HR 3798 – Historic Help for Hens!
One of my favorite animal organizations, Farm Sanctuary, has a great section on upcoming political initiatives that affect animals and pending legislation, as well as tips on how you can make your voice be heard. One of the issues currently highlighted on the site (as well as the current issue of Sanctuary Magazine) is the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012, also known as HR 3798. It was introduced to Congress on January 18th and proposes the following:
1) require environmental enrichment for all birds, so that they can engage in important natural behaviors currently denied to them in barren cages (eliminate battery cages).
2) prohibit forced molting through starvation — an inhumane practice that is inflicted on tens of millions of hens each year and that involves withholding all food from birds for up to two weeks in order to shock their bodies into another laying cycle.
3) prohibit excessive ammonia levels in henhouses.
4) require standards for euthanasia practices.
5) prohibit the sale of all eggs and egg products nationwide that don’t meet these requirements.
This bill, if enacted, will be the first federal law relating to the treatment of chickens used for food, the first federal law relating to the treatment of animals while on farms, and the first federal law improving the treatment of farmed animals in more than 30 years.
Farm Sanctuary makes it super easy to make a difference. Send their pre-formatted letter to your legislators (takes 10 seconds or less if you have autofill) and use this link to look up their numbers and call them.
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
p.s. If you want more info on this issue, an interesting read is Farm Sanctuary’s article on The Welfare of Hens in Battery Cages.
HR 3798 would in no way “eliminate” battery cages. it would simply establish egg factory cages as a national standard that could never be challenged or changed by state law or public vote! Instead of outlawing cages – this crazy measure would outlaw the BANNING of cages. That is why it is being pushed by the egg industry itself! The Stop the Rotten Egg Bill (http://www.StopTheRottenEggBill.org) campaign is getting it right. Check it out. This bill would nullify California’s Proposition 2 – replacing it with a variety of empty “reforms” that are already occurring due to state law and public pressure. This stinks.