Veggie Nuggets

Strip

July. Three hundred activists from campaign group PETA, some of them wearing only their underwear, protest in the Spanish city of Pamplona over the annual running of the bulls. They wanted to protest naked but city officials refused permission. The protesters marched through the city on the eve of the San Fermin bull-running festival which lasts a week. Bulls are set loose through the streets and then take part in afternoon bull fights where many of them are killed. This year, the town of Pamplona took measures to try and ensure the safety of the participants by painting the streets with a non-slip coating. At least 13 people have been killed in the runs since record-keeping began in 1924. Others are occasionally gored or trampled as up to 6 bulls race along the streets towards the bullring.

Beckham

Animal rights activists targeted David Beckham in a bid to stop him wearing kangaroo-skin boots. His boots, which are described as one of the most precise and powerful boots made, are manufactured from kangaroo leather which is chosen for its lightness and suppleness. Animal rights group Viva! says that baby kangaroos are being needlessly killed by hunters on night-time shoots to supply the market for leather. Under government guidelines, female kangaroos can be targeted but baby kangaroos often die too.The guidelines state that if a female has been killed, the pouch young must also be killed immediately, by decapitation or by a heavy blow to the skull. While the Australian government says that the shooting of wild kangaroos is required to control numbers, this is disputed by Viva!. Their campaign is also supported by a former kangaroo shooter who claims that kangaroos have never been in widespread pest proportions. A spokesperson for Beckham said that the England captain was guided by the shoe manufacturer on the humane killing of the animals but would consider evidence compiled by Viva!.

Old MacDonald had a Lab

An international research team has proposed new techniques that may lead to the mass production of meat reared not on the farm but in the laboratory. Developments in tissue engineering mean that cells taken from animals could be grown directly into meat in a lab. Scientists believe the technology already exists to directly grow processed meat like a chicken nugget. A single cell could theoretically produce the world’s annual meat supply. Growing the meat without the animal could reduce the need to keep millions of animals in cramped conditions and could lessen the damage caused by the meat production to the environment.

Sexy Veggies

July. Coldplay singer Chris Martin and Carrie Underwood, who won the American Idol competition, share the title of World’s Sexiest Vegetarian in PETA’s annual online poll. More than 13,000 votes were cast in the contest. Carrie Underwood wore a t-shirt that read “V for Vegetarian” on the Idol show, while Chris Martin and actor wife Gwyneth Paltrow made the headlines when they gave their one-year old daughter a vegan birthday cake. Martin and Underwood beat other famous veggies such as David Duchovny, Joaquin Phoenix and Avril Lavigne.

Penguins Rule

A surprise hit documentary about penguins has overtaken the film Amélie Poulin to become the second most successful French film at the North American box office. The film about the Emperor Penguins' mating season is also the second most successful documentary in US box office history, after Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. The documentary follows the annual journey of the penguins as they march single file to their traditional breeding ground in Antarctica.

J-Low

September. Heather Mills, Mrs. Paul McCartney, visited the New York office of Jennifer Lopez’ fashion company Sweetface to protest against its use of fur. Mrs. McCartney said she simply wanted to raise awareness about the skinning alive of the animals. The protest which was timed to coincide with New York Fashion Week, saw Heather Mills delivering a DVD to the Sweetface offices and walking into a J Crew clothes store wearing a flat-screen TV showing images of animal cruelty. Meanwhile in Paris, the editor of the American edition of Vogue was treated to a pie in the face by French anti-fur activists. Anna Wintour, dressed in a fur-trimmed jacket, was hit by a tofu cream pie as she left the Chloe show at the Tuileries Gardens. It was the second such attack this year on the woman who is condemmed by animal rights groups as a “pelt-pusher”.

Gorgeous Veggie

A Swiss French beauty has taken home the title of Miss Switzerland. 21 year old law student Lauriane Gilliéron won hands down after television viewers were allowed for the first time in the competition’s history to have the final say on who was the prettiest woman in the country. Gilliéron, daughter of the mayor of Prilly, a small town of around 11,000 inhabitants and long-term vegetarian, beat off competition from 15 other contestants.

Nestlé or Nest-lie

September. A complaint by The Vegan Society against an advertorial by multinational company Nestlé has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. An article on an AOL women’s page entitled “Mastering your Metabolism part 3: Eat well, Feel great” contained a paragraph which was headed "Dairy Products". It stated that these are "essential for healthy bones.." The complaint objected that this was misleading because eating dairy products isn't necessary to obtain healthy bones. The use of the word “essential” implies that dairy is the only source of calcium. Nestlé offered no evidence to support its claim and admitted that there are perfectly adequate sources of calcium, such as green leafy vegetables, tofu and seeds. The Vegan Society were delighted with their David versus Goliath victory.

Bird Flu Boost Sales

October. Drugs firm Roche has seen third-quarter revenues rise 17%, helped by a jump in sales of Tamiflu. The drug is seen as the best treatment for bird flu.The Swiss firm said sales of Tamiflu had more than doubled, compared with the same period last year. In a statement earlier, they announced that they may allow other firms to make the drug as well. Roche is now producing Tamiflu as fast as they can after the WHO advised countries to stockpile supplies to help combat a potential bird flu pandemic. The organisation has also warned that a flu pandemic could potentially kill up to seven million people. Roche’s Tamiflu is seen as the most effective treatment of the most dangerous strain of bird flu, which killed 60 people in Asia in 2003.