Europe Tests WTO on Caged Hen Rules

Environment News Service

The European Commission has announced an end to the cramped conditions suffered by hens housed in battery cages. These are the row upon row of enclosures no bigger than a thick telephone directory that force the birds’ egg production to the maximum.

However, the new measures will not take effect until 2012. In the interim, the European Union will come up against the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on animal welfare and animal welfare labeling for the first time.

Animal welfare organizations like the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) have campaigned for 30 years on behalf of hens kept in battery cages. Current European Union legislation allows for a minimum space of 450 square centimeters [about 45 square inches] in a battery cage.

Nine out of 10 of Europe’s 300 million hens are kept in such conditions, unable to stretch their wings, nest, scratch, perch, and dust-bathe. Studies show that these conditions stress the hens. They suffer the same conditions in the US.

Under new measures announced by the European Commission, the executive arm of the 15-member European Union, no new battery cages will be built after 2003. In 2005, the issue will be reviewed for possible conflicts with WTO rules, which could stop countries with high animal welfare standards from banning imports of products that have been produced under lower standards. To date, no WTO cases have actually considered animal welfare. This has meant countries have been reluctant to bring in measures to improve animal welfare if they have a direct trade impact.

According to a 1999 report by campaign group Compassion in World Farming, intensive battery farming causes hens to develop brittle bones. Moreover, the cramped conditions cause half a million cage deaths annually in the UK.

By 2012, all conventional battery cages in Europe should be replaced by alternative methods such as free range or barn production.

Producers will be allowed to keep birds in enriched cages, which provide nesting and perching facilities. The RSPCA does not consider such cages to be viable alternatives because they may not significantly improve welfare.

The EU proposals will also require labeling all fresh eggs according to how the hens were kept. This will make it easier for producers who meet higher welfare standards to compete with cheaper production methods.

Said David Bowles, of the RSPCA, “If approved it will give consumers the power to choose how their eggs are produced. It also sends a clear message to the WTO that Europe is not prepared to compromise its high standards.”

Until the ban on battery cages takes effect in 2012, the RSPCA plans to step up its message to UK consumers to buy eggs from free range or barn systems accredited to RSPCA Freedom Food welfare standards. [Other groups, meanwhile, call on people to quit eating eggs altogether, in order to end the exploitation of hens.]