chicago one step closer to bannin duck liver

[Guest guest]

Panel Doesn't Have Stomach for Foie Gras

 

October 27, 2005 — By Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — After hearing a Hollywood actress compare the production of a

delicacy made from the livers of geese and ducks to abuses at a notorious Iraqi

prison, a City Council committee on Tuesday advanced a measure that would make

Chicago a foie gras-free zone.

 

Only three farms in the U.S. produce foie gras, none of them in Illinois. And

Ald. Joe Moore (49th), sponsor of the measure to ban its sale, acknowledged that

" no more than a dozen or so " restaurants here probably have it on their menus.

 

But " laws are reflections of our values and morals, " he asserted.

 

Moore hailed preliminary approval of the prohibition by the council's Health

Committee, saying it will result in " fewer ducks and geese being tortured to

create this product. " And he said a ban here would " send a clear message " to

other cities and states that may decide to consider similar measures.

 

The committee heard a New York veterinarian and activist describe how feeding

pipes are " jammed down the esophaguses " of terrified birds that are force-fed

three times a day to make their livers 10 times normal size to produce foie

gras.

 

And committee members viewed a graphic video of bloodied birds that had

undergone the process.

 

" If I sound a little out of breath, I am always overwhelmed listening to stories

of abuse and torture, " said actress and animal-rights advocate Loretta Swit, who

testified in support of the ban.

 

The former star of the " M*A*S*H " television series contended that there are ties

between what happened at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, where inmates were abused by

U.S. soldiers, and what happens to ducks and geese whose livers are harvested

for foie gras.

 

" Violence begets violence, " she said. " Brutality begets brutality. "

 

But Didier Durand, chef and owner at Cyrano's Bistrot, 546 N. Wells St.,

insisted that " there is no torture " in the production of the delicacy. And he

told the skeptical aldermen that it is healthy to eat. Durand attributed low

cholesterol levels and a low incidence of heart attacks in his native region of

France to consumption of foie gras, which he said he sells to about 30 customers

a week.

 

Cyrano's charges $15 for three-ounce servings.

 

Carrie Nahabedian, owner of Naha, 500 N. Clark St., predicted that a Chicago ban

simply would push foie gras lovers to suburban restaurants.

 

Marcus Henley of Hudson Valley Foie Gras & Duck Products, gave committee members

packets with what he said was scientific evidence that birds are not abused in

foie gras production, and he invited an inspection.

 

But the aldermen were unmoved, and the ban proposal now goes to the full council

for a vote next week.

 

To see more of the Chicago Tribune, or to to the newspaper, go to

http://www.chicagotribune.com.

 

Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

 

 

 

 

But they've all gone mad now

Well you'd be pretty mad too

If what happened to cows happened to you

Having your children taken away

Forced to stand in a pen each day

Fed the shit from other dead things

Then chopped to bits...