From Pro-Animal DC’s Dani Withaar:
“We take hunger seriously, and we admire Chef Andrés’s work on it. But ‘end hunger first’ isn’t a standard we apply to other issues. No one tells voters to hold off on a safe-streets measure, a school bond, or a wage law until hunger is solved. Communities can work on more than one problem at a time, and DC voters can too. Initiative 86 is about ending the sale of fattened enlarged bird liver products, and it deserves a vote on its own merits.
Chef Andres comparing Initiative 86 to a ban on beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables just doesn’t hold up.
Force-fed foie gras is a niche luxury item notorious for its extreme cruelty. Beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables aren’t produced by pushing a feeding tube down a bird’s throat until their liver becomes diseased. Initiative 86 addresses one single practice, force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers, and the sale of the resulting enlarged, diseased bird liver products. Initiative 86 is supported by restaurants including Ben’s Chili Bowl and Busboys and Poets, and even the food influencer @dccarnivores.”