Not Eggzactly Good News

I'm skeptical that today's news regarding the agreement of industry group United Egg Producers and HSUS is really the great step forward that it is claimed to be.

First, there is no phase out of battery cages, merely a phase in of larger space requirements. And the phase in time is fifteen years? Most of us know how acquiescent Congress is in delaying the implementation of new laws for industry. Mark my words, if this law goes into effect, the industry will go back to Congress time and again to complain how they can not keep up with timeline and get delays put into the legislation. It will be the next century before the size regulations actually take effect.

And second, I am suspicious of the coded language being used in regard to Supremacy Clause issues. Is there anyone who can state clearly whether or not this will prevent states from enacting more stringent requirements? As animal activists we should be cynical and push this issue. Almost all previous advancement in the area of farmed animal treatment has been due to ballot initiatives for a reason. While most citizens will vote for a ballot initiative that increases regulations, will the same person vote out a congressman because of a vote on an animal bill? Unlikely. In Oklahoma we had state legislators who were pro-cockfighting every step of the way. When the issue was put on the ballot, even districts that supported the anti-cockfighting initiative by large margins re-elected the pro-cockfighting legislators. When confronted with cruelty directly, voters will vote to support humane regulations, but these issues are not important enough to most people to vote out a congressman they otherwise would support. On puppy mills in Oklahoma much the same thing has happened, with legislation so weak that it is almost laughable, and yet most Oklahomans would support far stronger regulation. Are we setting ourselves up to compete in an arena where we are outmatched? The truth is, an industry with billions of dollars will be more than happy to move the fight into their lobbying/PAC/ influence peddling wheelhouse.

My last question is, how is this going to look to consumers? Are eggs, which are produced by first killing the baby male chicks (useless), then debeaking the female baby chicks, feeding them unnatural, usually drugged, food, depriving the birds of veterinary care until they are broken-down, worn-out useless animals useful for only McNuggets and soup, are these eggs going to carry an HSUS seal of approval?

Here is my thought, this industry wouldn't make this agreement unless they had to. They are running scared because the public now has access to a number of videos which show the truth about the egg industry. The score here is industry 1 (they get to move the debate to a forum they are experts at controlling) HSUS 1/2 (they get to take credit for a “the most important agreement in the history of animal activism, even if it effectually does nothing) Animals 0 (but of course they always lose.)