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Update on the Maryland Bill to Ban Foie Gras

Despite mounting public support, as well as veterinary and scientific evidence supporting a ban on the cruel practice of force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, legislation introduced in Maryland to ban the practice will not advance this year. However, compassionate citizens in Maryland can still take action to stop this abhorrent practice.

More than 90 percent of foie gras worldwide comes from ducks who are confined inside tiny pens or individual cages and force-fed up to one-third of their own body weight daily. In just a few weeks, force-feeding causes the birds' livers to swell up to ten times their normal size and become diseased. The disease, hepatic lipidosis, wracks the birds' bodies, often preventing them from walking, standing or even breathing without extreme pain.

The suffering endured by foie gras ducks translates into profits for the industry. As one former worker at a large North American foie gras production facility explained, "the best way to maximize profits is to get the biggest and, hence, the most diseased liver. As my supervisor stated, 'the point of gavage [force-feeding] is to make a duck as sick as possible, to bring them to the brink of death.'"

Nearly 80 percent of Americans polled by Zogby International in 2004 opposed the force-feeding of birds for foie gras production. And even celebrity chefs, like Wolfgang Puck have publicly spoken out against the cruelty of foie gras.

You Can Help

While the Maryland legislation has been withdrawn, it is critical for animal advocates to keep the momentum against foie gras production and sales going strong. Here is what you can do:

1. Approximately 25 restaurants in Maryland still support this cruel industry by offering foie gras on their menus. Please contact these restaurants and politely urge them to stop serving this product. Many establishments, once they learn about the cruelty involved, choose to remove foie gras from their menus. Ask them to sign a No Foie Gras restaurant pledge to affirm their compassionate decision. Request a No Foie Gras Restaurant Packet from campaign@farmsanctuary.org (be sure to include your full name and mailing address).
2. Keep the media's interest and let the public know that there is strong support in Maryland for this ban. Write a letter to the editor today. Use the talking points below and for tips on how to draft a letter go to: www.farmsanctuary.org/get_involved/act/activist_letters.html.
3. Please contact your state (not federal) senator and your state delegates and let them know you would like their support for a foie gras ban during the next legislative session. Make sure to thank those who were co-sponsors of H.B 1137 and S.B. 599. You can look up names and contact information at http://mdelect.net/electedofficials/. E-mails are quick and easy, but phone calls-and, better yet, personal visits-are even more effective. When calling your legislators' offices, simply tell the person answering the phone:

   "Hi, I am constituent of the [senator/delegate], and I would like to ask the [senator/delegate] to strongly support a ban on the cruel force-feeding of ducks for the production of foie gras next session. I would also like to thank him/her for supporting [S.B. 599/H.B. 1137] this year.

Our efforts to ban the production and sale of foie gras in Maryland were widely covered in the media. We must keep the momentum going and continue to educate the public, press and lawmakers about the truth behind foie gras-a product of egregious cruelty. Please use your voice today and let them know that the force-feeding of birds for foie gras is far from acceptable!

For more information, e-mail campaign@farmsanctuary.org or call 301-654-2903.

Talking Points

• Foie gras (pronounced 'fwah grah') is the liver of a duck or goose who has been force- fed until his liver expands up to ten times its normal size.
• During the force-feeding process, workers shove a pipe down the birds' throats and force them to ingest up to one third of their own body weight daily.
• The force-feeding causes the painful liver disease called hepatic lipidosis.
• The hugely-swollen livers of birds in foie gras production push against other organs, causing extreme respiratory stress.
• Necropsies performed on foie gras birds have uncovered grossly-enlarged livers, lacerated tracheas and esophagi, pneumonia, throats and gullets severely impacted with undigested corn, and massive internal bacterial and fungal growth.
• In addition to the negative human health aspects of consuming such a fatty food, one study found a link between foie gras and Amyloidosis, a disease linked to rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, type-2 diabetes, and tuberculosis.
• Foie gras production has been banned in more than a dozen European countries, as well as Israel, once the world's third-largest foie gras producer. Most recently, South Africa's government declared it illegal as well.
• In the U.S., California banned foie gras production and sales (effective in 2012), and Chicago's city council banned its sale in 2006. In 2008, legislation has been introduced in IL, MD, NJ, NY, and PA to ban the production and/or sale of foie gras.
• Celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck and Charlie Trotter have both pulled foie gras from their menus and have spoken out against its cruelty.
• Even Pope Benedict XVI and Prince Charles of Britain oppose foie gras production-the former declaring it a "degrading of living creatures to a commodity [that] seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible" and the latter banning it from all royal menus.
• Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have stopped selling foie gras products.
• United, Delta, Air Canada, and American Airlines have stopped serving foie gras.
• Under public pressure, Macy's agreed to cancel a foie gras cooking class, and the Smithsonian Associates recently agreed to cancel a presentation by Hudson Valley Foie Gras owner Michael Ginor.