State Workers Fall Ill After Raiding Maine Egg Farm

You’ve been hearing a lot about MFA’s latest undercover investigation at New England’s largest factory egg farm, were our hidden camera video documented birds crammed in tiny cages, live birds being thrown into trash cans, workers swing birds around by their necks then kicking them into manure pits, and dead hens left to rot in cages with birds still producing eggs for human consumption.

MFA’s evidence lead to a raid on the factory farm by state police and the Maine Department of Agriculture.

Now, new details are emerging about the raid, including information about state investigators falling ill from exposure to ammonia fumes.

According to a recent article in the Lewiston Sun Journal newspaper:

Four workers from the Maine Department of Agriculture were treated by doctors when they became ill after investigating animal-cruelty allegations at a Turner egg farm last week, state officials said Friday.

“After the raid, four employees felt burning in the nose and eyes, coughing, tightness of breath, and they sought medical attention for ammonia exposure,” said David Farmer, deputy chief of staff for Gov. John Baldacci.

If simply investigating a factory farm for eight hours can lead to such a condition, one can only imagine the health issues such a filthy environment could cause for the millions of animals who are forced to live in the facility each and every day.

An excellent new article by Martha Rosenberg takes a deeper look at this issue.