Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a ban on the sales and production of foie gras in California. Fifteen countries have also stopped the production of this gourmet cruelty. As the only other state in the country where foie gras is produced, New York should follow California's lead.

Foie gras is the grotesquely oversized, diseased liver of a duck or goose. Foie gras producers pump a third of the birds' body weight directly into their digestive systems with a long metal pipe several times daily. The animals' livers grow to about 10 times healthy size. The animals are confined in filth where they are unable to swim, nest, graze or fly.

This force-feeding results in hepatic lipidosis, a type of liver disease. If eating a bile-secreting organ is not gross on its own, foie gras is truly sick.

Legislation has been introduced in New York to ban the production of foie gras. So far the bills have not gone anywhere, but hopefully California's effort will provide the needed momentum.

Foie gras is a despicable example of cruelty to animals, and New York should join California and a plethora of countries in saying au revoir to foie gras.