should battery farming have a place in a light-hearted science program?  

I'm probably totally in the wrong place here, but something I saw on TV tonight made me feel sick. It was on the program 'how do they do that?' (I think) on Discovery science. I tune in to this prog as it's normally light-hearted banter showing how day-to-day things are made, like electric guitars or auto air filters.

But tonight I switched on, to see film of thousands of baby chicks being 'sorted' for the cages they were going to end their lives in. IT WAS SICK. I'm not a 'boo-hoo' animal lover, I HAVE to buy cheap chicken for my family as I can't afford free-range, and I know these animals don't lead happy lives, but I didn't realise just how inhumane it was.

Problem is, this program seemed to be trading on these birds' suffering to fill in the gaps on their schedule - I guess because they're running out of things to film. A few days ago, they covered eggs in the same way. Both times there was a final disclaimer about 'If you don't like what you've just seen, buy free-range or go vegetarian,' but the feeling I got was that this definitely was NOT an exercise in alleviating animal suffering by showing the truth behind intensive farming. The 'yee ha!' attitude of the narrator said it all - it was like, "Ooh goody, a factory! With lots of conveyor belts and other moving parts! And live animals! Wow, just what we've been, er ... well, it beats another boring 'how to' on Michelin tyres, anyway."

It's not the subject matter that disturbed me, but the fact this program is designed to show us how our daily disposables are made without any underlying message as such ... I just feel it's not the right place for things like this, that's all. Thinking about it though, they recently showed workers in an Indian continent sweatshop churning out cheap footwear, so they could show how trainers were made. There wasn't even a disclaimer for that one.

Something is wrong with this program.