What is clear is that the Overton window—the range of politically acceptable ideas—is moving. Twenty years ago, "cage-free eggs" was a radical demand. Today, it is corporate policy for McDonald’s in Europe.

We have never been more conscious of how we treat non-human animals. Yet beneath this surface of compassion lies a deep, often misunderstood philosophical divide: the distinction between and Animal Rights .

"You are tinkering with a machine of death. By making people feel comfortable about eating 'happy meat' or 'humane eggs,' you are strengthening the very institution of animal exploitation. Welfare reforms act as a moral anesthetic, slowing the inevitable transition to a plant-based world."

You might be a about farm animals (supporting Proposition 12, which bans gestation crates for pigs) while having rights -based instincts about great apes and dolphins. You might oppose animal testing for shampoo (rights) but accept it for a cancer vaccine (utilitarian welfare).