Bill may ban force-feeding ducks, geese to make pate.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

As far as Ted Keizer knows, no Oregon businesses force-feed geese or ducks to fatten their livers for use in the delicacy known as pate de fois gras.

But Keizer, legislative assistant to Sen. Joanne Verger (D-Coos Bay), doesn't want it to start happening, especially in the wake of a new California law that could force a major producer of the pate in that state to start looking for a new home.

That's why he urged his boss to introduce Senate Bill 861, which prohibits not only the production of pate de foie gras - pronounced paTAY deh fwah grah - but also the sale or serving of foods that contain the "fatty liver" of force-fed fowl.

Under Verger's bill, which should be up for discussion in the Environment and Land Use Committee this week, ordering or participating in the force-feeding of birds would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 per incident.

Likewise, buying, selling or serving food derived from the artificially enlarged livers also would carry a $1,000 fine for each offense.

Keizer believes the bill stands a good chance of passing the Democratically controlled Senate, "but my feeling is it may be a different ball game in the House," where Republicans have the majority, he said.

Even so, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - a Republican - signed a similar bill last fall after it passed the state Senate and Assembly. The California law goes into effect in 2012 and primarily affects one business, Sonoma Foie Gras.

New York, home to Hudson Valley Foie Gras, also has a bill in its state Legislature to ban production of pate made from force-fed birds. Two other states - Illinois and Massachusetts - also have anti-force-feeding bills under consideration this year.

Internationally, 10 countries - including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Turkey and most regions of Austria - forbid the practice.

Opponents say that using a plastic or metal tube to fill a bird's esophagus with high-energy food such as corn at least twice a day for the last several weeks of its life constitutes animal abuse.

The practice causes the liver to grow as much as 10 times its normal size, creating pain for the birds, making it difficult for them to walk and subjecting many of them to serious injuries caused by inserting the feeding tube into their throats, they say.

Information on Sonoma Foie Gras' Web site rebuts those claims.

The company "is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare and utilizes humane and modern techniques" in the production of pate de foie gras, the company's information states.

In the wild, ducks and geese "gorge themselves" in the fall before they migrate in order to build up fat deposits in their livers and skin, Sonoma Foie Gras says, similar to the "managed feeding" they do during the last two weeks of the lives of the ducks they raise, destined for pate.

"Each feeding takes only a few seconds, and the pressure applied has been studied to be noninjurious," Sonoma Foie Gras says. Furthermore, if the force-feeding process should be stopped, the enlarged livers gradually revert to their normal size without residual problems, the company says.

The Humane Society of the United States takes issue with that characterization.

Force-feeding not only makes the birds uncomfortable and unwieldy, a study commissioned by the organization found that the birds "had chronic heart disorders, ruptured liver cell membranes, cirrhosis, traumatic esophagitis and lesions in their gizzards and intestines," according to information produced by the agency.

Supporters of Verger's bill say they don't know of any organized opposition to it.

Marcia Keith, a lobbyist with Dave Barrows & Associates on behalf of the Oregon Veterinary Medicine Association, said OVMA members unanimously approved supporting Verger's bill.

"The vets feel that the force-feeding practice is inhumane and not in the best interests of good animal husbandry," Keith said. "The entire notion of what the birds go through goes against the whole mission of the veterinarians, which is looking after the health and welfare of animals."