Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine - Help!

Last week, Time magazine ran an article about the controversy over foie gras procudtion and consumption, highlighting Philadelphia's recent Freedom Foie for Five. Animal rights activists plan to flood the magizine with letters proclaiming their misinformed stance on the issue. We can give Time the right info! Please write a letter to the editor in support of foie gras. Send letters to letters@time.com .

The Time article follows below, as well as a sample letter to the editor. Here are some helpful facts about the animal welfare aspects of foie gras production to include in your letter (for more information, please read the studies linked to this site):

• Ducks lack a gag reflex. Their esophagi have an insensitive lining, allowing them to swallow large fish and other prey.
• In nature, ducks fatten their livers for energy, prior to migration, and the effect is reversible.
  Independent veterinarians and scientists have concluded that the hand-feeding of ducks for foie gras causes no harm to them.
• American foie gras is raised on small-scale, sustainable farms using artisanal methods.
• A misinformation camapaign orchestrated by extremists is confusing the public with falsehoods and misrepresentations about foie gras.

You might also want to include in your letter a reference to the faulty statistics cited by Nick Cooney, animal rights extremist and founder of Hugs for Puppies.

[Cooney claims that his group represents the public majority, citing a survey which says that 85% of Pennsylvanians are anti-foie gras.]

If you scroll down and read my previous post, you'll notice the problems with this poll. It is a Zogby poll, most likely paid for by Farm Sactuary, an extremist organization. The questions, written by those who paid for the survey, are leading and designed to distort the public's actual views.

Finally, you may also want to highlight the nearly terroristic tactics used by the activists in Philadephia and around the country, which include vandalism and death threats. They are referrenced in this paragraph from the article:

[But having credited themselves with a victory, the Hugs for Puppies group has moved onto other restaurants, picketing the businesses and homes of chefs like David Ansill who recently removed foie gras from his menu at his restaurant Ansill after protesters hounded his customers and staff and leafleted his neighborhood for months. “When I talked to him he hadn’t slept in 15 days,” says foie gras distributor Daguin. “The acts of the protesters are nearly terroristic,” she says. Said Ansill wearily: “It wasn’t worth it. I caved.”]

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Editors,

Thank you for your recent article on foie gras and the controversy surrounding it (Tuesday, Oct. 09, 2007).

Unfortunately, many Americans know little about foie gras and its production. They are easily swayed by animal rights activists like Nick Cooney and his Hugs for Puppies, who tout misinformation and outright lies. The poll Cooney cites is a Zogby poll, which appears to have been written and paid for by an animal rights extremist organization and asks leading questions in order to obtain desired answers. The question about outlawing foie gras in Pennsylvania is asked following a definition of foie gras designed to make it seem cruel and already out of favor with a majority. I am sadened that Time magizine writers and editors did not check this poll for bias before publishing such a comment.

Additionally, independent veternarians and scientists have concluded that the hand-feeding of ducks for foie gras causes no harm to them. Thank you for allowing Ariane Daugin to explain this.

Ultimately, this issue is about choice. Vegetarians can eat what they eat, omnivors should be able to do the same. As extremist organizations gain more and more power and publicity in this country, we are losing more and more of our rights to food. If foie gras goes, chicken may be next.

Thank you,

Lizzie Vonhurst

Cooking Up a Battle over Foie Gras

Tuesday, Oct. 09, 2007 By Lisa McLaughlin

At Philadelphia’s Vintage restaurant last week the special was two delicately pan-seared pieces of foie gras perched atop toasted brioche with a berry coulis, garnished with fresh raspberries and a side of rebellion.

The days of foie gras as a simple exercise in gastronomic luxury are over. Foie gras — French for the fatted liver of a duck or goose — has come under increasing fire in the U.S., where it is a $17 million business. Chicago has banned the sale of it and California law will make it illegal to sell or raise foie gras by 2012. The fiercest battleground right now is in Philadelphia, where City Councilman Jack Kelly has proposed a ban and animal rights group Hugs for Puppies has been protesting the homes and businesses of chefs who serve the delicacy. But a group of Philly restaurateurs are fighting back, under the banner Philadelphia Chefs for Choice, marking the first time anywhere that chefs have organized to protest the foie gras protesters. During the first week of October, nearly 20 restaurants served foie gras specials on their lunch and dinner menus for just $5. The chef group has stated: “In the city of Philadelphia, the birthplace of American liberty, we want to keep the right to serve foie gras.”

The debate is centered around the practice of gavage, in which corn is force-fed to farm-raised ducks through a funnel down their throats. Some argue that gavage is inhumane, while others counter that the physiology of a duck is not the same as a human. “It seems terrible if you don’t know that a duck’s esophagus is lined with a very thick cuticle, if you don’t realize that baby ducks are fed by their mother pushing her beak down the baby’s throat,” says Ariane Daguin, owner of D’Artagnan, the largest foie gras purveyor in the U.S. Recent studies by Dr. Daniel Gu men a leading expert on the physiological effects of gavage, have shown that ducks with young in the wild were under more stress than the ducks being fed through gavage. And both The American Veterinary Medical Association’s House of Delegates and the American Association of Avian Pathologists have concluded that foie is not a product of animal cruelty.

Animal rights activists remain unconvinced and have been increasingly organized in their efforts to have foie gras banned. Hugs For Puppies, which began as an informal vegetarian outreach and animal rescue group in Philadelphia in 2002, started approaching restaurants a few years ago and occasionally protesting, says founder Nick Cooney. “Last December [restaurateur] Stephen Starr stopped serving foie gras and it really motivated us to keep going. Now we are out protesting every week.”

Starr, who owns a dozen Philly hotspots, tells a different story. He emphasizes that the activists had little to do with his decision to remove foie gras from all of his Philadelphia restaurants. “If they said ‘Can we meet with you?’ I probably would have, but instead they use the bullhorn, these really creepy tactics. The bottom line is,” he says, emphasizing his own personal opinion, “that it’s probably not a good thing to do to the animals. But honestly to me it was a non-issue. It didn’t sell that well, I don’t like to eat it myself.”

But having credited themselves with a victory, the Hugs for Puppies group has moved onto other restaurants, picketing the businesses and homes of chefs like David Ansill who recently removed foie gras from his menu at his restaurant Ansill after protesters hounded his customers and staff and leafleted his neighborhood for months. “When I talked to him he hadn’t slept in 15 days,” says foie gras distributor Daguin. “The acts of the protesters are nearly terroristic,” she says. Said Ansill wearily: “It wasn’t worth it. I caved.”

Cooney claims that his group represents the public majority, citing a survey which says that 85% of Pennsylvanians are anti-foie gras. “It’s not just a matter of preference on a menu like chocolate or vanilla. It’s a matter of protecting animals.”

But as celebrity chef/author Anthony Bourdain has argued, how can any meat product be cruelty-free if you are killing an animal? To some chefs the anti-foie gras movement feels like the first step towards demands for completely meat-free menus. Chef Parind Vora, whose Austin, Tex., restaurant Jezebel has been subjected to twice weekly protests by a group called Central Texas Animal Defense, believes that animal rights activists are targeting foie gras because it’s a small industry with little resources to fight back. It’s also food often associated with the upper crust, allowing the class issues to color the debate.

But in Philadelphia last week, foie was the food of the people. At Caribou Cafe, the sliders came topped with caramelized onions and a piece of pan seared foie gras. At Zinc, the foie came poached with mango chutney and waffle chips. Diners wearing bold red “We Love Foie Gras” T-Shirts embarked on foie-cathalons. “I could care less about those snobby French chefs,” Councilman Kelly said in response to a local paper on Monday. “They can stick their $5 foie gras up their rears.” And, as the week ended, restaurateurs planned their next steps. For Michael and Terry McNally of the London Grill it’s about freedom of choice. To celebrate that freedom, they are planning an Oct. 22 dinner in honor of Hudson Valley Foie Gras co-founder Michael Ginor and his book /Foie Gras: A Passion/ with a $165 prix fixe 6-course dinner that includes foie gras in every course, from the matzo ball soup to a creme brulee dessert.