Michael Sauers

February 22, 2025

Greetings! Lately there has been much talk about the price of eggs. Understandable, since most Americans are trying to survive on a non-living wage. The wealthy don’t worry about the price of eggs. They can afford them no matter what the price is.

I want to put aside the economic and health issues swirling around eggs. My interest here is in talking about the utter cruelty of egg production. First of all it is a perfect example of speciesism. Secondly, chickens and eggs are strictly a consumptive commodity viewed only through a profit/loss lens. That is the bottom line.

Egg laying chickens are breed to produce eggs. Their lives are short and spent on in-line egg farms with cramped quarters and thousands of other chickens. There is very little fresh air, space, quiet or sunshine. Shortly after their egg production days are over they are unceremoniously slaughtered. That’s it! This is the fate of billions of egg layers every year. They no longer have commercial value as egg layers. While this may not be the case for smaller operations, it is not much better.

Even worse and a dirty little secret of the egg industry is what happens to male chicks. Obviously, as males, they cannot lay eggs and it is not commercially viable to raise them for meat. So, immediately after hatching and after sex identification they are killed. Sometimes this is done through asphyxiation but mostly it is done through a process called maceration. Get ready. Those cute little chicks that our children love are thrown into a high speed grinding machine. Talk about expediency.

As a former second grade teacher I can tell you that no child would tolerate this. Of course, they don’t know that it is happening. Actually, many adults are not educated on this either.

Now, the above is just one example of the brutality of factory farming. All of the animals we birth, raise, cull, fatten, milk, shear, skin and eventually slaughter undergo untold cruelties and abuses. Again, speciesism on full display.

There are many reasons to eat a plant based diet; health, land and water use, economics, climate, reduced dependence on chemicals, energy, etc.. For me the most compelling reason is not participating in a venture so cruel that it must be hidden from the public, especially children!

I’ll pass on the eggs. Thank you.