The Vegetarian Myth / Dec 2012
Lierre Keith published a book a couple of years ago called The Vegetarian Myth, claiming that she was a vegan for 20 years and damaged her health in the process. Only problem is that Keith never was a vegan, admitting during a KPFA interview that she "binged on eggs and dairy every chance I got." No wonder Keith suffered health issues. Keith has jumped on the Weston Price bandwagon, and made loads of inaccuracies. Whilst it is true that pasture reared livestock is viable without additional feed, the question is whether enough pasture is available for the number of meat-eaters on the planet today (remembering that meat-eaters also need vegetables as well). In a similar vein, a vegan diet can be supplied by non-arable means (fruit garden growing methods and permaculture etc.), but can enough be produced to supply the human population? So comparing the ideal meat-rearing industry (pasture reared) with the non-ideal vegetable growing industry (arable) is disingenuous… we have to compare like with like, and most importantly take into consideration the practicalities of feeding an exponentially growing population of 7 billion humans. Truth is that, with the human populations we have, veganism is the only way to go. We published an article many years ago on this here. For an in-depth response to her poorly researched and misleading book, visit vegetarianmyth.com.

Animal Testing at 30-Year High / July 2012
GM research on animals has pushed the figures for animal testing to a 30-year high. Last year in the UK, 3.8 million procedures were carried out on mice, cats, dogs and monkeys — with mice making up 71% of the animals tortured in this way. Two years ago the UK government had pledged to reduce animal experiements, but it appears this was just retoric. Please use only cruelty-free products when you can, avoid using anything remotely to do with genetic modification, and only use pharmaceutical products when you really need them. This way you can reduce suffering. And if you really want to go all the way, please consider becoming vegan. Most people can be perfectly healthy on a vegan diet (so long as it is not high in sugar and simple carbs) — a lot healthier than on a meat-based diet.

Ringling Bros circus abuses animals including baby elephants (Dec 2009)
When you go to an animal circus, never forget that the obedience and tricks the animals are performing are the result of many hundreds of hours of torture and abuse. Elephants don't stand on their heads unless they are beaten into submission by cruel profit driven human beings. The picture on the right is of a baby elephant being abused so that it leans to lie down on instruction. The handlers use polls with spikes and electric shocks to "encourage" compliance, as well as ropes and tethers. This abuse is unacceptable in any civilized society, so please STOP going to the animal circus tents of horror. For more info visit: www.ringlingbeatsanimals.com.

Save Turkeys - Visit Gentle Thanksgiving (Nov 2009)
Each years, half a billion turkeys are slaughtered so that we can enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas. Gentle Thanksgiving is an organisation that encourages us, our friends, families and neighbours to adopt more compassionate alternatives to unnecessarily cruel turkey dinners. Visit www.gentlethanksgiving.org. Please help to minimise suffering with compassionate and responsible dietary choices.

The 'Art' of Guillermo Vargas
Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas 'Habacuc' is alleged to have paid some children to catch an abandoned street dog and then tied the animal up in an art gallery in Managua, Nicaragua, and left it there for several days, without food and water, until it died. His excuse: it would have died anyway. There was such a public outcry by this that Vargas and the art gallery have now denied it ever happened, although their stories are inconsistent and keep changing.

But don't plants have feelings too? This is a retort you will often get from meat eaters to the vegetarian position that killing animals for food is cruel. Whilst it is true that plants do react to their environment and have remarkable sensitivity, the question of whether they suffer or feel pain cannot support meat eating because, even if they do feel pain, in eating animals we have effectively consumed all the plants that fed those animals (or that fed the animals that feed these animals). So the number of lives we have taken as a meat eater is far greater. To minimize suffering and ecological damage, it is advisable to eat as low food chain as possible, and that means being a vegetarian.

Animal testing in the EU is on the rise (Nov 2007)
New figures on animal testing show that the use of animals in EU laboratories is on the rise. Between 2002 and 2005, the number of animals used in experiments increased by 3.2% (this figure does not include the research done by the new EU member states). In real terms, the numbers of animals used in lab experiments has increased from 10.7 million to 12.1 million. Alarmingly, the number of animals used in cosmetic research, which is of high public concern, rose 50% during this period, despite the fact that the EU is legislating to cut down on cosmetic testing. [source]

If you truly care about your health and Earth's life-support system, you need to turn vegetarian. No "ifs" and "buts". It is our voracious appetite for animal flesh and gland secretions that is literally destroying us and our planet. And how can a "civilisation" ever claim to be civil if it is built on the suffering of countless creatures? The fact is that if the public could see what goes on in slaughter houses, 90% or more would be vegetarian. Visit www.meatrix.com & www.meat.org.