The Humane Society of the U.S. Welcomes Prestigious Pew Commission Recommendation to Phase Out Extreme Confinement of Farm Animals

Commissioners Cite California Ballot Initiative as Example of Sound Public Policy

Today, a comprehensive, two-year study released by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP) concluded that factory farms pose unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare. The Commission's recommendations include a phase-out of "the most intensive and inhumane confinement practices," including chaining veal calves by the neck, cramming egg-laying hens in cages where each has less space than a letter-sized sheet of paper, and keeping pigs in metal cages barely larger than their bodies—the three abuses that a pending anti-cruelty California ballot initiative seeks to phase out over the next six years.

Earlier this month, the California Secretary of State certified the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act for the November ballot. The measure will provide the most basic protection to animals confined in California factory farms: that they merely be able to turn around and extend their limbs. It is supported by Californians for Humane Farms, sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary and other animal protection groups, family farmers, veterinarians and public health professionals.

Experts brought together by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded, "Intensive confinement (e.g. gestation crates for swine, battery cages for laying hens) often so severely restricts movement and natural behaviors, such as the ability to walk or lie on natural materials, having enough floor space to move with some freedom, and rooting for pigs, that it increases the likelihood that the animals suffer severe distress."

PCIFAP's two-year investigation encompassed site visits to production facilities across the country, consultation with industry stakeholders, public health, medical, and agriculture experts, public meetings, and peer-reviewed technical reports. Commissioners include former Kansas governor John Carlin; former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, Dr. Michael Blackwell, former Dean of the University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine; Bon Appetit Management Company CEO Fedele Bauccio; Niman Ranch founder and rancher Bill Niman; author and professor Marion Nestle; and Colorado State University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Dr. Bernard Rollin.

"Pew's esteemed panel of scientists, veterinary school officials, ranchers, and public officials has emphatically recommended moving away from cages and crates on factory farms, and that's exactly what our proposed ballot initiative prescribes for California," stated Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "It is cruel and inhumane to confine animals in cages so small they can barely move for nearly their whole lives, nor are these confinement systems good for public health or the environment. The panel's recommendations come at a perfect time as Californians consider this ballot measure."

Facts

• Veal crates are narrow wooden enclosures that prevent calves from turning around or lying down comfortably. The calves are typically chained by their necks and suffer immensely.
• California factory farms confine millions of egg-laying hens in barren battery cages that are so small the birds can't even spread their wings.
• During their four-month pregnancies, thousands of female breeding pigs in California are confined in barren gestation crates—individual metal enclosures only two feet wide. The crates are so small, the animals cannot even turn around.
• Caging animals in high densities leads to more animal waste and air and water pollution.
• Florida, Arizona and Oregon have prohibited gestation crates. Arizona has prohibited veal crates. A bill in Colorado is awaiting the governor's signature to ban both gestation crates and veal crates. And the European Union has already legislated against all three of these abuses.
• In California and across the country, restaurants, producers, and retailers—including Safeway, Burger King, Carl's Jr. and Hardees, Wolfgang Puck, Smithfield Foods, San Francisco State University, and UC Berkeley—are moving away from supporting crates and cages on factory farms. California city councils have passed resolutions opposing battery cage confinement.
• Hundreds of California veterinarians, along with elected officials, farmers, businesses, religious organizations and environmental groups such as Sierra Club California, have endorsed the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act.
• According to the industry's own California-based economist, complying with the initiative would cost producers less than one penny per egg. This cost pales in comparison to the record profits that large-scale producers are earning, even after higher feed and energy costs.

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