On this day in vegan history · September 29, 2004
The Foie Gras Ban With a Long Fuse
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law against force-feeding ducks for foie gras, then gave the industry nearly eight years to find a way around it, and courts have been arguing about it ever since.
The facts
- Signed
- September 29, 2004, by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Sponsor
- State Senate President pro tempore John Burton
- Took effect
- July 1, 2012, nearly eight years after signing
- Last word (so far)
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge in January 2019, and again in 2023
On September 29, 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 1520, a bill from Senate President pro tempore John Burton that outlawed force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers and banned the sale of foie gras made that way. Burton introduced the bill that February at the urging of animal protection groups. Lawmakers gave the foie gras industry until July 1, 2012, to find a way to make the product without the tube, a nearly eight-year runway that assumed a humane alternative would turn up. None did, and the ban took effect as written. Restaurants and producers have been fighting it in court ever since, first over whether federal poultry law preempted California's sales ban, then in front of the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, which has twice declined to intervene.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
We just shouldn't be cramming a tube down a duck's throat and forcing in food to make foie gras
John Burton, on why he introduced SB 1520
Source: Wikipedia -
an inhumane process that other countries have sensibly banned
John Burton, describing foie gras production
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
It set a rare legal precedent: California didn't just regulate a cruel practice, it banned the product outright, betting the industry would rather quit than adapt. The near-decade of lawsuits that followed shows how long an industry will fight to keep selling one luxury item.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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