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Amazon bans foie gras University
T
he UK arm of American online retailer Amazon has finally bowed to mounting pressure and banned the sale of foie gras products on its website. Earlier this year, animal welfare campaigners at the Viva! group petitioned Amazon to stop selling the delicacy on the grounds of the alleged cruelty involved in its production. Viva!'s campaign followed video evidence collected by French group L214 of how the caged ducks are force-fed as part of the process of producing foie gras. Viva! presented Amazon with the video evidence, together with a petition signed by 13,000 opponents of the trade. Having previously said that they would ban foie gras if a petition against it reached more than 10,000 signatures, in October Amazon updated the list of banned items in its terms and conditions to contain the following: Animal products: Parts or products from whale, dolphin, shark, elephant (including elephant ivory) or from any other regulated endangered plant or animal are prohibited, as are products containing Foie Gras. The move resulted in some 100 products being removed from the website, most of which came from French manufacturers Labeyrie and Rougié. Since
foie gras production was banned in Britain under animal rights legislation, the highly prized food is now imported, primarily from France. The controversy surrounds the process of gavage, the term used to describe the force-feeding of birds with corn mash. This process is central to the production of foie gras, which literally translates as 'fatty liver'. Supporters argue that, in nature, migrating ducks stuff themselves with food for their long journey and the gavage is an extension of this natural process; the ducks do not suffer, are not sick or diseased as a result, and the liver will revert to normal if force-feeding is stopped. Opponents say that there is nothing natural about forcefeeding specially bred ducks that do not migrate and go on to argue that, while inserting a tube into a bird's throat may or may not cause pain, it is cruel because it deliberately provokes irreversible liver damage. L214 spokeswoman Brigitte Gothière said it was “encouraging” that retail giants such as Amazon were now taking positions against animal cruelty. Justin Kerswell, campaigns manager at Viva!, described Amazon’s decision to stop selling foie gras as “an incredible victory” for anyone who cares
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about the welfare of animals. “Foie gras is mostly produced by imprisoning birds in cages so tiny they can’t move, by forcing a pipe down their throats and force-feeding them until their livers swell to ten times their natural size,” said Mr Kerswell. “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to eat it - or be involved in its sale. It is quite simply torture in a tin. There is nothing humane about mechanically inducing disease in a bird. Amazon should be congratulated for taking an ethical lead by delisting foie gras in the UK, but we hope that ethical stance is expanded worldwide. This is a perfect example that consumer pressure does work, even with corporate giants such as Amazon.” France has rebuffed the renewed concerns that ducks on the foie gras production line
are being overfed and treated inhumanely, with the Minister for Agriculture, Guillaume Garot, saying, “I regret Amazon UK’s decision to remove foie gras from its site… I must emphasise again the efforts that French manufacturers have made over the years in maintaining a real quality product while respecting the well-being of the animal”. The head of France’s Interprofessional Committee of Foie Gras (Cifog), MariePierre Pé, told news agency AFP, “Economically speaking it’s a non-event. It’s a bit like if Amazon France decided to stop selling pudding online.” France exports around 16 million tonnes of foie gras each year and employs nearly 100,000 people in the industry. ■
f you know a British teenager slaving away at A-levels, spare a thought for his or her French counterpart whose entry into university could be based on pure chance. Admittedly, five minutes spent chatting to a teacher will reveal how any exam system may be unreliable; even the brightest and best can suffer at the hands of negligent markers or fall foul of changing grade boundaries. However, some French youngsters could now see their whole university career decided by a state-sanctioned lottery system. Here in France, universities are struggling to cope with increasing student numbers to meet the policy aim of 'university for all'. Olivier Vial, president of UNI, a right-wing student union, claims universities are reverting to a lottery system to cope with the rising tide of teenagers wanting to go to university. “More and more universities are having to use a lottery. Can you imagine a more random selection process?” The problem is that over 70% of French school leavers achieve the required levels in the Baccalaureate for university entrance. The Baccalaureate is the equivalent of A-levels taken by 18-year-olds for entry into most UK universities. But just as A-levels have been labelled too soft and insufficiently rigorous, so too the Bac has come under fire for grade inflation over the decades. Interestingly, Michael Gove, UK Secretary of State for Education, has attempted to purge British schools of
coursework. However, many French universities continue to use a 'dossier' of student work to gain a better idea of a prospective student's abilities. The University of Limoges is one such university: entry is based on a dossier and a post-Bac application, which involves spending an 'evaluation' day at the university. Thankfully, Limoges was not named as one of the universities using a lottery system and since it is situated in one of the least populated regions of France, it is unlikely to resort to one in the future. Hamstrung by the French state's commitment for all students to have the right to access university education and with few means of distinguishing between candidates, many universities are left with a situation where lecture halls containing over 300 students have become the norm. Indeed, according to the Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, 2.8% more Bac holders (bacheliers) went to university this year, meaning student numbers in France are higher than ever before. As a result, first year university courses are overcrowded and end of year exams become the main method of sorting the wheat from the chaff. High drop-out rates and disenchanted students are the result. A lottery is the last resort for university chancellors despairing about how to select students. UK students may look jealously on their French peers who enjoy some of the lowest university fees in Europe but at least UK students are admitted on merit... of a sort. ■ Amaryllis Barton
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