Nine-Time Wimbledon Winner Says, "Vegetarianism Has Brought Me Into Balance Physically and Mentally".
For Immediate Release:
June 13, 2000
Contact:
Poorva Joshipura 98201 22602
Pune -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the largest animal rights group in the world, is kicking off a new vegetarian ad campaign in The Indian Express in Pune, the turkey producing capital of India. The full-page-color ad, which debuted last week, features tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Just days before Wimbledon, Martina, pictured with a turkey named George, encourages people to "Be part of a legendary experience: Go Veggie!".
PETA’s vegetarian ad campaign will act as a support to India's varied vegetarian foods businesses, from five-star vegetarian restaurants to small family-owned veg hotels, and its growing vegetarian prepared food industry.
Martina has been a vegetarian since 1993. During the photo shoot with George at her home in Aspen, Colorado, she said of her switch to a meat-free diet: "It was a philosophical choice. I felt better as a human. I was more limber, didn’t need as much sleep, and my skin was better." Martina advises that, "You don’t need to be eating meat. There is a choice. Becoming a vegetarian is a healthy choice for you and the planet".
From vegetarian Boca Burgers served in the White House to vegetable curry, which has replaced roast beef as the most popular food in Britain—millions of people worldwide are making the switch to vegetarianism as they recognize the cruelty involved in meat production and the link between meat-eating and the burgeoning rates of heart disease, cancer and stroke. In the US alone, more than 1 million people make the switch to a meat-free diet every year.
Many animals in India are raised on cruel factory farms. In these "farms", turkeys and chickens are treated like machines. They spend their brief lives in crowded conditions, many of them so cramped that they can't even turn around or spread a wing. Many do not get a breath of fresh air until they are prodded and crammed onto trucks for a nightmarish ride to the slaughterhouse, often through weather extremes and always without food or water. The animals are hung upside down and their throats are sliced open, often while they're fully conscious.
While factory farms started in the US in the 1950s, many are now being slapped with harsh limitations because of their devastating effects on human health, the environment and animal welfare. However, India’s factory farming industry is growing dangerously.
The world’s most nutrition-conscious doctors now advocate a vegetarian diet. Dr T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University in the US reports that "the vast majority … of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented … simply by adopting a plant-based diet". Dr Dean Ornish of the University of California has demonstrated that artery blockages can be reversed with a low-fat vegetarian diet. Turkey and chicken are loaded with fat and cholesterol—a turkey leg contains more than many cuts of beef--which lead to obesity, heart attacks, cancer, strokes and other diseases. Vegetarian foods are low in fat and have absolutely no cholesterol. But they do have all the iron, calcium, protein and other nutrients you need to be healthy and strong.
Vegetarianism is the diet of many popular celebrities. Sir Paul McCartney, Kim Basinger, Bryan Adams, Anil Kumble, Pamela Anderson, Mahima, Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone, Juhi Chawla, and Natalie Portman are just a few of the many vegetarian stars.
PETA, with its 700,000 members worldwide, opened its first-ever Indian campaign office in 2000 January, with the goal of combining traditional Indian ideals, like vegetarianism, with Western star power and a youth-oriented campaigning style.
