youtube/watch?v=wpG0my4wEH4 In 1999, the Council of the European Union decreed that battery cages were so cruel that they should be banned across the EU. Between 2003 - 2012, and finally, on 1 Jan 2012, battery cages were banned under the EU Laying Hens Directive. [Battery cages] were replaced with enriched cages, also called colony cages. This system is only marginally better; and since the birds are still confined, and cramped; caged? Therein lies the real issue (discrepancy)? UK LAGGING BEHIND OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE EU: 2012 was the deadlock by which conventional battery cages were banned under that EU Laying Hens Directive, but some countries acted under their own volition to make more far-reaching, and swifter, changes: - Switzerland got rid of conventional battery cages in 2002 and is considering banning the enriched cage. - Germany banned conventional cages in 2007, and enriched cages from 2012. - Austria banned battery cages as of 2009, and is also planning to phase out the enriched cage by 2020. - Sweden phased out conventional cages between 2001 and 2005 - Belgium proposes to ban enriched cages by 2024. In the UK, alone, free-range systems account for around 28% of all eggs, compared to 4% in barns and 6% organic. Similarly, the trend remains true for much of the EU. A process that has continued all through the years. Give or take. However; this does not rule out the fact that no one system is without fault and irregularities, and always up for scrutiny.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 01:50:39 +0000