Animal-Ethics Issues Figure in Week’s News
Feb 11th, 2008 • Posted in: NewsLongtime animal advocate donates million for animal ethics program; conditions on chicken farms capture headlines in Britain
LOS ANGELES and LONDON
A variety of animal-ethics stories were featured in news from education and commerce last week:
- Bob Barker, the former host of the TV game show “The Price is Right,” last week donated $1 million to establish an undergraduate animal-ethics program at his alma mater, Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. Barker, a longtime animal-rights activist, previously donated millions to similar programs at the law schools of Columbia, Harvard, and Northwestern, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- British supermarket chain Tesco sparked a controversy last week when it slashed the price of a whole chicken to about $3.70. While Tesco said the move would benefit consumers on tight budgets, critics said the discount would put more pressure on chicken producers and exacerbate the already grim conditions under which broiler chickens are raised, the London-based Independent reports. Chicken farming is a high-profile issue in Britain following a series of television reports documenting cramped, painful conditions and maintaining that many chickens are unable to walk properly because of their severely crowded confinement.
- A new poll shows that animal welfare is the top ethical concern among U.K. consumers, the Guardian reports. Twenty-one percent of respondents to the poll, conducted by the Co-op grocery chain, cited animal welfare as their most important issue. Fourteen percent rated fair trade as their key concern, while only 4 percent cited global warming. As a result of the poll, the 2,700-store chain is banning the sale of eggs from caged hens. The Co-op chain claims that the survey of 100,000 members and customers is the biggest poll of consumer ethics in history.
Sources: Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 8 — Independent, Feb. 8 — Guardian, Feb. 4.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Feb. 4 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 22 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 22 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 7 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 10, 2007.
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