As president of Penn State's Poultry Science Club, it is my responsibility to speak up against false accusations and disgusting articles defacing the loyal people in the poultry industry.

First off, I would like to commend Jenny Stranzl for her column about the many benefits of eating eggs and how they are the perfect, natural protein source for human diets.

As for Ms. Parry's uneducated opinion on the treatment of laying hens and her reference to some joke animal welfare Web site, it makes me wonder about the quality of students that Penn State is retaining.

Ms. Parry, as a leading agricultural research university, the students and community at Penn State are smart enough to know the truth behind farming practices and the utmost care that goes into every animal on every farm.

The less than 2 percent of Americans who are farmers operate on such small margins that every animal or in this case, every egg, does count against the bottom line.

With standard cage sizes of 67 square inches, hens are free to move around comfortably and behave naturally.

Most poultry houses are equipped with tunnel ventilation, automatic feeding and watering systems, and ideal lighting programs, which allow for better living conditions than most pets and even some people in third world countries.

The most ridiculous claim in your letter, that hens receive no veterinary care for their many diseases and infections, has absolutely no sound reasoning behind it; why wouldn't farmers put every ounce of care into the animals that they rely upon for their income.

When Ms. Parry has some information to back up her claims about the abuse occurring on poultry farms, we might listen but until then I would invite her or anyone else interested to come to the Poultry Science Club meetings to learn more about the true way poultry is raised in America.