CONGRESS
TO VOTE ON CRUEL EGG INDUSTRY PRACTICES
As part of the growing media and legislative focus on factory
farming abuses, the U.S. Senate is poised to consider an amendment to
curtail the cruel practice of "forced molting" on egg farms.
Your action is needed NOW to ensure the passage
of this precedent-setting legislation.
Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) will introduce
an amendment to Senate Bill 1191 (S. 1191), the FY 2002 Agriculture
Appropriations Bill. The Leahy-Fitzgerald Amendment will bar the USDA from
spending tax dollars to purchase eggs from producers that use forced
molting for the School Lunch Program.
Forced molting, commonly used by egg farmers to increase egg
production, involves intentionally starving laying hens for up to 14 days,
a process that forces the birds into a molt (to drop their feathers). The
forced molt shocks the birds' systems into a new egg-laying cycle, and the
result is that the surviving hens produce more and larger eggs.
However, not only is forced molting patently cruel (intentional
starvation of virtually any other kind of animal would violate every
state's anti-cruelty laws), but it also presents a considerable threat to
human health. After a forced molt, hens, in their weakened condition, are
far more likely to pass on salmonella, a potentially fatal disease that is
particularly dangerous to children. Even fast food giants Burger King and
Mc Donald's have recently instituted policies against buying eggs from
farms that engage in forced molting. It is time that the USDA follow suit,
especially where the health of our nation's children is concerned.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
If you live in the U.S., we need you to make a few
quick phone calls to your two U.S. Senators' offices.
Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 [or
try their toll-free line: (800) 648-3516] to be connected
to each of your Senator's offices. Ask them simply
to "vote YES on the Leahy-Fitzgerald Amendment to
the Agriculture Appropriations Bill." If you don't
know the names of you Senators, visit www.senate.gov
or email us at [email protected].
