With the "historic" 2008 election coming to a close tomorrow, media are winding up their own information and endorsement campaigns. An informal review of media endorsements on Proposition 2, the Humane Society's initiative to prohibit what it considers cruel animal confinement procedures for egg-laying hens, sows and calves, looks like good news for opponents of the measure.
Here's my tally . . .
Opposed:
In favor:
No postion:
Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara Independent ran pro and con arguments over the weekend. On the pro side, environmental activist Lee Heller wrote that the battery cages now used at most egg farms are a "sick imitation of assembly-line auto production." On the con side, executive director of the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau Teri Bontrager said the "initiative would destroy the egg industry, making Californians dependent on unsafe imports."
In her argument, Bontrager wrote that "nearly all California egg farmers adhere to the California Egg Quality Assurance Program, a strict set of food safety standards developed and implemented by California egg farmers, California Department of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of California Cooperative Extension, California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration."
Tomorrow, Californians express their opinions.