Religion enters Chicago's foie gras ban

CHICAGO, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Two Chicago Jewish leaders have warned two Jewish aldermen not to renege on their promise to maintain the city's ban on foie gras.

The City Council banned the sale of the fattened goose and duck liver product by a 48-1 vote April 26, saying foie gras production was animal abuse since birds were force-fed.

But now facing a lawsuit by upscale restaurant owners, Mayor Richard M. Daley and some aldermen are mulling a repeal of the ban, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

That prompted Rabbi Asher Lopatin to fire letters off to aldermen Burton Natarus and Bernard Stone warning they would invoke the wrath of God if they backed down, the newspaper said.

"The cruelty inflicted on animals in the production of foie gras is unspeakable," Lopatin wrote. "It is undeniably disgusting in the eyes of God and in the eyes of any civilized person."

Jana Kohl, former director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, wrote she would do "everything in my power to defeat your misguided efforts" at a repeal, the report said.

"It's the only food item that can only be raised by torturing an animal," Kohl said.