SB 1520 gives Sonoma Foie Gras "legitamacy" and legal protection
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Activists unhappy with foie gras law
By ALI BAY California Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO —On Sept. 29, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1520, which gives foie gras producers in the state nearly eight years to develop a way of producing the food product without force feeding. Although animal rights activists had originally hailed the bill, they removed their support after significant amendments to the legislation, including a clause that protects the state’s only foie gras producer from civil or criminal lawsuits until the ban is put in place.
“Rather than ban the practice of force feeding, for the first time in any state, (the bill) explicitly legalizes the practices,” said Bradley Miller, national director of the Humane Farming Association in San Francisco. HFA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of farm animals. The group has campaigned against factory farming and slaughterhouse abuses.
“We don’t believe it will actually ever to into effect,” he said, adding that the owners of the state’s only foie gras facility, Sonoma Foie Gras, have been given eight years to “get around” the law. “What will happen in 2012 is a matter of speculation,” said Miller.
BUSINESS PROTECTED
“This is just another animal husbandry practice that unfortunately got misrepresented by those who don’t want any animals used in agriculture,” said Gonzalez. He said he was pleased with the new law because it gives his business “legitimacy” and protection from lawsuits.
The company’s website says it’s “committed to the highest standards of animal welfare, and utilizes humane and modern techniques in the raising and feeding of ducks.” The website says feedings take only a few seconds and do not injure the ducks.
[Gov. Schwarzenegger] said he said he signed the legislation because it doesn’t ban the food product and allows producers almost eight years to change their agricultural husbandry practices.
[Excerpts from the front page story in the current issue of the Capital Press. ]HTTP://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=616&ArticleID=12698
Alison
AR-News under the deceptive heading, "Activists Unhappy with the Foie
Gras Law." Below is a portion of the article that the organization
editted out. It is telling that this organization stood with the
California Poultry Federation in opposition to SB 1520, and it is
intentionally misleading for them to edit out this part of the article
from its posting.
Sections removed from the article:
Although the new law, opposed by the California Poultry Federation,
bans force-feeding in the future and authorizes a $1,000 penalty per
violation, Miller said it's uncertain whether the ban will actually
be enforced.
"We don't believe it will actually ever to into effect," he said,
adding that the owners of the state's only foie gras facility, Sonoma
Foie Gras, have been given eight years to "get around" the law.
"What will happen (in 2012) is a matter of speculation," said
Miller.
INDUSTRY OPPOSED
CPF has opposed the ban on poultry force feeding, even with the
bill's amendments.
"We are deeply disappointed by the governor's action," said CPF
President Bill Mattos. "The government should not get involved in
regulating animal husbandry practices, especially when every expert on
this issue testified that ducks are raised and fed humanely."
To read the full article, printed in an agriculture industry
publication, see
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=616&ArticleID=12698