File #: Res 1456-2008    Version: * Name: Make it unlawful to force feed a bird, by hand or machine, for the purpose of fatty enlargement of the bird’s liver.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Health
On agenda: 6/12/2008
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to support and pass S1463, which would make it unlawful to force feed a bird, by hand or machine, for the purpose of fatty enlargement of the bird’s liver.
Sponsors: Tony Avella, Letitia James, Darlene Mealy, Michael C. Nelson, Annabel Palma, Larry B. Seabrook
Council Member Sponsors: 6

Res. No. 1456

Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to support and pass S1463, which would make it unlawful to force feed a bird, by hand or machine, for the purpose of fatty enlargement of the bird’s liver.

 

By Council Members Avella, James, Mealy, Nelson,  Palma and Seabrook

                     Whereas, The delicacy known as “foie gras,” from the French for “fatty liver,” is made from the livers of force-fed ducks and geese in order to be served as pâté, sausages, and purées; and

                     Whereas, In order to produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force fed so that their livers are enlarged to five to twelve times their normal size, a process in which a thick metal pipe in pushed down a bird’s throat several times a day and a large amount of food, often partially cooked corn, is released into its stomach; and

                     Whereas, During this process, compressed air is forced through the pipe to ensure the bird is fed an excessive amount; and

                     Whereas, This process generally entails three to four weeks of daily feedings until the animal is slaughtered; and

Whereas, This process causes the birds tremendous suffering, including ruptured organs and health problems like hepatic lipidosis (a painful liver disease which, when suffered by humans, requires draining of accumulated fluid from the abdomen), pneumonia (a lung disease caused by food entering the birds’ lungs during force feeding), asphyxiation (suffocation caused when feeders accidentally push food into the birds’ windpipe), and bone fractures (due to the birds’ force-fed diet’s lack of basic nutrients including calcium); and

Whereas, Various companies, including the San Franciso Hilton, Chicago’s Pump Room, New York’s Loewe’s hotel chain, Air Canada, American Airlines, the Scandinavian airline SAS, and the Park Slope Food Co-op have stopped selling foie gras, and in 2006, the City of Chicago passed a bill banning the serving of foie gras in any of the city’s restaurants; furthermore, the production of foie gras is banned in Denmark, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Australia, and Israel; and

Whereas, It is estimated that a New York law prohibiting force-feeding would diminish United States production of foie gras by as much as fifty percent; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to support and pass S1463, which would make it unlawful to force feed a bird, by hand or machine, for the purpose of fatty enlargement of the bird’s liver.

 

 

BRS

LS #2238

1.31.07