cages,thisalsoshowsthatthenewminimumwilldonomore
than write into the law the very high stocking
densitiesthatmosteggproducersarealready using.Onlya
minoritywhosqueezetheir birdsevenmoretightly thanis
standardintheindustrywillhavetochange.Meanwhilein
1987 the European Parliament recommended that battery
cagesbephasedoutintheEuropeanCommunitywithinten
years.^42 But the European Parliament only has advisory
powers,andEuropeansanxiousto seetheendofthecages
have nothing to celebrate yet.
TheUnitedStates,however,lagsfarbehindEuropeineven
beginningtotacklethisproblem.TheEuropeanCommunity
minimumstandardof 450 squarecentimetersisequivalentto
seventysquareinchesperhen;intheUnitedStates,United
EggProducershasrecommendedforty-eightsquareinchesas
aU.S.standard.^43 Butthespaceallowedtobirdsonfarmsis
oftenstillless.AttheHainsworthfarminMt.Morris,New
York,fourhensweresqueezedintocagestwelveinchesby
twelveinches—36square inchesperbird—andthereporter
added: “Some hold five birds when Hainsworth has more
birds than room.”^44 The truthis that whatever official or
semiofficialrecommendationstheremaybe,oneneverknows
howmanyhensarepackedintocagesunlessonegoesand
looks.InAustralia,whereagovernment“CodeofPractice”
suggeststhatthereshouldbenomorethanfourhensinan
eighteen-by-eighteen-inchcage,anunannouncedvisittoone
farminthestateofVictoriain 1988 revealedsevenbirdsin
onecagethatsize,andfiveorsixinmanyothers. Yetthe
DepartmentofAgricultureinthestateofVictoriarefusedto
prosecute the producer.^45 Seven birds in a cage eighteen
inchessquare havejust 289 squarecentimeters,orforty-six
squareinches.Atthesestockingratesasinglesheetoftyping