(Friends of Animals’ comments to follow the letter from Governor Schwarzenegger).

To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am signing Senate Bill 1520 which prohibits a person from force feeding a bird for the purpose of enlarging its liver.

This bill’s intent is to ban the current foie gras production practice of forcing a tube down a bird’s throat to greatly increase the consumption of grain by the bird. It does not ban the food product, foie gras. This bill provides 7 and one half years for agricultural husbandry practices to evolve and perfect a humane way for a duck to consume grain to increase the size of its liver through natural processes. If agricultural producers are successful in htis endeavor, the ban on foie gras sales and production in California will not occur.

Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Friends of Animals expresses our profound dismay over the perversion of SB 1520, a perversion reflected in the above letter from the California governor.

The Humane Farming Association and Friends of Animals attempted to block passage of this bill when it became clear that it would be used for

a) a cover for the relevant production company to win a lawsuit by operation of law; and

b) the perpetuation of vivisection.

This is a setback for the progress being made in educating the public about the reality behind foie gras.

Moreover, when Europe is divided over this issue, and as various countries scurry to obtain scientific justification for this appalling product, how deeply troubling it is that agricultural researchers at a major university in the United States, The University of California – Davis, have effectively been recruited by the foie gras promoters to produce and approve a politically palatable method of continuing to produce liver pâté.