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ALBANY--- A lawsuit has been filed against the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to prohibit the production and sale of foie gras as an adulterated food product.
The suit, filed by the Humane Society of the United States, the Government Accountability Project's Food Safety Program, Farm Sanctuary, and the New York State Humane Association, cites extensive evidence that the poultry livers used to make foie gras are diseased, and that the birds become deathly ill in the production process. The suit seeks to halt the sale of foie gras throughout New York-the country's largest foie gras-producing state.
"Animals should not be kept sick and dying to appease the palates of a few gourmands," stated Carter Dillard, director of Farm Animal Litigation for The HSUS. "The Department of Agriculture and Markets needs to follow its own law and put an end to this cruel and inhumane practice."
Filed in the Supreme Court in Albany County, the suit comes on the heels of a legal petition filed by this same coalition of organizations in June, which asked the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to voluntarily declare foie gras adulterated and condemn the diseased livers. The petition was based on more than 900 pages of evidence, including statements from leading avian veterinarians in the United States and one of New York's own state wildlife pathologists.
In the petition, these experts explain how the production of foie gras destroys the ducks' livers, killing a significant portion of the animals and leaving others dying from blood toxicity, nerve damage, suffocation, and other complications. Video footage of New York-based foie gras production facilities showing dead and dying animals confirms these statements. Nevertheless, the Department of Agriculture and Markets, long responsive to local industry pressure, declined the request without explanation, thus triggering the lawsuit.
The production of foie gras-French for "fatty liver"-is widely recognized both in the United States and abroad as employing one of the most notorious practices in the animal agribusiness industry: force-feeding. For weeks, birds are force-fed an unnatural amount of nutritionally deficient food delivered via a pipe thrust down their throats multiple times each day, until their livers become fattened and diseased. Force-feeding can cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores, and organ rupture. The birds' livers can enlarge more than ten times the normal size, making it difficult for the birds to move or breathe. Often, the birds are intensively confined in filthy warehouses.
In August, The HSUS sued the State of New York to block more than $400,000 in taxpayer funds they say the statet granted illegally under Gov. George Pataki's influence to Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which HSUS says is notorious for its cruelty to animals. And in September, the HSUS sued Hudson Valley for hundreds of alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, stemming from the facility's discharge of chlorine, ammonia, and fecal coliform into the Middle Mongaup River.
Two bills currently pending in the New York Assembly and Senate would ban the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese in New York. Due to animal welfare concerns, California and more than a dozen countries have banned the production of foie gras, and Chicago recently banned its sale. Nearly 80 percent of Americans and 77 percent of New Yorkers believe the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras should be banned, according to Zogby polls conducted in 2004 and 2006, respectively.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with nearly 10 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammals, animals in research, equine protection, and farm animal welfare.
The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org. 11-15-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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