WASHINGTON, May 2, 2013 – The Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS) “caved” on federal legislation regulating cage size, Joe Miller, general
counsel at Rose Acre Farms, said yesterday at the annual Animal Agriculture
Alliance Stakeholders Summit in Arlington, Va. Rose Acre Farms, the
second-largest egg producer in the nation, is also a member of the United Egg
Producers (UEP), which reached a cage size agreement with HSUS last year.
“I know the opposition to (the legislation) is that it opens the
doors to HSUS and allows them to get into the legislative process of regulating
how animals are taken care of,” Miller said. But “I don’t think UEP caved into
HSUS,” he continued. Miller said that HSUS conceded by allowing cages: “This
legislation puts cages in place, puts them in law. That’s a huge cave in on
HSUS’ part.”
Just last week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Kurt
Schrader, D-Ore., introduced a bill to codify the HSUS/UEP cage size agreement. The “Egg Products
Inspection Act Amendments of 2013” would gradually shift the entire egg
producer industry toward enriched colony cage housing over the next twenty
years.
Last year, UEP President and CEO Gene Gregory also argued that the
final agreement was a result of rigorous debate and compromise between the two
parties. UEP initially wanted 90 square inches per bird, while HSUS wanted 216
square inches per bird and cage-free facilities. The groups eventually settled
on 124 square inches. The agreement would also allow egg producers to continue
using cages.
But other agricultural producers worry the agreement sets a
dangerous precedent – and that federal standards regulating housing in other
industries cannot be far away.Opposed groups include the
American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the
National Pork Producers Council.
Miller, however, says
the agriculture industry has already lost the battle for housing regulations.
He said 50 percent of pork producers have already phased out the use of
gestation crates (though Dallas Hockman of National Pork Producers Council
said that the number is closer to 17 percent). “We’ve spent a fortune on”
trying to beat regulation on a state-by-state basis, Miller said, but animal
and environmental groups “are killing us.”
Still, Miller said the HSUS/UEP agreement is a positive step for
egg producers because it gives the industry some certainty. He pointed out that
five states – California, Oregon, Washington state, Michigan and Ohio – have
already passed state laws setting varying cage standards for egg producers.
“Nothing’s been built in the egg industry in the last two years
because we don’t know what to build,” Miller said. “What this (federal)
legislation does is simply say that all the cages can be the same size.”
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