Press Release - Campaign Against Factory Farming (CAFF)

For immediate release

Govt Collaborates With Battery Egg Industry

The government has collaborated with the battery egg industry in suppressing scientific truth and stalling genuine research initiatives,instead relying on anecdote and bluster to justify a continuation of battery cages for layer hens, a recent scientific paper has found.

The paper, published in the international peer reviewed Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, is by CAFF chair Dr. Michael Morris, who is now teaching environmental management at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. The paper concludes that reputable animal welfare scientists are in agreement that keeping hens in battery cages is inherently inhumane, because it prevents any natural behaviour and leads to physical and mental suffering. In contrast, welfare issues associated with barn and free range production are problems of management, and can be eliminated through good husbandry practices.

The paper also describes the way the industry pressured NAWAC to change its mind over battery cages after it initially intended to phase them out. Original documents showing the cosy relationship between government and industry can be found on the website "Exposing Poultry Fraud" (www.epf.org.nz).

Since the paper went to press, the Regulations Review Committee unanimously agreed that battery cages should be phased out, but Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton, following more industry pressure, overturned the recommendation.

The Ministry of Agriculture has set up a poultry research committee ostensibly to oversee independent research into poultry welfare. However, the independence of their research is in question after it was revealed that a recent tender for research into hen welfare had to be approved by battery industry dominated lobby group the Egg Producers Federation.

ENDS

© Scoop Media