Moral Dilemma at Perdue Farms

Perdue farms lack moral responsibility in their chicken farming practices. The farms rear chicken in highly populated environments that cause suffering to the chicken. In order to satisfy human interests, the chickens in the farm besides being subjected to torturing environments are injected antibiotics to enable them survive the environment and other drugs to fatten them up for human consumption. Factory farming practiced by Perdue farms subject chickens to unnecessary pain, suffering and agony with no intervention by the government to address the issue. The United States is a mixed economy that is characterized by ownership of goods by the state and the private sectors. Therefore, the government has no absolute control. It only controls some parts of the economy. As a result, the state has no total control of the factory farming industry. The USDA is the federal entity that regulates the production of food from animal sources and the slaughter industry. The agency has no established laws that regulate humane care for animals reared in factory farms. The regulation meant to protect animals during slaughter, Human Methods of Slaughter Act, covers animals such as pigs and cows but does not apply to chicken. 

From a utilitarian point of view, the actions of Purdue farms do not cause increased happiness and less pain. According to utilitarian theory, a moral action is the one that produces the greatest amount of good for everyone (Fieser, 2015). In light of “everyone” chicken should be included too. Perdue farms operate on the same theory with focus in human beings only. However, the theory can be applied to chicken too. A key moral principle of utilitarianism in this case is equality. The interests of everyone counts and should be handled with the same weight (Regan, 1985). Whether one is human or animal, the pain and frustration of each matters and should be accorded the same weight of importance (Regan, 1985). They feel pain and frustration just as we human beings do. Human beings have a moral responsibility to take care of animals despite the fact that it is claimed that animals are inferior to human beings and have no rights. Therefore, Perdue farms, USDA, the US economic system, and consumers have a moral obligation towards animal protection in Perdue farms. 

References 

Fieser, J. (2015). Chapter 1: Ethical Principles and Business Decisions . Introduction to business ethics  [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/. 

Regan, T. (1985). The case for animal rights . In P. Singer (Ed.),  In defense of animals  (pp. 13-26). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/