Ban will simply cause problems

Immediately following the announcement by the Government that battery cages are to be banned by 2012, comes the news that bird flu has broken out, probably caused by wildfowl infecting free range poultry.

Whatever the welfare concerns that we may have about the caged hens, these birds are protected from contact with disease, and without battery egg production, this country has no security of food supply.

Simply banning battery hens will not stop this system of egg production, because we will be forced to import them.

It is all very well taking the high moral ground in such issues, but when Britain is starving, it will be too late.

W F Kerswell, Picklescott