opinion

Letter: Factory farming simply isn’t sustainable

The U.S. egg industry is reeling from a colossal outbreak of avian flu, mostly among egg-laying chickens. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 48 million birds, accounting for 11 percent of the nation’s egg-laying hens, have been slaughtered for fear of infection during the past few months. The effects are far-reaching, from how to dispose of millions of potentially infected bird carcasses to job losses and rapidly rising egg prices. More than 40 countries have restricted U.S. poultry imports. Although the precise cause of the outbreak remains uncertain, the horrendous conditions in today’s factory farms make egg and chicken production extremely vulnerable to disease outbreaks, and therefore, not sustainable.

Andy McCoogan, Asheville