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Alisa....Q for you & anyone else who can help shed some light
I know you are pretty up to date on politics and stuff like that. I admit, I am completely ignorant when it comes to anything politics and I feel like every one is trying to trick me into believing something.... My friends sister who is a student at UC Davis emailed me this paper. I thought prop 2 was the easiest one for me to vote on, but now I am confused. Here is her thoughts on it.
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Proposition 2 requires increased cage or pen space for laying hens, veal
calves and breeding sows. However, the only industry that is
significantly affected is the egg industry. There are almost no veal
calves raised in California and the number of hogs is insignificant
compared to the rest of the nation. There are approximately 20,000
breeding sows in California compared to the more than 3 million breeding
sows in the United States.
The egg industry, however, will be affected. By requiring egg producers
to increase cage space, they will not be able to compete with outside egg
producers who can undercut the price of California eggs. This means the
eggs we buy from the store will no longer be from California, but instead
from other states or other countries, like Mexico and China. These
countries dont have the standards that the United States does and
therefore our food will not necessarily be safe. There will be an
increased chance of Salmonella or other diseases associated with limited
regulations in hen laying facilities.
Why wont our producers be able to compete with these outside sources?
First of all, increasing cage space means less overall hens. Less hens of
course means less eggs and therefore higher prices (supply and demand). Moreover, producers are going to have an even harder time changing their
established facilities. The old cages will have to be ripped out and new
ones put in. Many producers will not be able to handle this burden and
have to shut down. This affects everyone! Producers will go out of
business due to not being able to take the financial burden, consumers
will have to pay more to buy imported eggs or the high cost of California
eggs and the California economy will be hurt severely. This will be felt
even harder in a time when the economy (state and national) is already in
a diminished state.
In a state where suburbs and cities are the norm, we can not afford to
pass this bill. We dont want these animal facilities to be near our
homes. We dont want to smell or see the animals that are raised for
food. Yet, we want to require them to be housed in larger areas? As it
is, producers have a hard time finding enough space for the animals they
have. To require them to provide even more space for each animal is not
practical or economical.
Producers do not like raising livestock in California due to the high
cost, but with new regulations, it will be impossible for them to
continue. No new producers will want to come to our state when they can
easily raise animals in the next state over for half the price.
Proposition 2 will destroy Californias agriculture.
Again, just my opinion and I do acknowledge the other side. I love
animals and I do not like to seem them suffer, but proposition 2 is not
the solution to solve that. I dont even eat meat and I choose to buy
eggs from cage-free hens (which only 5% of other Californians do), but I
see how harmful this bill will be if passed.
Re: Alisa....Q for you & anyone else who can help shed some light
I am voting no on 2. it hurts my heart to imagine any animal suffering (trust me, we have either rescued or feed every cat in the neighborhood!) but making sure a chicken or a pig has a measly extra foot of space to move in is not going to improve that animal's quality of life so much that it's worth the fiscal impact on local farmers.
Locally grown eggs would cost an arm and a leg if this passes, and can you imagine the potential risk of food-borne contagion if markets chose to buy imported eggs? Remember the Mexican-grown/imported spinach and peppers and how many people were sickened (and died!). And let's not add another hardship to local farmers, they don't need to follow strict government regulations to ensure their industry-animals (not pets!) are "happy".
I buy cage free eggs anyways. I also gave up eating chicken and beef, and will eventually phase out dairy, eggs, and fish as well. i think this issue is bigger than economics. it's about what's right and wrong. (*opens up her PETA welcome package*)