EDITOR:

In response to Charles Smothers’ letter (Michigan’s egg law) on January 24, 2025, it’s important to remember the actual circumstances of the new cage free egg law that took effect in 2025 after multiple delays. The initial law was passed by a Republican controlled state legislature in 2009, signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, and was originally to take effect in 2019. Jerry Neyer, a Republican representing Michigan’s 92nd District and a dairy farmer, writes in the Detroit Free Press that the prices of eggs have little to do with the new cage free law, but are the result of the loss of more than 6.5 million egg-laying hens in Michigan in 2024 due to bird flu. We often want to blame government for price increases, yet prices are set by the market to maximize profit, and when supply is low, as it is now, consumers pay the price, literally. Neyer reminds us that farmers and egg producers had 15 years to respond to the cage free law, but precious little time to respond to the bird flu epidemic impacting the chicken populations in Michigan.

If we want government to help with egg prices, investing in science, especially in relation to bird flu, both as it affects chicken populations, but also the ways in which it is now infecting humans.

Daniel Van Beek

Escanaba