In Takoma Park, Stance On Eggs Is Over Easy
Vote Against Caged Hens Is Unanimous

By Jennifer Lenhart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006

Takoma Park has become the first city in the country to take an official stand against the practice of housing egg-laying hens in batteries of cramped cages, a practice that is widespread in the poultry industry, city officials said.

The resolution, which was passed last week in a unanimous vote of the Takoma Park City Council, declares that the city opposes the use of the cages and urges residents of the liberal enclave in eastern Montgomery County not to buy eggs produced under those conditions.

The action by the City Council is not a ban on the sale of eggs from battery-cage hens, council member Bruce Williams said. City officials are not empowered to take such a broad action, he said.

"What we did was basically, as a public education effort, say to people that they should know that this is going on," said Williams, who sponsored the measure. "It's saying, 'We encourage you to only buy eggs that are not produced by battery-caged chickens.' " A spokesman for United Egg Producers, an industry lobbying group, said it supports consumer choice in buying eggs.

"It's rather interesting that they would encourage retail stores to carry eggs that cost anywhere from two to three times more than regular eggs," said Gene Gregory, senior vice president for United Egg Producers. "We believe in consumer choice and we believe consumers should have the right to purchase what they want and not be legislated or mandated or encouraged by city council or anyone else to pay more for eggs."

E-mails from people who support the decision have arrived in a steady stream since the council passed the resolution, said Williams, the representative for the city's 3rd Ward.

One e-mail addressed to council members began: "I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the important and precedent-setting step you took to pass the resolution condemning battery cages."

The writer, Lori Prantil, is responsible for food services as manager of business services at AOL. The company decided earlier this year to "only offer cage-free eggs in our establishments. I am so thrilled to hear that [this] type of measure is extending to local governments."

Offbeat measures are the heart and soul of Takoma Park, which has its own corn silo and once declared itself a nuclear-free zone.

Williams said that he decided to look into the egg issue, which has long been the subject of animal-rights campaigns, after it was brought to his attention by a handful of constituents who said "it was important to them, and they were hoping that the council could do something that would be supportive."

One of those residents was Paul Shapiro who has researched the conditions in battery-cage barns as director of the factory-farming campaign at the Humane Society of the United States.

Battery cages are stacked on top of one another in barns that can hold up to 100,000 birds, Shapiro said. The cages are confining, measuring about 62 square inches, and birds do not have room to stand, he said.

Hens caged in this way live about 18 months, and then they are slaughtered, Shapiro said. The expected life span of hens free to roam is about 10 years, he said.

"These animals are confined in cages where they can barely move for their entire lives," he said. "The animals have so little space that they can't even spread their wings . . . Birds that are raised in a cage-free environment have a better quality of life."

Since the council's vote, the city's Web site has added educational information to help consumers learn the difference among the array of labels that appears on many cartons in which eggs are packaged. The wording on carton labels includes phrases such as "cage-free," "certified organic," "certified humane" and "free-range," Williams said.

The labels have been under dispute for several years. The Federal Trade Commission recently concluded that the labels used by the United Egg Producers were misleading for consumers because they did not clearly identify the standards used in producing eggs from caged chickens. The industry group recently agreed to change the labels to say "United Egg Producers Certified." But animal-rights groups say that label still is unclear and they will continue fighting for more revisions.

Williams, the sponsor of the Takoma Park resolution, said he had never researched the issue. Whenever he bought eggs, he said, "I mainly thought about price."

"When I became aware of the various egg-carton labels, I was surprised to find that no one label ensures that all of the humane standards are met," he said.

After learning about the conditions that are standard in the industry, Williams said that he began buying the eggs of chickens that had not been confined in cages but had been given access to the outdoors.

"I think it's mainly the humane issue, for me," he said. "But when you start thinking about the ramifications of that, do you really want to eat eggs that came from a chicken that is treated that way? It's like a factory production line, but you're dealing with a live animal here . . . It just kind of leads to all kinds of questions where people start thinking about what they're eating."

More information about the labeling of egg cartons is available at http://www.takomaparkmd.gov and on the Humane Society's Web site at http://www.egglabels.com .