By snoadmin
By now most of us have seen or heard the horrific video portraying the mistreatment and abuse of California cattle earlier this year. The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, or Proposition 2, addresses the issue of the continued torture of farm animals.
Proposition 2, if passed, will ensure chickens, pigs and veal calves have enough cage room to stand up, turn around and stretch their limbs. Many of these animals are in cages where they are unable to perform these natural acts of movement.
Convicted serial killer Charles Manson is better taken care of than most animals on factory farms. This bill only asks for humane treatment of animals, rather than torturing them for their entire brief existence.
Imagine caged chickens piled one on top of the other. Now, think what life is like on the bottom of the pile — living in smelly waste, unable to move. It’s as if the slave trade is being relived, except this time with animals.
Because the California pork and veal industry is fairly small, Proposition 2 will largely impact the chicken and egg business, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The chicken business in California is huge. Banking more than $300 million a year, some consumers are concerned that changing caging practices will raise prices and drastically affect the sale of California eggs, according to safecaliforniafood.org.
If the price of California-produced eggs rises, consumers will be forced to buy cheaper eggs from out of state or Mexico, thereby outsourcing animal cruelty and raising the risk of contaminated eggs.
Safecaliforniafood.org argues that California has the highest food and safety standards in the world and food products imported from elsewhere, particularly Mexico, are at a higher risk of spreading food-borne pathogens like salmonella.
These concerns come from what the bill is lacking, a requirement that all imported food products follow the same standards as California. Since this verbiage is missing, the only thing that would change is where we get our eggs, not how they are produced, according to a report done by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center.
The report found that cage-free eggs cost about 25 percent more than eggs form caged hens and, because one-third of California shell eggs come from out of state, our egg business may suffer.
Safecaliforniafood.org may have raised some valid points. Because Web chatter supports Proposition 2, the Daily Forty-Niner conducted some research. Upon review we have found the website is suspiciously supported by Moark, LLC and Cal-Maine Foods, two major egg producers who are based outside of California.
Moark, LCC does have one location in California, but Cal-Maine Foods does not. It seems that if Proposition 2 passes, even more suspiciously, Cal-Maine would benefit as one of the out-of-state egg importers.
If the proposition passes, factory farms have until 2015 to comply with all requirements. Six years seems like an equitable time limit for changes to be completely in practice without a drastic effect on business.
Proposition 2’s purpose is to give animals the basic right of being able to move. The fact that a law is necessary to ensure this basic right is crazy and if it means we might have to pay higher prices so be it. This sort of brutality should have never been tolerated in the first place.
If people actually put their money where their mouths are, pass this legislation and only buy California eggs, no matter the price, the state would serve as an example of compassion to other states.
Vote “Yes” on Proposition 2 and join the Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Food Safety, the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the United Farm Workers, the Cesar Chavez Foundation and the California Veterinary Medical Association in the effort to be more humane to lesser creatures.
California must require higher standards in animal treatment. By voting yes on Proposition 2, we are voting to improve health and food safety procedures and greatly reduce cruelty to animals.
