Six billion intensively-farmed chickens will continue to suffer unless a proposed new EU farming directive is strengthened, an animal welfare group has warned.
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is to launch a campaign in Brussels today to urge MEPs to push for changes to a draft law which will for the first time set legal minimum welfare standards for meat chickens in the EU.
The group argues the standards in the draft legislation fail to address the problems of overcrowding and the use of ultra-fast growing breeds of birds. Selectively breeding animals to reach slaughter in just six weeks leads to extensive suffering from leg disorders and heart failure.
The director of CIWF in Ireland, Mary-Anne Bartlett, said she welcomed the legislation in principle. "But, sadly, the current draft fails in several major ways to address the welfare problems that these birds face. Many broiler chickens suffer from the effects of overcrowded conditions and ultra-fast growth.
"If the draft EU directive is accepted in its current state, then it will actually enshrine this suffering in EU law. CIWF wants to see the new directive set standards that ensure meat chickens are given more space and slower-growing birds are used."
CIWF and its sister organisations will today present a scroll signed by 324,281 EU citizens to the German and Austrian ministers for agriculture.