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FESTIVE ISSUE OF PETA’S ANIMAL TIMES MIXES HOT STARS WITH HOT TIPS, RESCUES WITH RECIPES
Article on the ‘Dark Side’ of Dairy Industry Could Make You Ditch the Dahi

For Immediate Release:
20 October 2003

Contact:
Bijal Vachharajani (0) 98201 22602; BijalV@petaindia.org

Mumbai – Want to learn why keeping the curd off your plate helps cows and buffaloes and protects your own health, too? And how does soapstone and hydrogen peroxide get into a glass of milk? The place to turn for answers to these and other animal-related questions is the Festive 2003 issue of PETA’s Animal Times, which features everything from hard-hitting exposés and healthy diet advice to celebrity news and heroic animal-rescue stories.

One of PETA’s Animal Times’ most popular features is the ‘Purrs & Grrrs’ section, which lets readers know who’s cool and who’s cruel. In this issue:

The magazine also contains a special report on the dairy industry, ‘The Dark Side of Dairy’, in which PETA reveals how cattle, who were once revered in Hindu culture, now endure dreadful lives and deaths at the hands of unscrupulous dairy farmers and the leather suppliers anxious to tan their hides. Today’s ‘factory-farmed’ cows are impregnated and milked over and over, until they are too worn-out to produce any more milk. Then, most are carried off to illegal abattoirs. It is to India’s shame that male calves are now called ‘katra’ – one who is to be killed – because they are abandoned to starve or killed right after birth. In Mumbai alone, 80,000 calves are slaughtered every year.

PETA reports that consuming the milk meant for baby cows puts humans at risk for a host of ailments, including cardiovascular disease; ovarian, breast and prostate cancer; diabetes and even osteoporosis. Cow’s milk is often contaminated with hydrogen peroxide, the cancer-causing chemical zentamycin, Oxytocin – an illegal drug that farmers believe increases milk production – and even crushed soapstone, which is used to ‘increase’ skimmed-milk powder. The Consumer Guidance Society of India found that high quantities of aflatoxins, antibiotics, agro-chemical residues, pus, spore-forming bacteria and chemicals like sodium carbonate and urea have been found in cow’s milk. The study indicates that these contaminants have been linked to liver cancer, gastro-enteritis, viral fever and weight loss.

In his column ‘Doctor in the House’, Dr Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), explains that some people may suffer potentially life-threatening reactions to animal products. According to Dr Barnard, people who are allergic to animal products may experience dermatitis, fever, blisters, bronchitis, fatigue, irritability, tension, muscle or joint pain, nausea and other gastrointestinal disorders and, in some cases, anaphylactic shock. Studies have shown that diets high in dairy products and meat are associated with more asthma attacks than are vegan diets.

Kids and adults alike will love the heart-warming story of a boy who frees two fish whom his father had caught on a camping trip. ‘My bathtub-size tank was a far cry from home for my fish’, writes young Rahul Patil. ‘I thought how I would feel if I was kept in a tank, away from my home’.

PETA’s Animal Times also lets readers know how they can get involved in helping animals all over the country. All they have to do is look for the ‘You Can Help’ segment at the end of each article, which instructs animal-friendly people on what to do and whom to contact when they spot cruelty to animals.

Says PETA Special Project Coordinator Bijal Vachharajani, ‘PETA’s Animal Times is always in demand, because it gives readers the information and encouragement that they need to act for animals in their daily lives. After all, good intentions aren’t enough – people need to convert words into deeds, and PETA’s Animal Times tells them how’.

For information about becoming a PETA member and getting a yearly subscription to PETA’s Animal Times, call (022) 2628 1880 or write to PO Box 28260, Juhu, Mumbai 400 049.

PETA’s Animal Times is not copyrighted. Full or partial reprints are encouraged. For high-quality copies of any of the images, please contact PETA.