Read the Fine Print

by: Jill Richardson

Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:04:08 PM PDT

Hens in a battery cage, making 98% of Wendy's eggs.

The other 98% still come from hens in battery cages, described by HSUS as follows:

Arguably the most abused animals in all agribusiness, nearly 280 million laying hens in the United States are confined in barren, wire battery cages so restrictive the birds can't even spread their wings. With no opportunity to engage in many of their natural behaviors, including nesting, dust bathing, perching, and foraging, these birds endure lives wrought with suffering.

Because of animal welfare concerns, countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Austria have banned battery cages. The entire European Union is phasing out conventional cages by 2012.

Battery cages are not only cruel because the hens live in filthy, crowded conditions (sometimes stacked so that birds poop on the birds below them) and can hardly move. When trying to act out natural behaviors like dustbathing, they beat their bodies against the metal bars of their cages. HSUS also provides a video of hens in battery cages, a photo gallery of battery cages (read the caption with each photo), and a comparison between battery cages and cage-free egg production.

Wendy's, this is really disingenuous. It's fantastic that with your large demand you are improving the lives of many chickens, no doubt, but if you truly believe in the cruelty of battery cages and the need to address the issue, why are you only going 2% of the way? Probably to garner press releases like the one that I stumbled upon, without the expense of actually making real change. That's my hunch.

Sen. Bennett (R-UT) Recommends You Eat a Bacon Wrapped Burger From Wendys

by: Jill Richardson

Thu May 07, 2009 at 09:00:00 AM PDT

Utah Senator Robert Bennett drove this point home even further, specifying that you don't need to avoid bacon wrapped burgers from Wendys. I'd just like to remind Sen. Bennett that perhaps he should avoid bacon wrapped burgers, and not because of swine flu. After all, swine flu won't kill you but heart disease will.

The hearing was held by the Senate Ag Appropriations subcommittee, and there was no mention of any concern over unhealthy conditions on factory farms brought up. They noted that no swine are known to be ill in the U.S. or Mexico and that the sick pigs in Canada were infected by a human. Whether or not this particular flu outbreak came from factory farmed pigs, I think it's a good opportunity for us all to examine the health risks associated with factory farming, yet the Senate committee had no interest in doing that. Their only concern is that Americans and U.S. trading partners continue buying pork.