1. MYTH:

Food prices will increase if this initiative passes.

FACT:

Published research, as well as an analysis by a California-based poultry economist (see page 4), show that it costs producers less than one additional penny per egg not to confine laying hens in battery cages. While it's possible that giving these animals better living conditions may increase consumer prices by a few pennies per dozen, the hidden cost of such inhumane confinement is increased cruelty, and it's the animals who are paying that extra price.

2. MYTH:

Passing this initiative will increase the risk of bird flu.

FACT:

Aside from the highly questionable nature of the assertion, this claim implies that the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act would mandate outdoor access for birds, which is simply not true. Giving animals enough room to turn around and stretch their limbs doesn’t mean they can’t be housed indoors—they merely must have adequate space to perform the simplest of movements.

3. MYTH:

The measure increases Salmonella risk

FACT:

All of the recent evidence shows more Salmonella risk in caged flocks compared to cage-free. In fact, factory farming is considered the reason Salmonella emerged as such a major egg pathogen in the first place. According to the CDC, eggs now infect 50,000-110,000 Americans every year. The best available data shows that operations which cram thousands of hens into tiny cages are not surprisingly up to 20 times more likely than cage-free facilities to harbor Salmonella infection. Read our report on the public health benefits of Prop 2 [Executive Summary | Full Report]

4. MYTH:

Prop 2 will just drive egg production out of California, merely moving the problem rather than addressing it.

FACT:

During a similar ballot initiative in Arizona in 2006, the industry attempted to scare voters with the same assertion. In reality though, the opposite happened. Not only did the major gestation crate user remain in the state, but the landslide vote (62-38) was a catalyst for national reform in the veal and pork industries. Within just three months of the vote, the top two veal producers announced they'd phase out their use of veal crates and the largest pig producers in the US and Canada announced they'd be phasing out gestation crates.

Arizona vote set a path not only for improved animal welfare in the state, but it encouraged reform in the rest of the nation, as well. A similar experience will likely take place in the egg industry when Californians pass Prop 2 – and industry leaders seem to agree. Further, an increasing number of major retailers are demanding that their suppliers move away from extreme confinement practices. Prop 2 will accelerate this trend, meaning that there will be even less incentive for production to relocate.

5. MYTH:

Passing Prop 2 will mean Californians will just import eggs from Mexico.

FACT:

When asked about this allegation, even Dan Sumner, the author of an anti-Prop 2 report, conceded,"I personally think that's unlikely...Mexico doesn't produce much feed corn and that's why Mexico isn't a logical place for production."

6. MYTH:

This is not only a ban on battery cage confinement, but it would also prohibit most cage-free operations, too.

FACT:

This wild claim has no basis in reality – and shows the level of the desperation that factory farms will to go in this election. Prop 2—as it relates to egg-laying hens—requires that the bird be able to spread her wings without touching other birds or the sides of an enclosure. The opposition would have us believe that this means the birds must be able to simultaneously spread their wings. Even if such a synchronized ballet of wing-spreading were possible, it’s not required by Prop 2. It’s also the case that cage-free laying hens are able to fully spread their wings, especially when they make use of the vertical space that’s available to them.

Common sense is enough to reject this misleading claim; but just to be safe, we asked a UC Davis educated poultry scientist, a leading California criminal attorney, and a former Fresno district attorney for their interpretations. Even the opposition’s own UC Davis study concluded the obvious:“we have interpreted the language of the initiative to mean that at least one hen must be able to flap her wings, and therefore to permit non-cage systems at currently accepted stocking densities.”Don’t believe the scare-tactics. Vote YES on 2.

7. MYTH:

Jobs will be lost if Prop 2 passes.

FACT:

California farmers who don't confine their animals in tiny cages provide better jobs and a better boost to the economy. For example, cage-free egg producers have been reported to employ more than five times as many people per bird as producers who cram egg-laying hens into tiny wire cages. It's the very confinement systems that Prop 2 would phase out which have allowed factory farms to become automated and have dramatically reduced the need for human labor. In fact, a manager for JS West Co, a major California egg producer, emphasized in a recent forum on Prop 2 that fully converting to cage-free operations would mean they'd have to hire additional employees.

8. MYTH:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has strict standards that cover raising farm animals.

FACT:

The USDA does not have any regulations whatsoever for the treatment of animals raised for food while they're on the farm. While the European Union is phasing out the three confinement practices prohibited by the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, there are no federal laws in the United States that regulate on-farm treatment of animals raised for food.

9. MYTH:

Animals wouldn’t produce if they weren’t happy. The farmer who mistreats animals goes out of business.

FACT:

Animal agribusiness representatives often claim that it's in their own interest to treat animals well, and a common defense of factory farming is that "only happy animals produce." While there are some instances where improving animal welfare would also improve the bottom line, unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Says poultry welfare expert Dr. Joy Mench: "It is now generally agreed that good productivity and health are not necessarily indicators of good
welfare...Productivity...is often measured at the level of the unit (e.g. number of eggs or egg mass per hen-housed), and individual animals may be
in a comparatively poor state of welfare even though productivity within the unit may be high."

Farm animal welfare expert Dr. Donald Broom asserts: "[E]fforts to achieve earlier and faster growth, greater production per individual, efficient
feed conversion and partitioning, and increased prolificacy are the causes of some of the worst animal welfare problems."

And, agricultural ethicist Dr. Bernard Rollin states: "[I]n industrial agriculture, this link between productivity and well-being is severed. When
productivity as an economic metric is applied to the whole operation, the welfare of the individual animal is ignored."

10. MYTH:

Cage-free hens necessarily have higher mortality rates than caged hens.

FACT:

Poultry welfare scientist Dr. Joy Mench, a professor in the Department of Animal Science at UC-Davis, was quoted in the May 11, 2006 San Jose Mercury News as saying, "Mortality and disease rates can be similar under both systems if management is good." Click here for more information on why this opposition claim is false.

11. MYTH:

Prop 2 will give police powers to animal rights activists.

FACT:

This is a scare tactic, and we've heard it before. All California anti-cruelty laws, including the ones which currently govern factory farms and which they are claiming are sufficient, are enforced by police officers and humane agencies that have local jurisdiction. There is no precedent here and nothing new created by Prop 2.

12. MYTH:

It’s not feasible to give egg-laying hens more space.

FACT:

This is a similar claim to one that that the pork industry made prior to 2007—that the industry simply couldn’t stop using gestation crates. However, after Arizona voters banned gestation crates, Smithfield Foods—the nation’s largest pig producer—announced it would phase out its use of gestation crates across the nation. One week later. Canada’s largest pig producer announced it would do the same. Farmers are innovative people who can meet challenges presented to them. Already, a large number of them—especially in California—are raising laying hens without confining them in battery cages.

13. MYTH:

An Australian study found that cage-free hens endure as much as stress as caged hens.

FACT:

No reputable animal scientist believes that corticosterone levels are a sufficient criterion to determine how much an animal is suffering. Click here for more information on why this opposition claim is false.

14. MYTH:

The crates prevent sows from rolling on top of their piglets and injuring them.

FACT:

The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act only addresses gestation crates, not farrowing crates. Right before giving birth, a sow is moved from the gestation crate into a farrowing crate, a metal stall designed to separate the mother pig from her nursing piglets. The farrowing crate is exempted from this initiative.

15. MYTH:

Small family farms in Florida were destroyed with the same initiative in 2002.

FACT:

According to the Florida Farm Bureau, the 2002 initiative had nothing to do with any farms closing. In an article published the week after the 2002 election, a Florida Farm Bureau spokesperson denied this claim often touted by the opposition, stating that "[i]t's because of low prices, not the amendment." In fact, the Florida initiative had a six-year phase-out period and won’t even take effect until the end of 2008.