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Home Page We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts. Animal Defenders of Westchester |
Articles Activists seek ban of NY foie gras Published in the NY SUN, 11/16/06 By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN In New Lawsuit, Activists Seek Ban On Production of Foie
Gras in N.Y. Animal rights activists have asked a state judge to stop foie gras
production in New York, saying the ducks used are overfed to such an extent
that they are diseased and unfit for sale under state law. The lawsuit, if it succeeds, could spell the end of foie gras production
in America, a goal animal rights groups have long sought. The two Sullivan
county farms that are defendants in the suit are the only foie gras
producers in the country, other than a Northern Californian foie gras farm
that may shut down under a California state law banning the industry. The suit comes on the heels of Chicago's recently imposed ban of the
delicacy, which comes from the fattened liver of force-fed ducks and geese.
Yesterday's suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Albany, represents an
unusual turn to the courts by opponents of the foie gras industry, who have
mostly focused their attentions on encouraging legislators to enact bans,
legal observers say. "It sounds creative," a professor at Michigan State College of Law who
closely follows animal rights litigation, David Favre, said. "This is a new
approach." The plaintiffs, who include the state and national humane societies,
claim that foie gras should be considered an "adulterated" food product
because the ducks grow so unnaturally fat and ill that they qualify as
diseased under state agriculture law, according to the complaint. It is
illegal to sell the products of diseased animals under state law. The suit
accuses the commissioner of New York State Department of Agriculture and
Markets, Patrick Brennan, for not classifying foie gras as an "adulterated"
food and taking it off the market, according to the complaint. One of the foie gras producers being sued, Hudson Valley Foie Gras,
disagrees with calling the 1,000 ducks usually on site diseased. "Last I checked, we haven't been shut down by any regulators," a company
official, Allison Lee, said. Fair Use Notice: This document may contain
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