized farms also leave untreated waste on the ground, contaminating water ways.
In fact, the American Public Health Association has called for a moratorium on new factory farms due to these problems.
Proposition 2 gives factory farms seven years - until 2015 - to clean up their act.
Opponents say that the cost of doing this would be too great. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has come out against the bill, saying that "other factors" in animal well-being must be considered.
However, a study by the opposition's own economist shows that the measure would cause a rise in prices of only one cent per egg. Additionally, the price of cage-free eggs would come down.
Proposition 2 is supported by the Cesar Chavez Foundation and the United Farm Workers.
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