known simply as “acute death syndrome,” or ADS.
Apparentlytheproductoftheunnaturalconditionsgenerated
by the broiler industry, ADS has been shown to kill an
averageofroughly 2 percentofbroilerflocksinCanadaand
Australia, and presumably
thefiguresaresimilarwhereverthesamemethodsareused.^15
It has been described in the following way:
Chickens exhibited a sudden attack prior to death
characterisedbylossofbalance,violentflapping,andstrong
muscularcontractions....Birdswereobservedtofallforwards
orbackwardsduringtheinitiallossofbalanceandcouldturn
over on their back or their sternum during the course of
violent flapping.^16
Noneofthestudiesoffersaclearexplanationofwhythese
apparentlyhealthychickensshouldsuddenlycollapseanddie,
but a poultry specialist with the British Ministry of
Agriculturehaslinkedittotheverygoalforwhichtheentire
broiler industry strives—rapid growth:
Broilermortalitylevelshaveincreasedanditisreasonableto
speculatewhetherthiscanbeindirectlyattributedtothevery
considerablegeneticandnutritionaladvancesthathavebeen
made.Inotherwords,wemaybeexpectingbroilerstogrow
too quickly—multiplying their weight 50–60 times in 7
weeks....“Flip-overs,”thatis,thesuddendeathofthriving
youngbroilers(usuallymales)mayalsobeconnectedwith
this “super-charged” growth.^17
Thefastgrowthratealsocausescripplinganddeformitiesthat
forceproducerstokillanadditional 1 to 2 percentofbroiler
chickens—andsinceonlyseverecasesareculled,thenumber