Media Release

16th August 2006

Britons Urged to Save the World with Their Knife and Fork

The West's addiction to meat and animal products is one of the primary causes of starvation, poverty, pollution and global warming, claims Viva! ? Britain?s leading vegetarian campaigns group. That?s the message they?ll be taking to high streets across the UK during ?Britain Goes Veggie Month ? (September 1-30).

The earth is getting hotter by the day and livestock production is seriously involved, producing 100 million tons of methane every year ? a gas 21 times more damaging than carbon dioxide. The world?s fresh water supplies are drying up, yet it takes 100,000 litres to produce 1kg of beef ? but only 1,000 litres to produce 1kg of wheat. Farmed animals produce 13 billion tonnes of waste every year. One hundred times more polluting than human sewage, this toxic dung causes acid rain, pollutes waterways and devastates wildlife. At least 70 per cent of all farm land in Britain is used to feed animals, and rainforests are still being felled to graze beef cattle. If Britain went vegetarian, less than half the current land would be needed ? vegan, less than a quarter.

Across the world, poor countries are being encouraged to grow cash crops such as animal fodder to earn foreign currency to meet their debt repayments - at the expense of food for home consumption. It has resulted in the obscenity of children starving to death alongside lush crops destined for the west's animals. Most of this food is wasted as for every 10kg of vegetable protein fed to cattle, only 1kg is converted to meat.

These frightening facts ? and many more ? are highlighted in Viva!?s new hard-hitting leaflet, The Planet and It?s People (enclosed), which will be distributed at events across the UK next month.

?You can wait for the deserts to spread, the ice to melt, the seas to rise, the rain to get more acidic, for millions more people to be destroyed by impoverishment and for the animals, plants and trees to disappear. Or you can take things into your own hands and change your diet? says Viva!?s Toni Vernelli. ?As an added bonus, you?ll also improve your health and spare thousands of animals from suffering.?

For more information on Veggie Month events in your area contact Toni Vernelli or Justin Kerswell on 0117 944 1000