This landmark citizen ballot initiative criminalized, with a phase-out period, the confinement of animals in battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates.. Despite an agribusiness-fu
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On November 5, 2008, California
vot-ers approved Proposition 2: The
Preven-tion of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, in a
landslide This landmark citizen ballot
initiative criminalized, with a phase-out
period, the confinement of animals in
battery cages, gestation crates, and veal
crates Despite an agribusiness-funded
campaign opposing the modest
require-ment to provide animals with enough
space to stand up, lie down, turn around,
and extend their limbs, more than 63
per-cent of the California electorate voted in
favor of Prop 2, in the nation’s top
agri-culture state, no less
California is in good company Since
2002, Florida and Oregon have passed
laws against gestation crates, while
Ari-zona and Colorado have banned both
gestation crates and veal crates Although
these improvements won’t prevent every
problem with using animals for food,
they’re a step toward ending the worst
confinement abuses, and they’ve sparked
major changes at the corporate level
Over the past several years,
retail-ers and restaurants, including Safeway,
Whole Foods, Burger King, Wolfgang
Puck, and even animal producers such
as Smithfield Foods, have begun to move
away from supporting the use of crates
and cages on factory farms
They’re also catering to the growing
number of Americans who demand
veg-etarian and vegan foods that are more
humanely produced, sustainable, and
socially responsible Plant-based meat,
dairy, and egg alternatives are exploding
in popularity and are readily available at
nearly every supermarket
Gourmet restaurants are increasingly
featuring vegetarian and vegan options as
haute cuisine, and exclusively vegetarian
eateries are now commonplace Even
fast-food chains that used to be vegan
wastelands offer menu choices, and many restaurants happily accommodate vegan customers Finally, vegan and vegetarian cookbooks have flooded the bookshelves, proving that plant-based cooking is ac-cessible, easy, and delicious
See also Food Animals, Ethics and Methods of Raising Animals
Further Reading
American Public Health Association 2003 Pre-cautionary moratorium on new concentrated animal feed operations Policy # 20037
Eisnitz, G A 2006 Slaughterhouse: The shock-ing story of greed, neglect and inhumane treatment inside the U.S meat industry
Buf-falo, NY: Prometheus Books
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2006 Press release: Livestock a major threat to environment November 29,
2006 http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/ news/2006/1000448/index.html Accessed December 23, 2008
Greger, M 2006 Bird flu: A virus of our own hatching New York: Lantern Books
Miller, J., and Ghiotto, G 2008 Video shows alleged mistreatment of chickens at egg
ranch Riverside Press-Enterprise October
14, 2008
Masson, J 2003 The pig who sang to the moon
New York: Ballantine Books
Schlosser, E 2001 Fast food nation: The dark side of the All-American meal Boston:
Houghton Mifflin
Scully, M 2002 Dominion: The power of many, the suffering of animals, and the call to mercy, New York, St Martin’s Press
Singer, P., and Mason, J 2007 The ethics of what we eat: Why our food choices matter
New York: Rodale
United Egg Producers 2008 UEP animal husbandry guidelines for U.S egg laying flocks, 2008 edition http://www.uepcerti fied.com/media/pdf/UEP-Animal-Welfare-Guidelines.pdf Accessed December 23,
2008, p.1 See also U.S Department of Ag-riculture, NASS, 2008 Chickens and eggs
2007 summary http://usda.mannlib.cornell edu/usda/current/ChickEgg/ChickEgg-02-28-2008.pdf, p.4 Accessed December 23,
2008