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 It is EFFA's goal during 2007 to make Exeter a foie gras free zone. During the
coming months we will be staging peaceful protests outside the restaurants and delicatessens
who continue to sell (imported) foie gras despite its production having been illegal in
the UK since 2000 because it is so cruel. We will be asking them to remove foie gras
from their menus. We will also be leafleting the public with information about the
cruelties involved in the production of foie gras and calling on them to support our
campaign.
What is Foie Gras?
Foie gras (literally "fatty liver"), to some people, is seen
as an expensive ‘delicacy’. It is one of the world's most expensive foods. It is also
one of the cruellest. Foie gras is a pate made from the enlarged liver of ducks and
geese as a result of force feeding. The aim of foie gras production is to increase the
fat content of the liver so dramatically that veterinarians consider it a disease
called "hepatic lipidosis." A duck's liver naturally weighs around 50
grams. However, to qualify as foie gras, the industry's own regulations
require ducks' livers to weigh an absolute minimum of 300 grams.
Why is this cruel?
Foie gras is produced by forcing a long metal pipe down the
throats of male
ducks and geese and force-feeding them massive amounts of grain, resulting in
their livers swelling to up to 10 times their normal size.
The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. Their confinement
prevents them from performing all their behaviours. In their natural state they
live in social groups and spend long periods of time in water. In foie gras
production only the bird's neck protrudes from the cage and two to three times a
day, a worker grabs each bird, shoves a long, thick metal tube all the way down his
throat, and an air pump shoots up to two pounds of corn mush into his oesophagus.
The vast amounts of feed pumped down the ducks' throats causes enormous
internal pressure, and the pipe sometimes punctures the oesophagus, causing many to
die from choking on the blood that fills their lungs. Some birds literally burst, choke
to death on their own vomit, or become so weak that they are unable to fend off
rats from eating them alive. Other ducks die a slow, painful, and premature death by
suffocation from inhalation of regurgitated feed. In fact, because of the massive
toll taken on the birds during the force-feeding process, the average pre-slaughter
mortality rate is up to twenty times higher than on other duck factory
farms, according to the European Union's Scientific Report on the subject (see below).
In addition to enduring force-feeding, the birds also suffer the same neglectful
and abusive treatment of other factory-farmed animals: overcrowding,
mutilations (their beaks are cut off), all their natural instincts and desires-such as
interacting in social groups, mating freely, keeping themselves clean, nurturing
their young, exploring their surroundings-thwarted, and eventually being sent to a
violent death by slaughter.
Throughout the weeks of force-feeding, the birds are kept in either a group pen or
an individual cage with only wire or plastic-mesh floors to stand and sleep on. Unable
to feel the sun on their backs or ground beneath their feet, the ducks are held in
cages so small that they cannot fully stand or stretch their wings. To make matters
worse, the ducks and geese are housed without access to swimming water even though ducks
need to be able to immerse themselves in water to
remain healthy. Access to water
on these farms is so limited that the ducks cannot adequately
clean their nostrils
and eyes, which can lead to blindness
Shouldn’t this be banned?
 The production of foie gras is actually illegal in the U.K. because it is so
cruel. It is also banned in many EU countries and is only legal in Belgium,
Bulgaria, Spain, France and Hungary.
A recent study of the foie gras industry undertaken by the European Union's
Scientific Committee on Animal Health condemned foie gras production for being
detrimental to animal welfare. They found that mortality rates on some farms
were as high as four per cent during the force-feeding period - 20 times the
level that would be expected amongst ducks raised on a conventional farm. The
Committee recommended the introduction of "alternative techniques that do not
require force-feeding." One member of the
Committee concluded that the only
recommendation he could make was that "force-feeding of ducks and geese should
stop and this could be best achieved by the prohibition of the production,
importation, distribution and sale of foie gras."
 Despite the views of its
expert committee, the EU has so far prepared no
legislation to prevent or restrict force-feeding. In 1999, the Council of
Europe, which has a wider membership than the EU but has no legally enforceable
powers, recommended that confinement in individual cages should be phased out. Due
to pressure from vested interests it did not issue recommendations on the actual
process of forced-feeding.
Restaurants and shops in the U.K. have chosen to sidestep the banning
of its production in this country, by importing it from countries where it is still legally produced.
In the USA, the states of California and Chicago have banned the sale of foie
gras, and it is hoped that this can be replicated here in the UK.
Action
Please contact these restaurants and delicatessens and ask
them to stop selling foie gras (model letter):
Please note that all correspondence in support of our campaigns must be kept polite.
What Else Can You Do?
York City councillor, Paul Blanchard (who recently tried to get the
inhumane 'delicacy' of foie gras banned in the City of York), now has a petition and
website to demand a UK ban on the sale of foie gras.
Please sign the petition to ban foie gras as soon as
possible at: petitions.pm.gov.uk/banfoiegras
EDM: 1247 - BAN THE SALE OF FOIE GRAS
Please contact your MP! (Click www.writetothem.com to find your MP.)
Refer them to EDM 1247, at edmi.parliament.uk
Direct link to page: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33013&SESSION=885
So far the following MPs have signed;
Bayley, Hugh
Williams, Betty
McCafferty, Chris
Flynn, Paul
Burgon, Colin
Taylor, David
Wood, Mike
Hopkins, Kelvin
Jones, Lynne
Meale, Alan
Grogan, John
Bottomley, Peter
Details:
"That this House notes that in order to produce the food delicacy foie gras, 12 week old ducks and geese are restrained and grain is forced down the throat through a gavage pipe, a process that often results in physical injury; observes that a massive quantity of food is forced into the birds causing their livers to swell to six to 10 times normal size, making movement and breathing difficult, and leading to severe liver damage, great pain, and high mortality rates; further notes that existing UK animal welfare laws prohibit such cruel farming methods; considers that a prohibition on the sale of foie gras in the UK would be compatible with the EC Treaty and the rules of the World Trade Organisation both of which permit restrictions on grounds of public morality; applauds the efforts of the website www.banfoiegras.org.uk to educate and encourage members of the public to press for foie gras to be banned; and calls upon the Government to prohibit the sale of foie gras in the UK."
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