WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.512 What does cage-free mean? 00:00:02.587 --> 00:00:11.600 The term may bring to mind happy chickens roaming free in a rolling green field, their lush feathers glistening in the ample sunlight. 00:00:12.461 --> 00:00:18.799 Well, here comes a vegan to rain on your chicken paradise parade... 00:00:19.826 --> 00:00:24.165 (It's me...I'm the vegan...) 00:00:25.119 --> 00:00:34.738 (music, bird song, animal noises and the soft buzzing of bees) 00:00:36.011 --> 00:00:41.340 Hi, it's Emily from BiteSizeVegan.org, where you can find free resources, eCourses, kids' content, 00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:46.882 and a Guided Search to help you find just what you need, even if you don't know what to ask! 00:00:46.882 --> 00:00:53.559 Speaking of eCourses, this video has one of its very own, so you can test your knowledge after watching! 00:00:53.709 --> 00:00:58.680 For those of you watching this on BiteSizeVegan.org —first of all, you're awesome 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:00.680 —just click the "take the eCourse now" button. 00:01:01.650 --> 00:01:06.539 For those of you watching elsewhere, just head over to BiteSizeVegan.org/CageFree 00:01:06.539 --> 00:01:10.404 where you will also find all of the sources for this video 00:01:10.666 --> 00:01:14.138 (and there are a lot... Cause I'm a nerd) 00:01:14.838 --> 00:01:19.088 Before diving into the meaning of cage-free eggs, it's important to acknowledge 00:01:19.088 --> 00:01:24.745 that the vast majority of the world's almost 8 billion layer hens are still kept in battery cages 00:01:24.838 --> 00:01:29.861 —one of the most intensive forms of confinement in the animal products industry. 00:01:29.861 --> 00:01:36.509 Crammed together in these small, barren cages, each individual hen is afforded less space than a single sheet of paper 00:01:36.509 --> 00:01:41.390 —unable to extend their wings or even stand fully upright. 00:01:41.390 --> 00:01:48.105 Denied the ability to engage in natural behaviors such as foraging, wing-flapping, perching, dust bathing, and nesting, 00:01:48.199 --> 00:01:51.838 hens in battery cages experience extreme distress— 00:01:51.838 --> 00:01:56.849 manifesting in neurotic behavior, feather loss, aggression, and even cannibalism. 00:01:56.981 --> 00:01:59.815 These hens live in constant pain, 00:01:59.815 --> 00:02:07.709 often suffering from osteoporosis due to the combination of nutrient loss from high egg production and a severe lack of movement. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:17.144 Rising public concern over the last four decades regarding the horrific conditions of battery cages has led to increasing demands for alternative systems. 00:02:17.256 --> 00:02:23.610 Now, a total ban on battery cages sounds like a huge move in the right direction, right? 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:30.986 Well, In 1999, The Council of the European Union set a directive that banned all “barren battery cages” by 2012. 00:02:31.486 --> 00:02:36.328 While media coverage at the time focused on the end of battery cages in the EU, 00:02:36.328 --> 00:02:43.937 what the directive actually did was replace barren battery cages with “enriched"—meaning furnished—battery cages. 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:49.255 Yes, hens would now be provided more space and given furnishings like perches and laying nests 00:02:49.255 --> 00:02:51.742 —certainly an improvement over barren cages. 00:02:51.896 --> 00:03:02.104 However, while reports extolled that hens would now each be afforded 750cm², rather than the 550 cm² in conventional battery cages, 00:03:02.104 --> 00:03:07.730 they neglected to clarify that—due to the new furnishings —only 600cm² would be usable. 00:03:07.730 --> 00:03:13.420 Meaning—in the end—that this revolutionary step forward for the rights of laying hens 00:03:13.420 --> 00:03:18.426 granted them less than a single playing card of additional space. 00:03:18.426 --> 00:03:29.907 Even more maddening: in 2012, over twelve years after the directive, thirteen Member States had still failed to comply with the ban. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:37.207 The 1999 Council Directive addressed more than an eventual end to barren battery cages in favor of enriched cages 00:03:37.207 --> 00:03:41.516 —it also introduced a third category, termed "alternative systems." 00:03:41.703 --> 00:03:50.366 This umbrella term covered various non-cage systems, such as aviaries and barns—including what we commonly refer to as "cage-free eggs." 00:03:50.529 --> 00:03:53.464 So, what, exactly, does cage-free mean? 00:03:53.557 --> 00:04:02.760 In the simplest terms, cage-free means exactly what it sounds like: laying hens are never caged. But the simplicity ends there. 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:12.711 As the term "cage-free" primarily defines how hens are not to be housed, the actual conditions under which cage-free hens are housed varies greatly; 00:04:12.786 --> 00:04:17.282 standards are largely unspecified, unverified and unregulated. 00:04:17.413 --> 00:04:22.411 In the U.S., the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) only specifies that cage-free eggs 00:04:22.523 --> 00:04:27.797 "must be produced by hens housed in a building, room or enclosure that allows for unlimited access to food and water 00:04:27.797 --> 00:04:32.490 and provides the freedom to roam the area during the laying cycle." 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:39.662 Cage-free eggs graded by the USDA are subject to on-site inspections twice a year, purely to ensure the hens are not in cages. 00:04:39.662 --> 00:04:43.601 Additionally, not all cage-free eggs are graded by the USDA, 00:04:43.601 --> 00:04:49.782 so many cage-free labels do not have any verification at all that the hens they came from were not caged. 00:04:50.110 --> 00:04:55.000 In the European Union, while the term "cage-free" doesn't seem to be widely used, 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:01.503 non-cage systems are required to "not exceed 9 laying hens per m² usable area." 00:05:01.503 --> 00:05:04.746 This affords each hen a little over a square foot of space. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.394 There are no such stocking density limits in the United States, among other countries. 00:05:10.490 --> 00:05:16.041 The separation between cage and non-cage farming is often completely non-existent: 00:05:16.041 --> 00:05:22.090 many egg producers have both caged and cage-free facilities on the same property. 00:05:22.090 --> 00:05:26.361 Purchasing cage-free eggs is in no way supporting smaller, independent farmers. 00:05:26.361 --> 00:05:33.557 That said, there is no denying that almost anything would be an improvement over life in a battery cage. 00:05:33.557 --> 00:05:40.320 However, as we've learned with "enriched" cages, alternative systems aren't the idyllic environments we may envision. 00:05:40.432 --> 00:05:48.367 Cage-free hens are kept indoors, usually in windowless buildings. Each structure may contain thousands to tens of thousands of birds. 00:05:48.367 --> 00:05:56.890 This extreme overcrowding leaves some cage-free hens without much more room than battery cages, resulting in many of the same mental and physical consequences. 00:05:56.890 --> 00:06:04.181 Additionally, cage-free hens are not spared the cruel "standard practices" of the egg industry as a whole. 00:06:04.336 --> 00:06:09.551 All hens are sourced from hatcheries where male chicks are killed upon hatching. 00:06:09.551 --> 00:06:16.532 The primary method recommended by the European Union's humane regulations, and implemented worldwide, is "maceration" 00:06:16.532 --> 00:06:23.036 —a euphemistic term for dropping newborn male chicks into a meat grinder while alive. 00:06:23.672 --> 00:06:28.180 It's estimated that 3.2 billion male chicks are killed every year. 00:06:28.787 --> 00:06:37.005 Cage-free hens are still subjected to debeaking —a painful mutilation in which a portion of their sensitive beaks are cut or burned off. 00:06:37.005 --> 00:06:46.930 In the few countries where debeaking is banned, hens face increased mortality rates from aggressive pecking brought on by crowded and stressful living conditions. 00:06:47.030 --> 00:06:53.710 The living beings within all animal product industries are viewed as just that—products. 00:06:53.710 --> 00:07:01.176 Laying hens are no different—everything from their environment to their very genetics are engineered for maximum egg output. 00:07:01.176 --> 00:07:07.441 Artificial lighting is used to constantly manipulate hens' hormones in order to increase their egg production. 00:07:07.520 --> 00:07:13.477 One of the most cruel practices within the egg industry is what's referred to as "induced molting." 00:07:13.477 --> 00:07:19.160 Farmers remove the hens’ food for weeks, literally starving them. 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:26.267 The hens lose up to 35% of their body weight, along with their feathers, allowing their reproductive tracts to “refresh” 00:07:26.267 --> 00:07:29.154 so they can pump out another round of eggs. 00:07:29.154 --> 00:07:35.930 They are also subjected to more extreme forms of light manipulation, at times enduring a week of constant light. 00:07:35.930 --> 00:07:40.200 There is nothing within the cage-free label that prohibits this barbaric practice. 00:07:40.200 --> 00:07:46.388 While forced molting is banned in some countries, this simply means the hens are slaughtered after they are no longer profitable 00:07:46.538 --> 00:07:49.400 —a fate which awaits every layer hen. 00:07:49.531 --> 00:07:55.972 No matter the label, housing conditions or country, all layer hens are killed when their egg production declines 00:07:56.103 --> 00:08:05.289 —typically when they are 70-80 weeks old. No longer able to turn a profit, they are sent to their deaths—still mere babies themselves. 00:08:05.370 --> 00:08:09.903 In caged systems, hens can be more effectively separated from their waste. 00:08:10.165 --> 00:08:17.220 In cage-free systems, the ammonia from their waste can cause dangerous conditions for the hens, workers, and the public. 00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:24.395 A study looking into the sources of particulate pollution found the poultry industry to be the greatest single contributor. 00:08:24.395 --> 00:08:34.300 The ammonia in poultry litter "combines with other pollutants— sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide...to produce a secondary source of additional deadly [fine particulate matter]." 00:08:34.300 --> 00:08:38.167 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that this kind of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:43.634 "is responsible for over 90% of air pollution-related health damages." 00:08:43.770 --> 00:08:48.589 A large-scale study by the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply (CSES) research project 00:08:48.589 --> 00:08:55.050 found the mortality rate (meaning death rate) in non-cage systems to be 2.5 times higher than in battery cage systems. 00:08:55.050 --> 00:08:59.310 This finding was far from isolated to one study or country. 00:08:59.310 --> 00:09:07.615 The primary causes of increased mortality in non-cage systems include: injurious pecking, cannibalism, and disease transference. 00:09:07.746 --> 00:09:13.435 These very issues are a large part of why battery cages were invented in the first place 00:09:13.654 --> 00:09:19.712 —confining hens in cages makes it much easier to manage behavioral issues and disease outbreaks. 00:09:19.806 --> 00:09:26.927 Pointing to the housing system as the reason for more deaths, is an oversimplification of what is a very complex issue. 00:09:26.927 --> 00:09:32.470 A meta-analysis of data from 29 sources covering commercial farms in 16 countries 00:09:32.470 --> 00:09:38.228 indicates a possible decline in mortality rates within non-cage systems in more recent years. 00:09:38.228 --> 00:09:44.807 The authors argue that this decline will continue as producers become more familiar with managing non-cage systems, 00:09:44.807 --> 00:09:48.636 and as more "appropriate" hen breeds are created and utilized. 00:09:48.636 --> 00:09:54.363 They also emphasize are created and utilized. the importance of debeaking hens to reduce injurious and cannibalistic behavior. 00:09:54.513 --> 00:10:00.622 At first glance, this decline in mortality rates in non-cage systems may sound like a promising trend. 00:10:00.734 --> 00:10:09.637 Yet, rather than pointing to reasons for hope, the proposed causes of the decline actually highlight a stark reality: 00:10:09.881 --> 00:10:15.000 within the animal products industries, the solutions are the problems. 00:10:15.143 --> 00:10:19.902 When hens injure and kill one another due to their breeding and living conditions 00:10:20.201 --> 00:10:23.014 —both of which have been imposed upon them— 00:10:23.014 --> 00:10:27.220 the solution is to cut off their beaks and alter their breeding. 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:35.670 Ian J.H. Duncan, Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Chair in Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, Canada, illustrates this predicament, saying: 00:10:35.670 --> 00:10:42.211 "If [producers] do not trim beaks, then feather pecking and cannibalism may cause enormous suffering. 00:10:42.286 --> 00:10:47.746 If they do trim beaks by conventional methods, the birds will suffer from acute and chronic pain... 00:10:47.914 --> 00:10:54.392 Chopping off parts of young animals in order to prevent future welfare problems is a very crude solution." 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:58.660 Duncan proposes instead that, given "feather pecking has hereditary characteristics.... 00:10:58.660 --> 00:11:03.720 It therefore seems likely that the long-term solution to this problem will be a genetic one..." 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:08.641 While certainly less objectionable than debeaking on a visceral level, 00:11:08.641 --> 00:11:20.534 genetic manipulation of sentient beings to serve our purposes is not only extremely ethically problematic, but —once again—what got us into this position in the first place. 00:11:20.550 --> 00:11:27.655 The animal products industries have honed these beings at a genetic level to meet specific demands and performance. 00:11:27.655 --> 00:11:34.204 Laying hens have traditionally been bred for producing as many eggs as possible in a caged environment. 00:11:34.204 --> 00:11:38.794 Place them into a cage-free environment and mortality skyrockets. 00:11:38.794 --> 00:11:47.020 So, the solution to the problems inadvertently created by genetic manipulation is to further manipulate their genes. 00:11:47.392 --> 00:11:56.140 Every time our breeding, confinement, mutilation and slaughter of non-human animals invariably cause ethical, environmental and health problems, 00:11:56.309 --> 00:12:02.740 we strive to solve them with different variations of breeding, confinement, mutilation and slaughter. 00:12:02.946 --> 00:12:13.599 We continue this cycle over and over again—addressing problems of our own creation with solutions that will eventually become our next problem 00:12:13.599 --> 00:12:19.098 —rather than stepping back and questioning our use of animals in the first place. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:26.706 Even if less hens die in one housing system than another, is that truly any indicator of their quality of life? 00:12:26.875 --> 00:12:31.269 As the authors of the meta analysis themselves poignantly state: 00:12:31.269 --> 00:12:38.580 "Put simply, what makes animals suffer is not necessarily what kills them." 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:45.192 There are mountains of research and governmental regulations you can read through regarding the welfare of laying hens around the world. 00:12:45.192 --> 00:12:47.860 What I've covered just touches the surface. 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:58.901 But in the end, while I believe it's vital to know the truth behind humane claims, it's our use of animals in and of itself that's inhumane. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:01.993 No matter what label we give it. 00:13:02.180 --> 00:13:07.295 I hope this video has been helpful. Don't forget to take the free eCourse to test your knowledge! 00:13:07.482 --> 00:13:11.990 To stay in the loop about new Bite Size Vegan content and updates, subscribe to the newsletter or 00:13:11.990 --> 00:13:15.898 follow the Telegram channel for the most reliable notifications. 00:13:15.898 --> 00:13:18.536 Now go live vegan, and I'll see you soon.