
wake up people
Posted Mar 2, 2011 by anonymous | 74 views | 0 comments
ONLY BUY ORGANIC EGGS Eggribusiness - EGGS HIDDEN RISKS Did you know that excessive cholesterol is only one among many hazards posed by egg consumption? To keep millions of hens alive in the polluted egg factory environment, the industry relies upon antibiotics, pesticides, and other hazardous chemicals. The toxic dangers these hidden ingredients pose to consumers make the health hazards associated with cholesterol seem minor by comparison. You've seen the egg industry' slick advertisements for 'farm fresh' eggs. But most eggs don't come from real farms. Today's eggs come from huge indoor factories where literally millions of hens are kept in most inhumane, disease-ridden conditions imaginable. Can eggs from drugged and diseased hens possibly be good for consumers as the advertisements claim? Certainly not. Leading public health professionals across the country warn that the wholesale misuse of antibiotics is creating hazardous strains of bacteria, such as salmonella. Many of these antibiotic resistant 'super bugs' can be lethal to human beings. Insecticides are not only sprayed around the hens' cages, but are actually mixed in the feed given to the hens. 'Feed through' insecticides, many of which are illegal, make the excrement that piles up in and around the cages toxic to flies and other insects. As debate rages as to what constitutes an 'acceptable' level of toxins in eggs - hens, human beings, and the environment continue to be poisoned. Eggribusiness: Devastating the Family FarmOver 98% of the egg market is now under the control of huge agribusiness corporations (eggribusiness). A single company may hold over four million hens. Such an operation will provide jobs for only a few dozen minimum wage attendants. That same number of hens used to provide livelihoods for hundreds of family farmers - before eggribusiness forced most family egg farms into bankruptcy. Ironically, the egg factories are destroying the very industry they stole from the family farmers. Last year eggribusiness companies flooded the market with over 50 billion poor quality, factory produced eggs. This surplus of cheap factory eggs is certainly no benefit to consumers. When the eggs you buy are tainted the hidden costs are much higher than the price per dozen! The egg industry tells us that chickens are insignificant and not worthy of concern. They are, however, living, feeling animals. And they have physical and behavioral needs. In the crowded 'battery cages' of today's egg factories, the hen's most basic instincts are cruelly violated. Contrary to the barnyard roaming 'happy hen' image promoted in egg advertisements, the life of a factory farmed hen is one of intense suffering. She is confined her entire life in a tiny cage with four, five, or more other hens. There's barely room to stand, let alone walk or stretch her wings. Normal behaviors such as nest building, dust bathing, perching, scratching the ground, and walking are all impossible. The hen is pressed against the side of the wire cage. Her feathers fall out. Her skin becomes raw, often bloody. Her feet are injured by the sloping wire floor. Propped up beside her is another hen, one which could no longer reach the food when her feet entangled in the wire. She slowly starves to death. An extensive investigation of the egg industry by the Humane Farming Association has revealed: The advertising phrase 'No Hormones' is used deceptively by the industry to lead consumers to believe eggs are raised naturally. The industry fails to warn of the enormous amounts of antibiotics, pesticides, and other chemicals used. Up to five hens are crowded for life in a cage with the floor space barely more than the size of a brief case. Egg yolks can be chemically dyed to achieve a 'natural' yellow look. (Under traditional farm conditions, sunlight helps give yolks their yellow color. In the egg factory, however, there is no sunlight.) Barely able to move, the hens incessantly strike out in frustration - pecking at the only thing available: each other. To reduce cannibalism, laying hens are 'debeaked.' Debeaking is a painful procedure whereby the hen's sensitive upper beak is sliced off with a hot blade. Many die from shock during the process. Male chicks are of no value to the egg industry. They are thrown into plastic bags to suffocate slowly under the weight of chicks dumped on top. Others are ground into animal feed - while still alive. When egg production declines, the hens are starved and denied water for several days. This 'forced molting' shocks the hens into losing their feathers and starting a new laying cycle. Many die during this torturous process. Veterinary care is non-existent. Individual hens are considered cheap and expendable. Critically ill birds are simply thrown onto 'dead piles'. ANYTHING GOES?A slogan of the egg industry is, 'Anything Goes With Eggs.' Anything goes, all right - antibiotics, pesticides, food poisoning, 'debeaking' hens with hot blades, suffocating baby chicks, food and water deprivation, battery caging... The Humane Farming Association believes all animals, regardless of whether they are considered 'cute' or 'intelligent' deserve to be treated with compassion and decency. Campaign to Ban Battery CagingYou can help stop factory farm abuses and protect your own health by eliminating eggs from your diet. HFA is dedicated to stopping the abuse of farm animals.
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