Foie gras is a disease, and it means "fatty liver." On foie gras farms, workers grab ducks and geese three times a day, force open their bills, and force-feed them by shoving a long, inflexible pipe down their throats. An air-driven pump forces many pounds of feed into each bird’s stomach. Many experience ruptured internal organs because of the pressure, and workers are often given monetary rewards for not "bursting" birds. The procedure is so cruel that many countries prohibit foie gras production.

The foie gras that Mark Phillips is using for the WTA Foie Gras seminar on October 18th comes from Hudson Valley Foie Gras. Below is a description of the conditions on that farm.

From New Release, The Humane Society of the United States, 23 August 1999.

"Foie gras is manufactured by force feeding ducks and geese through plastic or metal tubes attached to pressurized pumps, sometimes as often as three or four times a day for up to 28 days.

"In a letter to [Mara] Mayor {Smithsonian Institution], [President of HSUS Paul] Irwin outlined HSUS's concerns, noting that the Humane Society had sent a veterinarian from New York state to investigate conditions as Hudson Valley Foie Gras, owned and operated by Michael Ginor. . . . Necropsies on dead birds at Hudson Valley revealed chronic heart disorders, ruptures in liver cell membranes, cirrhosis, traumatic esophogitis, and lesions in the gizzard and intestines of the force-fed birds. Dead birds had even been found with food filling their esophagi and spilling out of their nostrils. "No responsible institution should be associated with animal cruelty". . . said Irwin. . . .

Please immediately contact the following individuals and ask that they cancel the event on the grounds that it would promote cruelty:

• Mark Phillips, Executive Director
  Wine Tasting Association
  8501 Doter Drive
  Alexandria, VA 22308
  E-mail: wta@winetasting.org
  Phone: 703 799-1221
  Fax: 703 799-1695
  

• Peter Austin, General Manager
  Omni Shoreham Hotel
  2500 Calvert St. N.W.
  Washington, DC 20008-2649
  Phone: 202-234-0700
  Fax: 202-756-5100
  

Other Info:

10/9/2000: UPC Letter to Wine Tasting Association Re: Foie Gras Seminar United Poultry Concerns. October 9, 2000

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United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org

(Cancel WTA Foie Gras Seminar)