Egg industry, Humane Society propose cage laws

WASHINGTON — Threat­ened with a series of state laws crack­ing down on cramped cages, the egg indus­try on Thurs­day said it would agree to seek fed­eral reg­u­la­tion to improve con­di­tions for egg-laying hens. In an unusual move, the United Egg Pro­duc­ers announced the effort in a joint appear­ance with the Humane Soci­ety of the United States. The egg group rep­re­sents 95 per­cent of the egg-laying hens in the United States.