Scientific Evidence Proves: Foie Gras is Foul

The battle over fatty duck liver (aka, foie gras) rages on -- fueled in part by Chicago Tribune writer Mark Caro's compelling new book, The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight.

Although some people still attempt to justify foie gras production, science backs up common sense: Shoving pipes down birds' throat several times a day and pumping them so full of food that their livers become diseased and balloon up is detrimental to their health. One of the foie gras farmers in Caro's book uses the metaphor of an Olympic athlete to explain the force feeding process -- normal ducks just eat, but these ducks eat. But the metaphor breaks down in that these ducks are not super-ducks, they haven't been in training, and their bodies can't take the Olympic expectations. Imagine taking an inactive population and forcing them to run marathons -- that's a fair metaphor.

To whit, Caro cites a meta-study (by the European Union's Scientific Committee on Animal Health) showing that death rates during force feeding skyrocket by 10 to 20 times; imagine any process that causes a population's death rate to be 1000 to 2000 percent greater than normal. Of course, every animal is in misery for the entire horrid ordeal.

According to scientific studies, the birds who don't die suffer from impaired liver function, skeletal disorders, and other serious illnesses. Many become so sick they can barely move. Carcasses show wing fractures and severe tissue damage to the throat muscles.

Caro's book is a fun, fast-paced, personality driven look at the foie gras industry. He is fair -- in terms of personalities -- to both sides. What the book is not, disappointingly, is a review of the scientific evidence regarding foie gras production. In fact, Caro talks to very few scientists, and to not one of the many poultry experts who have studied and then condemned foie gras production as cruel. And beyond the one reference to the fact that 10-20 times as many ducks die during force feeding than would die normally, he completely ignores the ample scientific indictment of the foie gras industry.

For example, Dr. Ian Duncan, a consultant to the Canadian government and poultry industry who literally wrote the poultry regulations in Canada, explains that "[f]orce feeding quickly results in birds that are obese and in a pathological state, called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver disease. There is no doubt, that in this pathological state, the birds will feel very ill."

Dr. Duncan further explains that the regular insertion of a feeding tube damages the birds' esophagi, which exacerbates the painfulness of each force feeding, and that "[t] he birds' obesity will lead to myriad other problems from skeletal disorders to difficulties in coping with heat stress, and all of which are accompanied by feelings of malaise."

Dr. Christine Nicol, a consultant to the British poultry industry and government, and a professor at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol, says, "My view on the production of foie gras is clear and supported by biological evidence. This practice causes unacceptable suffering... It causes pain during and as a consequence of the force feeding, feelings of malaise as the body struggles to cope with extreme nutrient imbalance, and distress due to the forceful handling. The most extreme distress is caused by loss of control of the birds' most basic homeostatic regulation [survival] mechanism as their hunger control system is over-ridden."

In other words: All the birds are sick, vast numbers to the point of death. And it's these scientific facts that explain why every reputable animal protection group in the world, including many that do not advocate vegetarianism, condemns foie gras as cruel, from the RSPCA to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) to the Humane Society of the United States to (of course) PETA.

Some in the foie gras industry have argued that foie gras is a target of convenience, asking why animal groups don't go after chicken farms, as one example. This shows a lack of research (or intentional deceit): Every group that is actively opposed to foie gras is even more actively opposed to modern poultry farming. But the fact that you condemn one practice as horribly abusive should not give a pass to another one (imagine if we applied this standard to human rights causes). It's the proverbial straw man, and while it makes sense for the industry to use this argument, it's disappointing to see reputable journalists parroting it.

No one who professes to care about animal welfare can defend forcing pipes down birds' throats two or three times a day and pumping up to 4 pounds of grain and fat into their stomachs until their livers enlarge to ten times their natural size (livers expand from about 70 grams to about 700 grams -- or even quite a bit more, as well-documented by Caro).

Biological facts -- which have been completely lacking from a few recent articles defending the industry -- show beyond any doubt that foie gras production is cruel. Kind people are duty bound to oppose it.

Follow Bruce Friedrich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brucegfriedrich

Comments

[GypsyJack]

when your animals are very mal content you are what you eat.. unhappy food makes for vengeance. karma.

Gypsy

[ElaineS]

Common sense is enough to ell me that foie gras is cruel, and the scientific evidence clearly confirms that. Nothing can justify force feeding birds until their livers expand as much as 10 times their normal size. We can all live quite well without foie gras--we have no excuse to torture and kill birds just so we can eat their diseased organs. Vegetarian pates are quite tasty,-and not at all foul.

[Lucy P]

Ducks and geese who are abused and killed to make foie gras suffer, feel pain, and want to live just as much as our beloved cats and dogs do. No one would stand for the abuse ducks and geese on foie gras farms are subjected to if the victims were cats or dogs. No animal deserves to suffer like this.

[MMF25]

Most foie gras comes from ducks crammed into warehouses where they spend their entire miserable lives, their skin rubbed raw by intensive confinement. They are terrified and in pain when workers shove funnels down their throats and force food into their small bodies. Producing foie gras is cruel. Your moment of pleasure is a lifetime of misery and torture for another living being.

[Bruce Friedrich - Huffpost Blogger]

Marucs' claims are false, objectively. Check out the links in my post.

Marcus, while we have you, please respond to this NYT piece?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/opinion/09herbert.html

State of Shame
by Bob Herbert
New York Times
June 09, 2009

The building housing the ducks in this lush region of the Catskills in upstate Sullivan County was huge, a cross between a gigantic Quonset hut and an airplane hangar. The ducks, tens of thousands of them ready to be slaughtered for foie gras, were stuffed and listless in their pens. It was a very weird scene. Genetically unable to quack, the ducks moved very little and made hardly any noise.

... I’ve been looking at the plight of the underpaid, overworked and often gruesomely exploited farmworkers who feed and otherwise care for the ducks...

Each feeder is responsible for feeding 200 to 300 (or more) ducks — individually — three times a day. The feeder holds a duck between his or her knees, inserts a tube down the duck’s throat, and uses a motorized funnel to force the feed into the bird. Then on to the next duck, hour after hour, day after day, week after week.
.

Covering this story has been like stepping back in time. Farmworkers in New York do not have the same legal rights and protections that other workers have.... The workers have no right to a day off or overtime pay. They don’t get any paid vacation or sick days.
.

[marcushenley]

Bruce,

As I mentioned in my first post, animal groups are on record that they will use any means to put us out of business. We are polluting, human rights abusing, animal torturers. Just doesn't wash. We have been investigated by the county, the state, the AVMA, the ASPCA, and hundreds of people who sell our products. We are still here. HSUS has been using their in-house legal staff to attack us for years. Score: HVFG 2, HSUS 0. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202431648480

Objectively, our farm is open to visitors, except those with a clear bias. And we've even let a few of you in. At the end, you walk away and say we did not show everything. Sorry, we did. The truth will set you free.

The NYT column. I spoke with Herbert. I told him his information was incorrect and I could prove it. I offered to bring him to the farm, or bring him my payroll records, driving to the city over the weekend. He is not a reporter. He is a columnist with an agenda. He declined my invitations.

And you, I answered courteously on animal welfare issues. Anyone wanting my material can contact me through our website. You are validating the "anything goes to attack foie gras" animal group party line. I stay on message and take care of my animals, very well. You are paid to attack us. I am a good farmer.

Marcus

[Bruce Friedrich - Huffpost Blogger]

Marcus,

NYT columnist Bob Herbert is not an animal rights activist, and his column was vetted by the notoriously conservative NYT attorneys. You're really going to accuse him of lying about you? Why don't you sue? I'd bet it's because he told the truth.

I have repeatedly asked you to provide citations for your claims re: animal welfare. You don't, I think because you can't.

You keep claiming bias on the part of the scientists I'm citing. Show some proof, please. In fact, I'm not citing animal rights scientists. I'm citing consultants to the Canadian and UK poultry industries. They have no axe to grind; the science is what any reasonable person would assume it to be about force feeding animals so that their livers baloon to 10 times their natural size: It makes all the animals sick. Click on the link and you'll find far more.

Yours,

Bruce

[Aubrey Bowman]

Let's talk more about deception. The author banner for this article reads "Bruce Friedrich, Vice President, Policy". For Huffington Post? No. From his profile we learn: "Bruce Friedrich is vice-president of policy and government affairs for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)."
PETA, the US Humane Society, and other groups dominated by vegan activists, regularly quote consultants who support their positions. This article is no exception.

Peer-reviewed articles by avian scientists point out that, unlike mammals, "fatty liver" or hepatic steatosis is not a disease. It's not pathological. The liver of birds like ducks and geese is the primary fat storage site. It's where wild waterfowl store energy for migration.

Using foie gras as a wedge issue has been a strategy in the anti-meat campaigns of PETA, Farm Sanctuary, and HSUS. They often cite selectively from a report done over a decade ago in Europe, and ignore research done since then and vetted in professional journals.

For evidence from scientists not working as PETA lobbyists see this link:
http://www.dartagnan.com/foiegras.asp#truth1

[marcushenley]

Our rates of injury or illness are the same or better than any other poultry farming. We have many checks in place to make sure the animals are cared for properly, including an external animal welfare auditor who insists on unannouced inspections. Insertion of the tube does not cause injury or discomfort. Liver enlargement in waterfowl is non-pathological. Waterfowl store fat in the liver (as opposed to mammalian fat storage in fatty tissue) during periods of egg-laying or prior migration.

Your question is an interesting one we respond to regularly. Would you deny that any children are sick or injured as a result of attending kindergarten? We hear often that someone has autopsied a duck from a foie gras farm. We agree that a dead duck had something wrong with it. However, extrapolating the health of the population from an autopsy would be like extrapolating the health of your community from the morgue. Or the health of the kindergarten class from a child who has fallen and has a bloody nose. Deceptive.

Marcus

[marcushenley]

Generally the "scientific" information against foie gras consists of statements by veterinarians associated with animal groups. On the other hand, there have been a number of peer-reviewed, internationally published research reports from European laboratories partially funded by animal welfare agencies. A summary of this research was published in the World's Poultry Science Journal and concludes: "Based on the extra physiological use of a natural fattening phenomenon, foie gras has been recognized as a non-pathological and non-harmful product."

The "meta-study" recommended several changes in foie gras farming. All of them have been implemented in the United States. The idea that foie gras is bad for ducks has been repudiated in published research and statements by members of the European Union commission that published the 1998 study.

Visits to foie gras farms by US veterinarians and journalists validate the position that there is another side to the story. Twelve consecutive state legislatures (after California) have rejected attempts to ban foie gras sales or production.

The Farm Sanctuary communications director is quoted on page 112 of the Caro book, "To us foie gras is low hanging fruit". Or, a target of convenience, contra to Friedrich's explanation of the efforts to challenge foie gras farming.

I am a duck farmer. Dr. Friedrich has his job. To take away the bias, we open our farm to unbiased veterinarians, journalists, and the culinary community to see for themselves that foie gras farming is responsible farming.

Marcus Henley
Hudson Valley Foie Gras

[jdevienne]

Do you deny that any of your ducks are sick or injured as a result of force feeding?

[Bruce Friedrich - Huffpost Blogger]

I certainly wish your protestations passed the smell test. In fact, the entire agricultural departments of more than a dozen governments have examined the science and found what one could have figured out easily with a bit of intuition: Force feeding makes animals sick and kills massive numbers of them. Dr. Duncan and Dr. Nichol are not animal activists; they are poultry industry and government consultants.

I stand by everything in my post. If you have countering research, please cite it.

[marcushenley]

Dr. Freidrich,

I have followed this issue for several years, here and in Europe and around the world. I am not aware that "the entire agricultural departments of more than a dozen governments have examined the science and found what one could have figured out easily with a bit of intuition: Force feeding makes animals sick and kills massive numbers of them". I do not believe this is a factual statement.

While Dr. Duncan and Dr. Nichol are not animal activists and are poultry industry and government consultants, I am also not aware that they have direct experience with foie gras farms, as you do not..

As far as countering research, please start with:

http://www.artisanfarmers.org/images/Foie_Gras_Study_by_Dr._Guemene.pdf

Marcus

[Vickster]

Do you really think any farmer could afford to implement a feeding method that "kills massive numbers" of his livestock?