A European petition to stop the suffering of chickens

On 24 May, the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament gave its full support to the petition filed by Animal Equality in June 2022 calling for an end to the exploitation of fast-growing chickens.

edited by Alice Dominese

Together with the positive opinion of the Petitions Committee expressed by President Dolores Montserrat, the representative of the European Commission communicated that these Broiler chickens will be the subject of the proposed revision of the legislation on the welfare of farmed animals expected by 2023 with reference to the legal requirement of slowed growth.In other words, the Commission should require the use of chicken breeds that grow normally, and not disproportionately as happens in those with rapid growth.

The one expressed by the MEPs is a fundamental decision towards ending the farming of billions of fast-growing broiler chickens in the European Union.But let's take a step back.

Violation of EU legislation

In June 2022, Animal Equality filed with the European Commission a complaint against the 27 Member States for violations of EU legislation relating to the breeding of this type of broiler chickens, genetically selected to grow as quickly as possible in correspondence with the parts of their body most requested on the market:chest and thighs.

This accelerated growth is therefore not accompanied by a corresponding development of the respiratory, cardiovascular and skeletal systems since birth these animals suffer from muscle and limb problems, ascites and dermatitis.Furthermore, as Animal Equality's investigations show, these animals move with difficulty and have serious respiratory and heart diseases.

Since 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), he noted negative consequences on the health of these animals precisely due to the rapid increase in their weight, explicitly linking the critical issues detected, which include skeletal disorders, to the excessive growth rates of these chickens.

In light of the work carried out by the Animal Equality investigative team and the scientific opinions of EFSA, there are grounds for believing that the breeding of these animals is in conflict with current European legislation to protect animal welfare.But it is not possible to accept the systematic suffering that billions of chickens across the EU are forced to suffer due to genetic selection carried out for the sole profit ofindustry of the meat.

The position of the EU

So, last June, we also decided to present a petition to the European Parliament to ask it to take any action deemed appropriate to ensure compliance with European legislation for the protection of animals on farms, putting an end to the exploitation of broiler chickens.

In February, the EU Commission he replied to us and recognized that raising fast-growing chickens is problematic.On that occasion, the EU Commission also announced that it was evaluating "the need and options to address the potential negative consequences on animal welfare of certain farming strategies in this legislative review process" (as part of the review of the legislation on the welfare of farmed animals expected by 2023).

The Commission's decision

The recent decision of the Petitions Commission is even more important if we consider that, at a national level, the Italian government he denied the scope of the problem.In response to a parliamentary question signed by 15 senators to ask the competent ministers to intervene to protect chickens raised for food purposes, also in reference to the denunciation work of Animal Equality, the government has in fact said that the genetic selection of fast-growing chickens is in line with animal welfare.

Now it is up to the EU Commission to act to stop the breeding of animals that are victims of extreme genetic selection that only causes suffering.But each of us can, every day, concretely contribute to this goal:stopping consuming animals, including chickens, means stopping financing their exploitation.