- DES MOINES (AP) --
The egg industry should stop advertising its products as humane as long
as it continues such practices as clipping hens' beaks and depriving birds
of food and water, according to a ruling issued Monday by the Better Business
Bureau.
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- The ruling comes from the bureau's New York-based National
Advertising Review Board, its highest authority on advertising issues.
The board recommended that the United Egg Producers either discontinue
labeling eggs as "animal care certified," or significantly alter
it to stop misleading consumers.
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- "It is unimaginable that consumers would consider
treatment they find 'unacceptable' to be humane treatment," the ruling
stated.
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- The ruling upheld a November finding by a lower panel
of the Better Business Bureau. Compliance with the recommendations are
voluntary, but groups that refuse to do so are referred to federal agencies
like the Federal Trade Commission or the Food and Drug Administration for
further investigation.
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- "It happens so infrequently that if it does go to
the FDA or the FTC, they will scrutinize the case because it raises their
red flags," said Bruce Hopewell, director of the National Advertising
Review Board.
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- Several telephone messages left with officials of the
Atlanta-based United Egg Producers, the U.S. egg industry's trade association,
were not returned.
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- The group has said the logo, which adorns egg cartons
in grocery stores, is based on scientific standards developed by a group
of independent experts.
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- Its official response to the ruling stated that the group
is prepared "to increase the extent to which the substantive significance
of the guidelines is communicated to consumers."
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- While the BBB found that the egg industry's standards
have improved treatment of hens, it's not to a level that most consumers
would find humane.
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- Among the practices cited were forced molting, which
is intentionally withholding food and water to make birds lose weight;
partial beak clipping, without anesthesia, to prevent birds from pecking
each other; and dense crowding of hens in cages that don't allow them to
flap their wings or turn around.
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- Iowa ranks first among the U.S. states in egg production.
In 2001, the state produced 7.55 billion eggs from 37.8 million chickens
for cash receipts of $241 million.
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- © The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier 2003 http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2004/05/11/business/local
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