Chicago residents can chow down on foie gras once again, after the city's mayor rolled back a two-year-old ban on the buttery delicacy. I've got a piece up at Political Climate arguing that there are lessons here for greens:
Probably activists’ biggest mistake was pursuing a blanket ban on the sale and consumption of foie gras, rather than a more specific ban on inhumane production techniques. That shifted the blame to the consumer rather than the producer, and put greens in the uncomfortably paternalistic position of trying to dictate what people should and shouldn’t be allowed to eat; it also gave farmers and restauranteurs little incentive to explore the various ethical and humane alternatives to traditional production methods.Fighting for a blanket ban also led campaigners to dismiss evidence that while foie gras factory farms are predictably horrific, small-scale producers are usually fairly humane. The French Institute for Agricultural Research found no increase in ducks’ stress hormones immediately before or after force-feeding sessions, for example; the American Veterinary Medical Association also examined the industry, and determined that birds in US foie gras farms weren’t in any significant distress or pain.
More here.
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