A Cruel Betrayal of Animals—and Massachusetts Voters

Almost five years ago, Massachusetts voters overwhelming approved—with a nearly 78 percent majority—a ballot measure (Question 3) to ensure that each egg-laying hen be provided no less than 1.5 square feet of floor space. Although still a meager amount of space, it’s an important step in the right direction.

But now, the egg industry is pushing for legislation that would repeal the 1.5 square foot standard and allow hens confined in multi-tier egg factories to be provided with a cruel one square foot of floor space per bird. This would cut hens’ living space by a third and enable the industry to pack 50% more hens into egg factories  than our voter-enacted law allows.

The egg industry, and a few co-opted animal groups, are attempting to justify this drastic reduction in living space for hens by falsely claiming that their legislation is an “enhancement” to the law. What they are actually attempting is the outright repeal of the law’s central and most important provision. Moreover, egg-industry executives have now morphed into Chicken Little, issuing a bevy of alarmist and misleading claims alleging that our current voter-enacted law will result in egg shortages and astronomical increases in egg prices. We have heard all of this before, and none of it is true.

In fact, when originally promoting Question 3 in 2016, the Humane Society of the U.S. repeatedly noted that the supply of eggs would remain plentiful and that the new voter-approved standard would only add a few cents to the price of a dozen eggs. But, now, due to an unholy alliance with the egg industry, the flip-flopping Humane Society and MSPCA have completely changed their tune.