What Does "Free-Range" Chicken
Eggs Really Mean?

Health Matters
Minutes Article
Oct 14, 2005

So I did my homework and switched to organic eggs even though the price was still more expensive. I was happy with the knowledge that I was getting healthy and nutritious eggs. 

Now here’s what I didn’t know about what “free-range” really meant.

Free-range, as defined by the USDA, allows labels that imply, and the producers very much want you to believe, that the bird spent its days freely roaming the countryside eating healthy food.

This is far from the truth!

What they don’t tell you is that this labeling legally means the bird was given access to the outside for as little as five minutes each day, and not that it actually did go out. Nowhere does the USDA demand that they feed so called “Free-Range” hens hormone or anti-biotic free healthy food. Very disturbing!

It’s truly sad that our USDA and the FDA are more concerned about protecting egg producer’s profits than they are about the general public’s good health. We see the same situation with most processed foods.

While we are on the subject of eggs and the blatant disregard the USDA and the FDA have for our health, let’s talk about mass produced chickens and how they impact on our health.

U.S. chickens, unless they are truly free range and are organically raised, are raised in confinement in a small cage, so let me share this 2002 headline and article with you:

"US confinement-raised poultry not good enough for the Russians"

Early in March, 2002, Russia imposed a ban on the importation of all poultry from the United States.

Vladimir Fisinin, vice president of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained his government's position in the March 20th issue of The Moscow Times: "I would like to note that American farmers are injecting chickens with antibiotics used to treat people. This is prohibited in Russia." According to Fisinin, US poultry producers use such large doses of these drugs that they accumulate in the tissues of the birds. "It is dangerous," he said, "especially for children and older people." 

Fisinin also asserted that giving antibiotics to chickens fosters the growth of drug-resistant bacteria. US medical experts agree. In a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers randomly selected 407 chickens from 26 stores in Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon. More than half of the chickens were tainted with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

(McDonald, L. C., et al. "Quinupristin-Dalfopristin-Resistant Enterococcus Faecium on Chicken and in Human Stool Specimens."N Engl J Med345, no. 16 (2001): 1155-60.)

Now here’s another headline I’m sure you missed:

"Antibiotic-resistant bacteria NOT found in free-range chickens"

One of the problems with raising large numbers of animals in confinement is that disease is more common, resulting in a greater reliance on antibiotics. Over time, the bacteria mutate and become resistant to the drugs.

When we humans become infected with these antibiotic-resistant bacteria, there are fewer effective medications available to treat us.

A survey of E. coli bacteria isolated from poultry raised in a state-of-the-art confinement poultry operation at a university found that all the bacteria were resistant to the commonly used antibiotic, Tetracycline, Streptomycin and Sulphonamide (Sulphafurazole).

By contrast, all the strains of bacteria isolated from free-range birds were sensitive to the drugs. (Ojeniyi, A. A. (1989). "Public health aspects of bacterial drug resistance in modern battery and town/village poultry" Acta Vet Scand 30(2): 127-32.) 

Now for the third headline which puts the icing on the cake and tells you exactly where the interests of pharmaceutical companies and the producers of mass confinement raised chickens lie. They are totally committed to making multi-millions of dollars regardless of the consequences of their actions.

"Cipro's sister drug, Baytril, is being wasted on chickens."

Infected poultry are now being treated with Baytril, a drug very similar to the anthrax-fighting antibiotic Cipro.

The FDA, health advocates, and an editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine have all urged Bayer, the producer, to withdraw the drug from the poultry industry. Bayer, veterinarians, and commercial poultry producers are in strong opposition. If Baytril is withdrawn, they argue, the United States will have to alter its poultry-raising practices. 

That is exactly what needs to happen. It makes no sense to raise chickens or any other animals under conditions in which infection is anticipated and expected, requiring the routine use of antibiotics. 

Bayer officials say they need more proof of damage to humans before they will stop supplying Baytril to chicken producers. 

There is plenty of proof out there, but Bayer and the mass-produced poultry industry choose to ignore it.

Consider this: Why are today’s hens diseased and dead within two years if not sold beforehand for food purposes? Why do these young hens produce eggs so abundantly during their first and only year of egg production?

Young chicks are given hormones and antibiotics in their feed. Result ---- Chicks put on extra weight very quickly and their reproductive system develops prematurely causing an unnatural burst of egg production which quickly wears out the hen. 

The onslaught of poisons soon overwhelms the hen’s liver causing the hen to develop liver cancer in about 20 months. Producers consign these hens to the slaughter house when their useful life is over and just before liver cancer can be detected. And we buy those chickens at the market.

Hormone drugged and antibiotic treated hens begin laying eggs at about 5 months of age.

Naturally raised hens, given healthy feed, don’t begin laying eggs until at least 10 to 12 months of age, and live at least twice as long as the diseased chickens.

You can now see the economic value in producing an enormous number of artificially engineered eggs and hens in a short period of time as opposed to naturally raised healthy hens and eggs. It’s all about money. How sad! 

Ask yourself, what is the human cost of ingesting these hormones and antibiotics when you eat these eggs and chickens? Is it a wonder that so many millions of people have so many developed diseases?

Unless congress passes a law mandating the change in the way poultry is raised in this country, the only ones who can force the industry to change its ways, are you. When you switch to buying organically raised chickens and the diseased chickens or chicken parts are left sitting on the shelves, the poultry industry will get the message and be forced to change their ways.

Shop your health food store for organic chickens. Get a group together and ask your local supermarket to order organic chickens for you. Won’t work? --- don’t have a health food store nearby? (We sometimes travel 100 miles to get to one), find one in a distant city, make a day of it, and stock up on chicken, eggs and other truly organic foods.

It’s a lot cheaper to prevent disease than to pay for affecting a cure.

To your good health and longevity,

Ira Marxe
CEO, Good Health Supplement

Copyrighted © 2005 - All Rights Reserved

Health Disclaimer: The information contained in this or any GHS related articles or materials are not intended to take the place of personal medical advice from your health care professional. Any action taken based on the contents found in this or any GHS related articles, materials or information is at the sole discretion of the reader. Readers should consult appropriate health professionals as necessary on any matter relating to their health and well-being. Any information or opinions provided here or in any GHS related articles, materials or information are believed to be accurate and sound, however no GHS personal or associates will be held responsible on behalf of any reader who fails to consult appropriate health authorities with respect to their individual health care, and the author or publisher of any information is not responsible for errors or omissions.

• Read past Health Matter Minutes articles and consumer reports: