Italy will be the third country, after Germany and France, banning the cruel shredding of nearly 40 million male chicks a year, killed by the egg production industry because they are "non-productive".
The Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament this morning approved by an overwhelming majority, with the support of the Government, with 359 votes in favour, 1 against, 32 abstentions, an amendment proposed by the rapporteur Francesca Galizia (M5S) accepted by the European Politics Commission of Montecitorio, to the European Delegation Law 2021. The ban will have to come into force within five years.
It is a great achievement that will put an end to one of the livestock industry's most hideous practices and will spare the suffering to tens of millions of animals, who are today doomed to a particularly cruel death.
Certainly we would have expected an immediate implementation of the ban, given that the in-ovo sexing technology is already available, but this represents nonetheless an important step forward that, hopefully, will also make consumers think about their power to orient their food choices towards plant-based foods that do not involve any suffering for animals.