Fur and foie gras import bans go before the people
Published: Thursday, Dec 28th 2023, 16:20
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The initiatives to ban the import of foie gras and cruelly produced fur products were submitted to the Federal Chancellery on Thursday. According to the initiators, 106,448 signatures were collected for a ban on foie gras and 116,140 for a fur ban.
This was announced by the animal welfare organization Alliance Animale Suisse (AAS) on Thursday. The products in question may not be produced in Switzerland, but are "imported en masse", according to the AAS.
According to figures from animal welfare organizations, Switzerland imports 350 tons of fur every year, half of which comes from China, "where cruelty to animals is the order of the day".
According to the AAS, foie gras imports amount to 200 tons per year for a product that requires "the force-feeding of hundreds of thousands of animals".
Symbolic value
In Switzerland, the production of foie gras has been banned for over 40 years, as the AAS emphasized. Nevertheless, the product is popular at Christmas time, especially in French-speaking Switzerland.
The submission of these initiatives at Christmas time also has a symbolic value, wrote the AAS. A lot of suffering is inflicted on animals for products that we could do without.
However, the Swiss parliament only voted against an import ban on foie gras in September. It was of the opinion that foie gras would still be eaten in Switzerland even after an import ban.
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