AR-News: [U.S.] COK wins! Egg industry loses appeal with Better Business Bureau

[Miyun Park]

The following AP article's been picked up by more than a dozen online news
outlets so far. (Visit http://tinyurl.com/32rnm to see the pick-up.)

--Miyun

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Egg-Labels.html

AP: Better Business Bureau Nixes Egg Ads
May 10, 2004

By PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa — 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.

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.

"It is unimaginable that consumers would consider treatment they find
'unacceptable' to be humane treatment," the ruling stated.

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 often referred to federal agencies like the Federal
Trade Commission or the Food and Drug Administration.

The board found that the egg industry's standards have improved treatment of
hens, but not to a level that most consumers would find humane.

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.

United Egg Producers has said it awards the logo based on scientific
standards developed by a group of independent experts. In its official
response to the ruling, the group said it is prepared "to increase the
extent to which the substantive significance of the guidelines is
communicated to consumers."

The ruling stems from a complaint by Compassion Over Killing, a Washington,
D.C.-based animal rights group.

Paul Shapiro, the group's campaigns director, said he hoped the ruling would
bolster his group's case in complaints filed with the Federal Trade
Commission and the Food and Drug Administration.

Telephone messages left for United Egg Producers, the U.S. egg industry's
trade group, were not immediately returned.

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On the Net:

United Egg Producers: http://www.unitedegg.org/

Compassion Over Killing: http://www.cok.net/

National Advertising Division: http://www.nadreview.org/