Oct 25, 2005 3:18 pm US/Central
Foie Gras Ban Gets OK To Move To Full City Council
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The City Council's Health Committee is recommending that the city ban the sale of foie gras -- fattened duck or goose liver -- due to concerns that the animals are force fed more than they would normally eat by the producers of the expensive delicacy. The issue is now slated to go to the full council for a vote.
Some city restauranteurs are unhappy with the decision and one producer of the liver even invited council members to a New York farm to see how the animals are treated for themselves.
But the protestations did little to sway members who had been shown a video by the Animal Protection & Rescue League that depicts the treatment of ducks and geese used to make the appetizer.
Among other things the the video showed: fowl so bloated from being force-fed from a tube that they couldn't walk, a bird whose body ruptured, and generally unhealthy and unsanitary conditions.
Marcus Henley of Hudson Valley Foie Gras defended his industry. He claimed that the video was not a full reperesentation of how the animals are treated but he did acknowledge that such offense do occur due to the sheer size of a farm like the one he works for where they can have up to 100,000 ducks and geese.
Henley went on to say that foie gras has become an easy target for activists because organizations like PETA bring in millions of dollars they can use to wage a campaign against the few farms -- only three -- that produce it in the United States.
Alderman Joe Moore of the 49th Ward proposed the ban because he found the treatment of the birds disturbing. He believes the ban will pass and he hopes other cirties adopt similar legislation.
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