Scientists Claim That Halting an Hour of Chicken Suffering Can Be Achieved for Less Than One Hundredth of a Cent
In a groundbreaking development, a team of researchers has introduced the Welfare Footprint Framework, a method to calculate the hours of pain or pleasure experienced by animals under industrial farming systems. This innovative approach could revolutionise global food policy, placing animal welfare on par with other policy priorities.
The Welfare Footprint Framework was tested on the European Chicken Commitment (ECC), a movement promoting slower-growing breeds like Ranger Gold. By adopting ECC guidelines, it was found that at least 15 to 100 hours of intense pain per bird could be prevented, all at an additional cost of just $1 more per kilogram of meat.
Fast-growing chickens, which dominate the global meat market and have tripled in size since the 1950s, often suffer from lameness, heart failure, or heat stress, enduring disabling or excruciating pain. On the other hand, Ranger Gold chickens, which are promoted by the ECC, live longer and have fewer instances of intense pain compared to standard broilers, enduring 33 fewer hours of very intense pain per lifetime, according to a conservative estimate.
The cost to prevent each hour of intense pain under industrial farming systems is less than one-hundredth of a cent, similar to the emissions from driving a car for 15 meters. This means that for about one extra dollar per kilogram of meat, we could spare chickens at least 15 to 100 hours of intense pain.
The authors of the study argue that intensive farming cannot be defended as "green" if it produces only marginal environmental savings while inflicting enormous suffering. Dr. Cynthia Schuck-Paim, the study's lead author, stated that the pain and distress for chickens begins before they are born, with the life of their mother. Parent flocks of chickens used to produce broilers are genetically primed to gain weight fast. To keep them alive long enough to breed, farmers must severely restrict their feed, causing mother hens to spend most of their lives in chronic hunger.
Dr. Hartcher, another researcher involved in the study, stated that "the numbers speak for themselves" in regards to the significance of the Welfare Footprint Framework. This framework, published in Nature Food, assigns a number to animal welfare that can be compared with metrics like dollars spent or kilograms of CO2 emitted. The Welfare Footprint Framework could potentially shift the focus of debates about protein alternatives towards the animals' suffering, not just nutrition and climate.
The group of researchers who developed the Welfare Footprint Framework method to measure animal suffering in industrial agriculture is called the Welfare Footprint Project team. This development could change the landscape of global food policy, ensuring that animal welfare is no longer sidelined but given the attention it deserves.
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