European Vegetarian Union

Newsletter March 2007

Dear friends,

Do you remember our Open Letter to the EU President Barroso? Well, we did get a reply acknowledging that 'Organisations like the European Vegetarian Union can play an important role'.

This positive outcome of our campaign gives us hope that also our proposed definition of ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ will eventually be accepted by the Commission/SANCO.

In case there are already officially accepted veg* definitions in your country, please let us know. Thanks in advance.

Best regards
Renato Pichler

President, European Vegetarian Union

www.euroveg.eu - evu@euroveg.eu

Content:

1. Meat, a bloody problem
2. Politics
3. Good News
4. E-cards, Journals, DVDs, Films, Videos
5. EVU Website
6. Quotes

1. Meat, a bloody problem

a. Meat and environment

World Water Day, 22. March 2007
Statement from the FAO on the occasion of World Water Day:
“As the number-one user of water worldwide, the agriculture sector must be in the lead in addressing the rising global demand for water and its potential drain on the earth’s natural resources.
Agriculture accounts for about 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawn from lakes, waterways and aquifers around the world. The figure is closer to 95 percent in several developing countries, where roughly three-quarters of the world’s irrigated farmlands are located.
However, food is water. It takes 1 000 to 2 000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of wheat and 13 000 to 15 000 litres to produce the same quantity of grain-fed beef. Without water, we cannot produce; and without it, we simply cannot eat."

Report: Livestock's Long Shadow
There are surprisingly large hidden costs to hot dog's, burgers, milk, and other animal products,

The production of meat and dairy products has a much bigger effect on climate change
than that of most grains, pulses and outdoor fruit and vegetables

Evidence of human-caused global warming ‘unequivocal’, says IPCC
….a marked increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) since 1750 is the result of human active.

European Union (EU): Eat your veg!
Producing meat is both CO2 and methane-intensive and requires large amounts of water.

You call yourself a progressive – gut you still eat meat?
Eating a plant-based diet is an easy, cheap way to end animal cruelty and clean up the environment. Why, then, are so many progressives still clinging to their chicken nuggets?

PETA plea to Al Gore
PETA claims that according to U.N., animals raised as food stock create more greenhouse gas then all the vehicles combined

b. Meat (fish, milk) and health

USA/Bushmeat:
The Illicit Trade in Wild Animal Meat Could Spark a Public Health Crisis

Red meat may increase diabetics heart disease risk,
suggests study

Fish:
Children, pregnant women most at risk of high levels of heavy metal, report says

Fish haters can get strong bones too

Early man
‘couldn’t stomach milk’

What the Australian Philip Wollen thinks of milk
(his comments have not been very popular in some circles….)

Milk thirst threatens Mexico’s rare desert oasis

c. Meat and ethics
Vegetarianism:
Emotivist perspectives on moral reasoning hold that emotional reactions precede propositional reasoning

Cattle-farmer-turned-vegan
Harold Brown gives a talk entitled 'Animal Killer to Animal Advocate'

d. Meat and greed - No animal escapes
And the result of all that killing: A majority of the world's biologists now believe that if current trends continue, half of all species of plants and animals living today will be extinct in less than 100 years. The general public, however, is almost entirely unaware of this crisis....

2. Politics

Croatia/Animal Protection
Act of Croatia, that came into force with January 1, 2007, is translated into English and it can be seen on the Animal Friends Croatia web site

EU/Commission publishes indicative figures
on the distribution of direct farm aid in 2005

FAO/Global report
cites progress in slowing forest losses

UK: David Cameron has a reputation as a deadly accurate marksman
Deerstalker Dave can fell two stags with one shot

3. Good News

UK: In April 2007 Brighton Animal Action has been given permission
to spend six days legally liberating 13,500 chickens

Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation
a city-based organisation, has demanded a separate "vegetarian zone" in aircraft on the lines of non-smoking zones....

South Africa moves to limit
‘canned’ lion hunts

Dressing ‘cruelty-free’ doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style

Historic Bill move to end primate experiments
The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) and Animal Defenders International (ADI) applaud the news that Ireland could become the first European country in the world to ban laboratory experiments on monkeys, after a long-running campaign in the EU.

4. E-cards, Journals, DVDs, Films, Videos

'Meatrix' Films To Include
'Fast Food Nation' Movie On DVD

animal_net
offers e-cards

A Vegetarian Journal
for Quakers and Other People of Faith

Earthlings – Feature length documentary:
Meat Eaters, please watch!

Video
'Save Babe'

5. EVU Website

European Vegetarian Union:
We are looking for volunteer web team members

More news, updated (almost) daily:
www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php
www.evana.org

Diary www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/events/events.php

6. Quotes:

Rabbi Marc Gellman:
"There is simply no spiritual defense in either the Western or Eastern religious traditions for eating meat. The problem is that animals, though obviously not people, are also obviously not things. Animals are sentient beings, and their deaths, particularly in the grotesquery of what is euphemistically called food processing causes them great pain and suffering. That is the nub of the spiritual problem. Animals are God's creations that, unlike plants, suffer when they die just to become food for us."

Dr. Janez Drnovšek, President of the Republic of Slovenia in a message of support for the EVU Talks 2007:
“I can foresee that in the not-so-distant future people will eat only vegetarian food’

EVU Talks – more details:
www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/events/evutalks/2007.php

European Vegetarian Union

Bahnhofstrasse 52, CH-9315 Neukirch (Egnach)
Fax: +41 (0)71 477 33 78

www.euroveg.eu / evu@euroveg.eu

Look at past Newsletters : EVU-Newsletters

If you have not done so, why not become member of the European Vegetarian Union now. It is so easy www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/about/support/membership.php

 

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