MPs back campaign to ban barbaric food (From Bournemouth Echo)

MPs back campaign to ban barbaric food

4:00pm Friday 14th December 2007

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A Bournemouth campaigner's bid to encourage restaurants to ban controversial foie gras has been backed by dozens of Members of Parliament.

Adam Murry says he is delighted to have won so much political support for his campaign, launched last month.

“In an age of enlightenment and tolerance, it seems inconceivable that such barbaric methods of production should be allowed to go on. It is completely unethical."

Adam Murry

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood has tabled a House of Commons early day motion which has been signed by over 50 of his parliamentary colleagues, including Bournemouth West MP Sir John Butterfill.

Murry, who runs the Bournemouth-based global charity the Murry Foundation, said: "Foie gras is obtained in a brutal and barbaric way from ducks and geese and while its production is banned in the UK, the sale is not."

Producing foie gras involves the violent force-feeding and the premature deaths of thousands of birds every year.

The liver swells to around 10 times its normal size.

Murry has already persuaded a number of local restaurateurs to take it off their menu.

"In an age of enlightenment and tolerance, it seems inconceivable that such barbaric methods of production should be allowed to go on," he added.

"It is completely unethical."

Foie gras is already banned in California and Chicago and the force-feeding of geese and ducks is outlawed in many countries including Germany, Norway, Denmark and Israel.

The supermarket chain Waitrose stopped selling traditional foie gras six years ago and has just launched an "ethical" alternative.

High profile critics of the French food include former James Bond star Sir Roger Moore.

The actor backed a blanket ban on foie gras sales in the UK.

Mr Ellwood's parliamentary motion calls on the restaurant trade to move to new brands of "faux gras", which has the support of the RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming.

It is produced from free range birds and does not involve force feeding.

"I hope the motion will help to widen the debate on this issue and encourage more people not to consume foie gras," said the MP.

For more details of the campaign, contact the Murry Foundation on 01202 768950 or themurryfoundation.com

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