People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is preparing a $500,000 ad campaign that it hopes will pressure McDonald's to force its suppliers stop raising hens in small wire cages and abandon the standard slaughter method, which involves hanging live chickens upside down, stunning them and then cutting their throats, Stephanie Simon and Julie Jargon report. A PETA campaign was eventually successful in getting McDonald's suppliers to stop a practice known as forced molting, in which hens near the end of their productive life are deprived of food to jolt them into laying more eggs. …

Members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging are concerned about dangers for senior citizens lured by ads that invite them to cash in their life insurance policies by selling them to investors, David S. Hilenrath reports. Panel chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) says selling a life insurance policy "can be fraught with possible hidden pitfalls." Investors offer policyholders more than they could collect from their insurance companies for surrendering their policies, or they enable consumers to liquidate policies for cash instead of allowing coverage to lapse. By targeting people who aren't expected to live long, they can beat insurers …