by Joel Harrison
17. October 2011 10:33
Contact lenses have been available for decades and they have been used to treat a wide variety of eye conditions as well as to modify a person’s appearance. Now, however, it seems they have found an entirely new application.
Conduction various experiments, scientists found that depriving animals of certain colours can change their behaviour, which gave rise to an idea for a new product.
In the course of several studies, researchers confirmed that the colour red calms chickens down, makes them eat less, lay more eggs and fight less often. As a result, an American company launched special red coloured contact lenses for chickens and claims that they may allow the poultry market to grow by as much as $600 million (£366 million) a year.
The lenses are sold at 20 cents per pair and have already raised a lot of controversy. Some animal rights activists started to protest against them, stating that making chickens wear contact lenses to increase profits is unethical.
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