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Shared Worlds: “Egg On His Face: Reversal, Reform, and the Politics of Cage-...” by Vasile Stănescu — Transcript

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0:03[music]
0:06>> So, our first speaker on this panel is
0:09Vasilis Tsenekos, and his talk is titled
0:13Egg on his face, reversal, reform, and
0:16the politics of cage-free eggs.
0:19Vasilis Tsenekos is an associate
0:21[clears throat] professor in the
0:22Department of Communication
0:24at Mercer University in the US. He holds
0:27a PhD in modern thought and literature
0:30from Stanford, where he focused on
0:31environmental rhetoric.
0:33His work examines animal studies, food
0:35studies, media studies, and
0:36environmental communication with
0:38particular attention to the
0:39intersections of consumer culture,
0:41capitalism, and animal liberation.
0:45His current work explores greenwashing
0:47strategies in animal agriculture and the
0:49relationship to climate change
0:50discourse. His scholarship is has been
0:53cited in The Guardian, Vox, The New York
0:56Times, and Bloomberg News. We'll put
0:58more information on Dr. Tsenekos in the
1:00chat. And with that, I turn it over to
1:03you, Vasilis.
1:06>> Thank you. Thank you for having me.
1:09Egg on their face.
1:11Seven simple arguments against cage-free
1:15egg campaigns.
1:18>> I'm sorry, do you want to share Do you
1:19have any slides or no? Just so
1:21>> No slides. No slides.
1:22>> Okay, great. I just like to make I just
1:24like to ask in advance.
1:25>> Great. No worries. Yes, and do I need to
1:27change anything with my video? And is
1:28the video working fine?
1:30>> Everything looks great. Thanks so much.
1:32>> Okay, great.
1:37Uh closer to the mic, okay. Can you hear
1:39me now?
1:44Okay, great.
1:46Cage-free egg campaigns are often
1:49described as one of the animal
1:51protection movement's greatest
1:52successes. The share of US laying hens
1:55in cage-free systems grew roughly 12% in
1:5920
2:0012 to over 40% in 2024.
2:04Supporters argue that the industry has
2:07learned to manage cage-free facilities,
2:09the mortality rates and cannibalism have
2:11declined, and that the campaign's market
2:14share proves its effectiveness. These
2:16arguments are often paired with broader
2:19strategic arguments that veganism has
2:21stalled while cage-free reform has
2:23produced measurable change. Criticism of
2:26cage-free campaigns is therefore treated
2:28as divisive, an attack on advocates who
2:31have spent years pursuing a practical
2:33and achievable reform. This essay takes
2:36that case seriously. If cage-free
2:39campaigns are the most valuable form of
2:42animal advocacy available, they should
2:44withstand careful evaluation. The
2:46question is not whether the label
2:48cage-free has grown. It clearly has. The
2:51question is rather that growth that
2:53growth has reduced animal suffering or
2:56moved us towards animal liberation. The
2:58evidence suggests the opposite.
3:01Cage-free systems worsen air quality and
3:04disease risk, intensify climate impacts,
3:07require more hens to produce the same
3:09number of sellable eggs, and help the
3:11egg industry to market its products
3:14through humanewashing and greenwashing.
3:16Today, there are more hens in battery
3:19cages than ever before. This is not a
3:23victory.
3:24Problem one, worse air quality in
3:27cage-free farms.
3:29Even if mortality has declined in some
3:32facilities, that would not justify
3:34endorsing cage-free eggs. Hens in
3:37cage-free environments live horrible
3:39lives in many ways worse than those even
3:43in battery cages. To highlight one
3:45factor among many, their eyes and lungs
3:49burn constantly. A cage-free barn is in
3:53reality one enormous cage rather than a
3:56series of smaller ones. Hens never go
3:59outdoors. They never see the light of
4:01day. They live among the constant
4:04accumulation of fecal matter, dust, and
4:06ammonia.
4:08Peer-reviewed research consistently
4:10finds that chickens in cage-free systems
4:12endure worse air quality than chickens
4:15in cages. A detailed Norwegian field
4:18study comparing ammonia, dust, and
4:20bacteria across three housing
4:23systems found that, quote, "Daily
4:25average concentration of ammonia was 3
4:28to 12 parts per million in a house with
4:30furnished cages, 21 to 42 parts per
4:33million in multi-level systems, and 66
4:36to 120 parts per million in floor
4:38systems." Likewise, David et al.
4:40published a comprehensive review
4:42documenting that cage systems, both
4:45traditional cages and furnished cages,
4:47have lower concentrations of ammonia
4:49compared to floor systems and aviaries.
4:51A more recent review reported that
4:53cage-free housing poses many inherent
4:55environmental changes, among which are
4:57high levels of particulate matter and
4:59ammonia, and reported that dust
5:01concentration in caged housing systems
5:03were five times lower than floor-raised
5:05aviary systems. Exposure to extremely
5:08high levels of particulate matter causes
5:10sub- substantial suffering for the
5:12birds.
5:14It causes uh impaired lung function,
5:16chronic bronchitis, pneumonia lesions,
5:19cardiovascular illness,
5:21and cardiotoxicity in chicken embryos
5:23and hatching chickens. I'm often told
5:26that cage-free should be supported
5:28because studies have shown lower
5:29mortality rates. However, even if true,
5:33I'm not sure that a chicken who lives
5:34longer under these conditions is better
5:37off than one that dies sooner. A longer
5:39life simply means more suffering. How is
5:42that a win? Why should animals enduring
5:44horrible lives for longer be something
5:46we celebrate?
5:47Why is getting to spread your wings
5:49somewhat in a overcrowded barn better
5:52when your eyes and lungs burn?
5:56Problem two, cage-free eggs are worse
5:58for climate change.
6:00The simple truth is that cage-free eggs,
6:02including free-range and pasture eggs,
6:04are significantly worse in terms of
6:06climate change than eggs from
6:07conventional egg systems. For example,
6:10research led by Adrian Williams at
6:12Cranfield University found that
6:13free-range organic chicken had a 20%
6:16greater impact of global warming than
6:18conventionally produced chickens. The
6:20same research found that organic eggs
6:22had a 14% higher
6:24impact than conventional eggs. Other
6:26research has consistently found similar
6:28results. I cite three more. The main
6:31reasons for these counterintuitive
6:33results include our lower productivity,
6:35greater feed usage, and greater land
6:37requirements.
6:39The same pattern appeared again in a
6:41peer-reviewed study just published this
6:43month, July 2026. Researchers found that
6:46converting the entire British egg
6:48industry to organic free-range
6:49production would almost double its
6:51greenhouse gas emissions from 1.184
6:54million metric tons of CO2 equivalent
6:57under a fully caged system to 2.316
7:00million under an organic free-range
7:01system. Organic free-range production
7:04also performed worse in terms of land
7:06use, acidification, hen more mortality
7:08rates, and a point we'll return to in a
7:11second, the number of hens required to
7:14produce the same number of eggs.
7:17To be clear, these arguments about
7:19climate change and sustainability are
7:21themselves arguments about animal rights
7:23and suffering. Climate change will hurt
7:25everyone, but it will disproportionately
7:27hurt and kill non-human animals who have
7:30the least ability to adapt to a warming
7:32climate.
7:34Problem three, free-range and
7:36pasture-raised eggs kill the killing of
7:38cause the killing of wild animals.
7:41Caged hens never see the light of day.
7:44Still, defenders sometimes describe
7:47cage-free systems as an incremental
7:49reform that may eventually lead to
7:52free-range or pasture-raised production.
7:54This is the strongest version of their
7:56argument. Even if cage-free itself might
7:59be indefensible, can cage-free campaigns
8:02be justified as a step towards outside
8:05access?
8:06The first problem with this argument is
8:08that it's probably just not true. As
8:10I'll discuss below, consumers struggle
8:12to distinguish between cage-free from
8:14free-range and pasture-raised and
8:16attribute similar welfare benefits to
8:18all of them, so there's little pressure
8:20to change.
8:21The second problem is that the climate
8:23impacts of free-range and pasture-raised
8:25are even worse than that of indoor cage
8:27system. But most importantly, outdoor
8:30production creates predictable conflicts
8:32with wild animals labeled as predators,
8:35and the farmers and government respond
8:37to this conflict by killing those
8:39animals. In other words, the only
8:41cage-free chickens who might have a
8:43decent quality of life, free-range and
8:46pasture-raised chickens, could only have
8:48that better quality of life at the
8:50expense of wild animals. As Ketcham
8:52documents, quote, "Since 2000, Wildlife
8:55Services operatives have killed at least
8:582 million native mammals and 15 million
9:01native birds. Many of these animals are
9:04iconic to the American West and beloved
9:06by the public. Several are listed as
9:08endangered or threatened under the the
9:10Endangered Species Act."
9:12In 2014, Wildlife Services killed 322
9:16wolves, 61,702
9:18coyotes, 2,930
9:21foxes, 580 black bears, 796 bobcats,
9:26five golden eagles, and three bald
9:28eagles. Wildlife Services gunned down
9:30coyotes from airplanes and helicopters.
9:32Its trappers used poison baits, cyanide
9:35traps, leg-hold traps, and neck snares.
9:37They hauled coyote pups from dens with
9:39lengths of barbed wire, strangled or
9:41clubbed them. Sometimes they set the
9:43animals on fire in the dens or
9:44suffocated them with explosive
9:46cartridges of carbon monoxide. We joked
9:49about using napalm, Naimer, a retired
9:51member of the service, told me.
9:53Such claims have also been supported by
9:55peer review data, specifically
9:57concerning free range and pastured
9:59chickens. Farmers have reported hundreds
10:02of missing chickens per flock, and
10:04predation was the third leading cause of
10:06mortality in free range flocks studied.
10:10It's not clear
10:11that free range production would ever
10:13lead to free range or pastured
10:15production. However, let's for a second
10:18suppose that it did. Let's grant the
10:20steel man version of their argument. My
10:22question remains, why would the lives of
10:25the chicken in pasture be worth more
10:27than the lives of the hawks and the
10:29eagles, who are also birds, or the
10:31wolves, bobcats, foxes, and coyotes who
10:34farmers and the United States government
10:36routinely kill to protect farmed
10:39animals.
10:40Problem four, cage-free system increases
10:43disease risk. We've just witnessed 175
10:47million chickens, turkeys, and other
10:48birds in the US poultry flock die or
10:50have been killed because of H5N1,
10:54colloquially known as bird flu. Most of
10:56the birds were killed preemptively after
10:58the virus was detected in their flock,
11:00even if they showed no symptoms at all.
11:02The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply
11:05conducted a comprehensive three-year
11:07commercial scale comparison of
11:08conventional cages, enriched cages, and
11:10cage-free aviaries. The cage-free
11:12aviaries had the highest hen mortality,
11:15the worst indoor quality, the greatest
11:17dust emissions, the greatest feed usage.
11:20It also produced the largest nutrient
11:22loss and the greatest potential for
11:24microbacterial contamination.
11:26And if cage-free ever did lead to growth
11:28in free range or pastured production,
11:31that would be only worse in terms of
11:32disease risk. Outdoor chicken flocks
11:35face higher risk of exposure to avian
11:37flu because they are more likely to
11:40encounter one of the viruses primary
11:42transmission vectors dropping from
11:44infected wild birds. Indeed, during the
11:472022 outbreak, some producers of
11:50free-range and pastured chickens brought
11:53their chickens back indoors and put them
11:55into cages to decrease their risk of
11:57exposure. Again, we have to ask, how is
12:01any of this better? Is the risk of 175
12:04million birds being killed better or
12:07worse than possibly better conditions
12:09that cage-free systems provide? Who can
12:11possibly do the math on this kind of
12:14animal suffering?
12:15Problem five. Cage-free campaigns make a
12:18violent industry bigger.
12:21However, the single biggest problem with
12:24the rhetoric of cage-free hens is that
12:26peer-reviewed studies have consistently
12:29found the cage-free systems require more
12:32hens to produce the same number of
12:34sellable eggs. This is because of
12:36structural factors, including lower egg
12:39production, dirty, broken, or four eggs
12:42that cannot be sold, eggs that are
12:43contaminated with fecal matter, and eggs
12:45that are broken before they can brought
12:47to market. Thus, cage-free systems
12:49require more hens to produce the same
12:52number of sellable eggs. Again, just as
12:55with the suffering from longer life,
12:57more suffering from wild animals being
12:59killed, more suffering in both wild and
13:01farmed animals due to increased climate
13:03change, cage-free eggs lead to more
13:05suffering overall rather than less.
13:08Even if the suffering per bird might be
13:11marginally less in a cage-free system,
13:14which itself is not entirely clear, if
13:17cage-free systems cause more hens to be
13:19used overall, that causes more suffering
13:21overall, not less.
13:23This problem is compounded by the
13:25killing of male chickens. Male chickens
13:27do not lay eggs, and of course, one male
13:30chicken is hatched for every female
13:32chicken bred in the egg industry. The US
13:35egg industry kills somewhere between 350
13:37to 390 male chickens every single year,
13:41commonly through maceration and gassing.
13:43The housing system of the female hens
13:45changes nothing for these males.
13:47If cage-free production requires more
13:50hens to produce the same number of eggs,
13:52it also produces and kills more
13:54chickens. So, if it's 15%, a highly
13:58conservative estimate, if 15% more hens
14:01are you needed in a cage-free system, an
14:04equal number of male chickens would also
14:06be killed, which means 30% more chickens
14:08killed.
14:10Problem six, cage-free eggs humane and
14:13greenwash the industry.
14:15The cage-free label does more than
14:16describe a housing system. It gives the
14:19egg industry a marketing language
14:21through which industrial confinement now
14:23appears humane. This is humanewashing,
14:26the use of a narrow reform to make
14:28continued exploitation appear ethical. A
14:31large and growing body of peer-reviewed
14:34literature has all shown that consumers
14:36purchase egg-free cage-free eggs because
14:38they believe that the hens do not
14:40suffer, and they believe [snorts] the
14:42eggs are better for the environment. I
14:44cite five. Both beliefs are demonstrably
14:46false. That cage-free label
14:49confuses consumers, humanewashes the
14:52industry, and greenwashes the product.
14:54It encourages people to believe that
14:56eggs are cruelty-free and sustainable
14:58when they are neither.
15:00The industry understands these benefits.
15:03In an 84-page long United Egg Producers
15:06report, quote, titled The Transition to
15:09Cage-Free Eggs, Consumers and Producer
15:11Perspectives, one producer stated that
15:14the cage-free conversion, quote,
15:16presents an opportunity for the industry
15:18to have a reset in how consumers see us
15:21and how the animal welfare community
15:23perceives the industry. A peer-reviewed
15:25article based on these pursuer
15:27interviews similarly identified a reset
15:29with the animal activist community
15:31because cage-free eggs will quote
15:33demonstrate a commitment to animal
15:35welfare. It is also worth noting that
15:37the same report found significant
15:39overlap in consumers' associations with
15:42cage-free, free-range, and pastured,
15:45suggesting that consumers may view these
15:46products as substitutes for one another.
15:49Recent peer-reviewed research has found
15:51the same pattern. Consumers struggle to
15:53distinguish between cage-free from
15:55free-range and from pastured,
15:57effectively treating the terms as
15:59equivalent. Or more simply, as I earlier
16:02referenced data explained, for most
16:04consumers, cage-free means that the
16:06chickens are raised cruelty-free and
16:08without any animal welfare concerns at
16:11all. Even more telling, two different
16:13studies have found that consumers'
16:15preference for cage-free eggs disappear
16:18after they're given accurate information
16:20for what cage-free production actually
16:22entails.
16:24There's also reason to believe that the
16:26cage-free level helps prevent a decline
16:28in egg consumption by reassuring
16:30consumers who are concerned about animal
16:32suffering. Two experimental studies have
16:35found that positively framed animal
16:36welfare labels reduce moral discomfort
16:39and make continued consumption of animal
16:41products seem more acceptable. The
16:44overlap in consumer motivation also
16:46raises the possibility that some
16:48consumers choose cage-free eggs instead
16:51of plant-based eggs or just no eggs at
16:53all because the reasons consumers give
16:55for choosing plant-based eggs,
16:57particularly animal welfare, health, and
16:59sustainability, overlap exactly with the
17:02reasons given for choosing cage-free
17:05eggs. If our goal is to improve how
17:08consumers perceive industrial egg
17:10production, to have a reset with animal
17:13activist and consumers, to grow the
17:15industry, then the cage-free label is
17:18working. It encourages consumers to see
17:20eggs as more sustainable, healthier, and
17:22effectively cruelty-free. If our goal is
17:25to help consumers understand the
17:27violence of industrial egg production,
17:29including hens dying among feces and
17:32poisonous air, the label is clearly not
17:35working. This matters not only because
17:37consumers are misled, but because these
17:39beliefs can increase demand for
17:41cage-free eggs and may help prevent
17:44ethically concerned consumers from
17:46reducing egg consumption.
17:49Problem seven. There are more hens in
17:51battery cages today than ever before.
17:55Cage-free production has been simply
17:57added to existing production, rather
17:59than replacing it.
18:01The total global population of laying
18:03hens increased from approximately 5
18:06billion in 2000 to 6.5 billion in 2010
18:11to approximately 8 billion today. More
18:13than 84% of those hens remain confined
18:17in cages, remaining meaning
18:19approximately 6 to 7 billion hens are
18:22currently raised in battery cages today.
18:25Expressed a different way, one might
18:27assume the fact that cage-free hens now
18:30make up roughly 40% of the US flock
18:33means that the number of hens raised in
18:35cages has declined, perhaps by 40%.
18:38But that is not what has occurred.
18:40The global number of hens raised in
18:42cages has simply increased. So all that
18:45is happening is that cage-free eggs are
18:47being added on to the continued growth
18:49of caged hens in factory farms.
18:52This argument, perhaps more than any
18:54other, highlights the absolute
18:56pointlessness of fighting for cage-free
18:58eggs. Even if cage-free really was
19:01better, since its growth is correlated
19:03with the growth of its industry, never
19:05its decrease, more hens are in battery
19:08cages today than at any point before. In
19:11fact, there are more hens in cages today
19:13than there were laying hens of every
19:15kind in the entire world when the modern
19:17cage-free campaign first began.
19:21Conclusion. Let's actually win.
19:25I don't have to be right about every
19:26point in this essay. If even a few of
19:29these arguments are correct, if
19:31cage-free eggs increases animal
19:32suffering in just a few of these areas,
19:34then the growth of the cage-free market
19:36is a loss, not a win.
19:38There's also a deeper problem. We're
19:40constantly told that minor changes in
19:43consumer behavior constitutes victories
19:45for animals. Growth in plant-based food
19:48sales, funding for cultivated meat, the
19:50increase in the share of cage-free eggs,
19:53but none of these measures by themselves
19:56establish that fewer animals are
19:58suffering or dying. It is true that a
20:00limited number of peer-reviewed studies
20:02have found improvements in particular
20:04welfare indicators under cage-free
20:06systems. However, none None of these
20:09studies have incorporated the full range
20:11of harms ranged here, including air
20:13quality, disease risk, pers- a
20:16production efficiencies, climate
20:18impacts, the killing of additional male
20:20chicks, consumer humanewashing and
20:23greenwashing, and the expansion of the
20:25egg industry. For example, one of the
20:27best studies I could find was a
20:29peer-reviewed on-farm study that
20:31integrated multiple measures of welfare.
20:34Its conclusion, when all welfare
20:36indicators were integrated into an
20:38overall welfare score, there was no
20:40significant difference between the
20:42systems, caged and uncaged. And even
20:46this study did not account for climate
20:48impacts, increased disease risk, or the
20:50expansion of the industry. At best,
20:54cage-free systems simply rearrange
20:56suffering, reducing some forms while
20:58increasing others. At worst, they
21:01increase the total number of suffering
21:03by requiring more chickens and helping
21:05the industry to grow. None of that is
21:09actually winning. I understand how
21:11difficult it is to keep fighting for
21:13real change, but repackaging solutions
21:16that increase animal suffering, that
21:18worsen climate change, that increase the
21:20number of hens killed as a win makes no
21:23sense. Humanewashing and greenwashing
21:25the egg industry cannot be our way
21:27forward. An actual win has to mean fewer
21:30animals raised and killed for human
21:32consumption each year, and after decades
21:34of highly funded cage-free campaigns,
21:37the number of animals killed and
21:39suffering, including the number of hens
21:41in battery cages, just continues to
21:44rise. That is not winning. That is
21:46losing pretending it is winning. So,
21:48please come work with us.
21:51I sent out this information to over 50
21:54international scholars who agreed and
21:56signed an open letter questioning
21:58cage-free eggs. 10% of them privately
22:00told me that they were changing their
22:02mind based on this new data, even though
22:04they themselves had publicly endorsed
22:06and fought for cage-free eggs. That is
22:08strongly to their credit. It is easy and
22:11comfortable to keep doing what one has
22:13always done. It is the mark of a good
22:15scholar and a good activist and a good
22:18person to be willing to shift one's view
22:20based on new data. That is what we are
22:22supposed to do. It is the central
22:24argument of the entire effective
22:25altruist movement that setting aside
22:27ideology and previous commitments, we
22:30should always follow the actual
22:31peer-reviewed data and always fight for
22:33what that data shows is the most
22:35effective. That is what also what I, as
22:37a scholar, deeply believe in and fight
22:39for. Shifting away from supporting
22:42cage-free eggs and would not be a
22:44criticism of effective altruism, but
22:46proof that effective altruists actually
22:48believe and support their own arguments.
22:50So, yes, I agree. Let us stop being
22:53divided. Let all of us come together.
22:56Every vegan scholar, every animal rights
22:58activist, every former supporter of
23:00cage-free eggs, every effective
23:02altruist, we need you not to fight for
23:05cage-free eggs before an actual win, the
23:08end of the consumption of eggs
23:11altogether.
23:15>> [music]

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