"France defies EU to continue force-feeding birds for foie gras" -- The Guardian (UK) Sept 18

[Karen Dawn]

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The Guardian (London) - Final Edition
September 18, 2004

Guardian Foreign Pages, Pg. 17

France defies EU to continue force-feeding birds for foie gras

Jon Henley, in Paris

The French agriculture ministry has infuriated animal welfare organisations
by defending that bastion of Gallic culinary culture, foie gras, rather than
bow to the demands of Brussels.

The ministry yesterday gave the country's 6,000 producers an extra five
years - until 2010 - to scrap the cramped individual cages, known as
epinettes, to which geese and ducks are confined at the end of the fattening
process, arguing that a European ruling on the subject was just a
recommendation, not a directive.

"It's shameful," said a spokeswoman for the French Animal Rights League.

"France has ratified all these conventions on cruelty to animals, and even
put most of them into national law, yet it continues to condone this
barbaric practice. It seems foie gras is sacred."

The battle over France's most emblematic delicacy has been raging since
1998, when the Council of Europe, under pressure from countries like the UK,
Germany, Sweden and Denmark, where ethics tend to outweigh considerations of
mere gastronomy, issued a directive stating that no animal should be
"provided with food or liquid in a manner . . . which may cause unnecessary
suffering or injury".

The council and many other European bodies, up to and including the
commission, have since made many more rulings and recommendations, all of
which - if they were ever observed - would end the force-feeding of ducks
and geese for foie gras.

One states that animals should be fed "a wholesome diet appropriate to their
species, in sufficient quantity to maintain them in good health." Another
says that ducks and geese, if kept in cages, should be able to "stand
normally, turn without difficulty, flap their wings, preen, perform social
interactions and feed and drink normally". They can do none of these at
present.

But foie gras is big business in France, which accounts for 70% of the
20,000-odd tonnes produced in the world each year and for 85% of global
consumption. The industry, centred in the south-west, em-ploys 30,000 people
directly and indirectly, and the average French person eats foie gras at
least 10 times a year.

To make the nation's favourite entree, farmers push a 25cm (10in) tube down
the neck of each bird and pour in 450g (1lb) of corn two or three times a
day for up to a month. By the time they are slaughtered, they are suffering
from acute liver disease (the organ swells from five to 10 times its normal
size), diarrhoea, panting, walking difficulties, lesions and inflammations

The foie gras lobby has, of course, fought back fiercely. Recently a
committee of eminent scientists from the National Veterinary School and the
State Agricultural Research Institute produced an 80-page report claiming
the birds cannot be being cruelly treated because they are neither ill,
over-stressed or even over-fed.

One team found that once force-feeding is stopped, the birds' livers return
to normal within a month and their organs shows no lasting damage. A second
denied the birds' diet was excessive, citing cases of farmyard geese capable
of voluntarily eating up to 600g of corn at a single sitting, while a third
measured their stress levels and found they were far more frightened by any
passing stranger than by the farmer who came to feed them.

But pressure is mounting inexorably on France if not to halt the production
of foie gras outright - which even the most committed animal rights activist
recognises is not very likely soon - then at least to improve the conditions
in which the birds are housed and fed.

"We will implement the recommendation on individual cages, but we need more
time and we're glad the government has recognised that," said Marie-Pierre
Pe of the industry association Cifog. "Bigger cages will make it harder to
grab the birds.

"Feeding them will take 20-30% longer. That will cost us money." The
agriculture ministry declined all comment on its decision.

guardian.co.uk/france