DawnWatch Australia and France: Article on foie gras and actor Roger Moore , Monday, November 7

2005-11-08T10:36:56Z

The following article from the Australian, November 7, presents a great opportunity for letters to the editor.
The Australian takes letters at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/files/aus_letters.htm

The Australian
November 7, 2005 Monday All-round Country Edition
WORLD; Pg. 15

Bond actor licensed to kill off the foie gras industry

The Sunday Times

Matthew Campbell

Paris

THE French parliament has declared foie gras a national institution in the face of what it sees as a growing Anglo-Saxon plot against the prized duck and goose liver pate.

Producers of the delicacy have been enraged by a campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a US animal rights group. A film produced by the group and narrated by actor Roger Moore, 78, shows in graphic detail how the birds that go to make foie gras are force-fed with corn until their livers swell to 10 times normal size.

"Imagine having pipes jammed down your throat and food pumped into your stomach," the former James Bond star declares in the film. "Please join me and countless other kind people in never eating foie gras."

It is not the first time that star power has been harnessed by the anti-foie gras campaign -- Brigitte Bardot, the French actor, has been fighting the exclusive industry for years. But so closely is Moore associated with his 007 role that the French see his appearance on the front line of the pate wars as part of a British plot to undermine French agriculture.

"The British want to stop our agricultural subsidies," said Bernard Courtois, a foie gras merchant from Pau, in southwestern France, referring to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's calls for reforms of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. "And now it seems they are deploying agent 007 against our foie gras."

The film is to be distributed among British chefs in the hope that images of ducks and geese being force-fed will revolt them into a foie gras boycott. Britain imports about 150 tonnes of French foie gras a year. The French response has been swift. The lower house of parliament unanimously passed a bill last week declaring that foie gras was "part of the cultural and gastronomic patrimony, protected in France".

Foie gras is a focal point of French Christmas festivities. An estimated 18,500 tonnes were eaten over the festive season last year. Recently, however, the animal rights campaigners have notched up notable triumphs. Israel -- once the fourth-largest producer after France, Hungary and Bulgaria -- has now outlawed production.

That followed a similar decision by Italy in 2003. California is to ban sales of foie gras obtained by force-feeding from 2012 after intense lobbying from celebrities such as actor Kim Basinger and musician Paul McCartney.

The French foie gras bill concluded that concerns were unfounded. Research shows "in an incontestable way" that claims of cruelty are untrue, it stated. But Moore is not convinced. "Tell your friends, relatives and restaurant owners that foie gras is a disease, not a delicacy," he says in the film.
(END OF AUSTRALIAN PIECE)
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Date: Tue Nov 8 10:36:56 2005

DawnWatch UK and France: Foie Gras protected as part of France's "cultural heritage" 10/19/05

2005-10-19T14:12:54Z

The following article, on the French vote to protect foie gras, appeared in the Wednesday, October 19, Independent (London). I am sending it to subscribers in the UK and in France. I am sure my French subscribers are already familiar with the news but might take this opportunity to express dissent in the UK paper. The Independent takes letters at letters@independent.co.uk and requests the sender's name, postal address and daytime telephone number.

The Independent (London)
October 19, 2005, Wednesday
FOREIGN NEWS; Pg. 23

FOIE GRAS IS 'PART OF OUR CULTURE', DECLARE THE DEFIANT FRENCH

BY ELAINE GANLEY

Foie gras is a travesty for some, a delicacy for others. But for French politicians it is part of France's cultural heritage, to be protected like a great work of art.

Lower house deputies have approved a draft law that declares foie gras 'part of the cultural and gastronomic patrimony, protected in France'.

The measure is part of a sweeping bill on overall agricultural policy. The bill passed 376-150 in a first reading and now goes to the Senate. However, there was no opposition to the amendment to raise foie gras to the realm of cultural heritage. It was passed unanimously on Monday before the entire draft law was voted.

Animal rights groups, and even some governments, oppose the force-feeding of ducks and geese needed to make the gourmet product that is a specialty of south-west France. The politicians did not shy away from telling it like it is, defining foie gras in the amendment as the liver of a duck or a goose specially fattened by force-feeding. 'Foie gras is an emblematic element of our gastronomy and our culture,' read an accompanying explanation of the amendment.

The move comes amid growing criticism of the method used to obtain foie gras " stuffing the duck or goose for a 10-day period to fatten the liver and create the unctuous pyte. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which fights cruelty to animals, called it 'veritable torture for geese and ducks', and asked consumers to stop eating foie gras " a mainstay of the French Christmas season. The deputies noted that France produces 83 per cent of the world's foie gras " and eats more than 90 per cent of it.

The movement against foie gras is particularly strong in the United States. Some restaurants refuse to serve it; others make it available but keep it off the menu.

The state of California will ban the force-feeding of ducks and geese to obtain foie gras by 2012. Sales of the product will be banned there in 2012 if the foie gras is obtained by force-feeding.

Laying out the amendment, French deputies gave a nod to detractors, but concluded that their concerns were untenable. Research shows 'in an incontestable way' that claims of cruelty are untrue, they said.

The storing of fat in the liver of force-fed fowl 'is not possible with stress or suffering of the animal,' it said, calling the fattened liver a 'reversible phenomenon' and not a 'hepatic lesion'. In any event, 'no natural alternatives exist'.

The deputies concluded that the product 'perfectly fulfils' criteria defining the national patrimony 'and the link to terroir [land] that characterises the originality of the French food model'.
(END OF INDEPENDENT ARTICLE)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to www.DawnWatch.com/unsubscribe.php. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Wed Oct 19 14:12:54 2005