Written by PETA
We have all seen the warnings on cigarette packs that remind us that smoking is bad for our health. But the negative consequences of eating meat affect more people than smoking does, and like smoking, meat consumption contributes to deaths from cancer, heart disease and stroke. PETA India has therefore written to the health minister of India asking that graphic warning labels be put on all packages of meat, eggs and dairy products sold in the country, just like the warning labels seen on packs of cigarettes.
Check out the warning labels to see the stark and compelling messages about the dangers of meat consumptions:
A mountain of studies links the consumption of animal products to India's leading killers, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke and obesity. And don't you agree that consumers have the right to be informed about the health hazards of consuming meat, eggs and dairy products and how these products are linked to needlessly early deaths?
Research has found that vegetarians are 50 per cent less likely to develop heart disease than their meat-eating counterparts and have only a fraction of the diabetes rate of the general population.Doctors are now prescribing a naturally low-fat plant-based diet not only to prevent but also to reverse heart disease caused from consuming animal products, and studies conducted by Washington, DC–based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and many other research teams have demonstrated the power of plant-based diets to reverse type 2 diabetes, too.
Take two Royal Enfield motorbikes, a passionate team devoted to promoting peace and nonviolence and hundreds of young change-makers in eight nations – and what do you get? A life-altering journey that PETA is proud to be supporting!
De Paix Yatra, or the Peace Journey, is a 13,000-kilometre multinational trip that will take riders Parth Vasavada and Nitesh Square from India to England. Popular model and actor Debi Dutta is also onboard to conduct media interviews and help raise awareness about De Paix Yatra's mission. The team will stop in more than 50 cities in India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and England, visiting with young people to encourage them to become active and work for a more peaceful world.
Recognising that peace begins on your plate, the team members have committed to eating only vegetarian foods during their 65-day journey. PETA is a proud partner of these peace pilgrims, and we have provided them with T-shirts to wear on their trip as well as literature to hand out along the way about going vegan, losing leather and adopting animals.
A book and a documentary about the journey are in the works. In the meantime, you can track the team's progress at its website and help make your little corner of the world more peaceful by going vegan.
PETA wishes De Paix Yatra all the best!
Top fashion designer Sanjana Jon loves desi dogs – she has four of them! The leather-free designer recently hosted a star-studded event in New Delhi to support PETA and Friendicoes SECA and to encourage anyone with the time, love and resources to adopt a homeless Indian (desi) dog rather than buying an animal from a pet shop. Actor Nasir Abdullah, Ramola Bachchan, politician Alka Lamba and fitness expert Vesna P Jacob were just a few of the celebrities who came out to support the "Paws for a Cause" event, walking, playing and posing for photographs with homeless dogs from Friendicoes' animal shelter.
L-R (Sanjana Jon, Benazir Suraiya, Arpita Mona Bansal, Vipul Gupta)
Dogs from Friendicoes
Alka Lamba & Executive Director of The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, Vipul Gupta
Sanjana explained that the loveable, personable dogs at Paws for a Cause "are just a fraction of the dogs in India who need the right person to come along and make them part of the family. If you're ready to make a lifelong commitment, I hope you will consider visiting your local animal shelter – you might just find your new best friend".
You can make a difference by opening your home and your heart to a homeless dog or cat). Every time someone buys a dog from a breeder or a pet shop, a dog on the streets or in an animal shelter loses his or her chance at finding a good home. And please help stop animal homelessness at its source by always sterilising your animal companions.
Photo Courtesy: Monica Dawar
Adding strength to the ongoing public interest litigation filed by the Animals and Birds Charitable Trust, an intervention application by PETA India has been accepted by the honourable High Court of Bombay. In recent years, PETA has gathered substantial evidence of cruelty to horses used for Victorias in Mumbai as well as the traffic risk that they pose to citizens. A number of the group's celebrity supporters, including Hema Malini, John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez, have backed its call for a ban on the Victorias.
"Forcing horses to haul tourists in carriages through congested traffic is already banned in Delhi, Paris, London, Toronto, Beijing and other cities", says PETA India Director of Veterinary Affairs Dr Manilal Valliyate. "Most tourists despise the cruelty to horses, and locals prefer forms of entertainment that do not harm animals. A ban on Victorias is necessary and inevitable."
Pushed past the point of exhaustion, horses often collapse when they are too worn out to continue and are repeatedly whipped in an effort to get them back on their feet. PETA decided to intervene in the wake of growing concerns from compassionate citizens regarding accidents in which horses have collapsed and even died. A carriage horse was critically injured after he collapsed because of exhaustion at Gateway of India in July 2012. Another horse died immediately after being hit by a taxi in front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus that same month.
Join the campaign by taking action now.
PETA India has flown into action with a tempting offer to help keep Kingfisher Airlines out of its financial crisis and flying sky-high while helping meat-eating men rise to the occasion. In a letter to Kingfisher Chairperson Vijay Mallya, we offered to pay the airline to paint our new ad on the sides of Kingfisher's planes:
Considering that impotence affects more than 50 per cent of our nation's males over age 40, placing PETA's "Want Good Times? Go Vegan. Meat Consumption Leads to Impotence" ad on the bodies of planes is the perfect way to reach and help millions of men who may be having trouble "keeping up" in the bedroom.
In addition to causing animal suffering, eating meat can lead to a host of illnesses and medical conditions, including impotence. A diet heavy in meat and dairy products has been linked to heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity – all of which can cause impotence. The good news is that medical science suggests that all of these diseases, along with impotence, can be prevented or even reversed by eating a healthy vegan diet!
It's pretty obvious that the best way to help animals, protect the environment and avoid turbulence in your love life is to go vegan.
We haven't heard back from the airline yet, but we can assure you that more than just Kingfisher's jets will be "taking off" if Dr Mallya accepts PETA's offer and spreads this vital message about meat and impotence.
This Sunday marks the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day, and PETA India is celebrating with five fantastic ways that everyone can help save the planet and animals.
1) Go vegan. White milk and cheese do not equal green. The dairy industry contributes to climate change, overuse of natural resources and massive water and air pollution.
2) Ditch leather. No one wants to wear a toxic soup of chemicals, but that's exactly what you'll find at leather tanneries, which use chemicals such as formaldehyde and coal-tar derivatives and cyanide-based finishes. It's obvious that wearing dried-up animal skin is all dried up.
3) Post this Earth Day fact on Facebook: A report by the United Nations confirms that a global shift to a vegan diet is vital to combat the worst effects of climate change.
4) Share this photo with your meat-eating friends:
Meat production requires so much water that you save more water by not eating one 16-ounce steak than you would by not showering for six months. So by going vegan, you can help save the Earth and still help keep it a pleasant-smelling place.
5) Shop cruelty-free. There are so many luscious body-care product lines out now that are made without harsh chemicals and without harsh animal tests that it's easier than ever to be a green goddess. Check out the PETA US' shopping guide for a list of cruelty-free companies.
Happy Earth Day!
At the Great Indian Dog Show, every dog can have his or her day. On 15 April, a group of dog enthusiasts, in conjunction with Sarvodaya Sevabhavi Sanstha , will host an event in Bangalore in honour of our native Indian community dogs. Paws in the air if you want to see which desi dog will win such delightful categories as "Who has the waggiest tail?", "Who are the Mr and Ms Congeniality of the day?", "Who is the survivor of the year?" and "Who will be the naughtiest puppy of them all?"
These and other fun categories will be the highlights of the show, as the wonderful dogs strut their stuff in front of the judges. To show that every dog can be a winner, all participants will receive medals proclaiming "Proud to Be an Indian Dog" and given goodie bags.
Like the show's organisers, PETA advises against buying dogs from breeders, which only causes more homelessness and neglect, and instead hopes that the show encourages people to adopt homeless Indian dogs from animal shelters or the street.
Don't have an Indian dog to enter in the show this year? That can only mean one thing – if you're looking to welcome a dog into your home and if you have the time and the space, it's time to adopt! Fifteen adorable puppies will be up for adoption that day – all are eligible for free sterilisation at 6 months old. Now that's a reason to stand up and bark!
If you live in or near Bangalore, join the fun on 15 April at the Government Veterinary Hospital campus, from 3 to 6 pm. The organisers are promising one heck of a pawty!
On factory farms, hens who lay eggs (including the ones used for Easter) are confined to battery cages so small that they are barely able to turn around, lie down comfortably or spread a single wing.
Watch this video to learn why eggs are cruel?
This Easter, help save lives by spreading the word for chickens (and NOT using their eggs)! Here are few ways:
Pledge to go vegan today.
Today – the first day of April – PETA is proud to present a brand-new groundbreaking technology that could save lives.
We all know that some birds can learn to speak human languages, but now humans are finally learning to understand birds' language! A team of engineers and avian biologists has created a revolutionary new instrument that interprets chickens' speech patterns and translates them into English. The translator can be attached to a chicken via a Velcro band, and when the chicken clucks, the device interprets the sounds and a mechanised voice speaks the English translation.
People are flocking to get the tiny devices, and PETA India managed to get a few thousand of them, which we will be sending to chicken farmers across the country. We're hopeful that people will stop running afoul of fowl when they can actually understand what these intelligent, inquisitive animals are saying when they speak lovingly to their avian friends and family, demonstrate their excellent memories by asking about chickens who have disappeared (and were likely taken to slaughter) and perform complex mental tasks.
We're excited to hear back from farmers about what chickens have been saying to them. "I want to go outside", perhaps? Or "Where are you taking my sister?" We have a feeling that some farmers are going to have a lot of explaining to do.
We'll keep you updated on how the project is going. What do you think farmers will soon be hearing chickens say?
The dark hour is upon us!
Not Doomsday, but Earth Hour, which falls on Saturday, 31 March, at 8:30 pm this year. It's the hour that people around the globe turn off their lights to help the planet.
So what do you do when everything around you is plunged into darkness for one whole hour? Think, of course!
Here is some food for thought – 10 facts from PETA about our planet, just for Earth Hour. Please share them with your family and friends:
Whoa!
With so many compelling reasons to go vegan, tell everyone you know it's high time for them to take the Vegan Pledge. And with the availability of synthetic leather shoes, soya milk, tofu and soya chunks, going vegan has never been easier.
Recently, eco-friendly online magazine Néoplanète and international multimedia platform One Heart Channel,with the support of PETA France helped present a brand-new event at the Hôtel Fouquet's Barrière aimed at showing chic and ethical alternatives to fur."Paris Without Fur" ("Paris sans Fourrure") took place on the last day of Paris Couture Fashion Week and aimed to show the public the fabulous alternatives to the real fur produced by the fur industry.
Spirit Hoods, PLICH, C&A, Etam, Franck Sorbier, VJ Couture and others showed off their latest fur-free collections. Models from Up Models strutted down the runway with elegance and humour, showing the public that winter can be warm and trendy without killing animals.
If you want to save animals from being killed for bags, belts and shoes, take our pledge never to wear an animal's skin again.
Shackled in chains and crouched in front of a banner bearing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's famous quote "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" along with the message "Pass Animal Welfare Act, 2011", three members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India protested outside Parliament on the day before internationally celebrated Human Rights Day (10 December). The day is also Animal Rights Day.
PETA India displayed the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights – a declaration that takes its name from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is supported by animal protection groups around the world. PETA's point? That we must break down the false barrier between humans and other species that leads humans to mistreat animals and that we must think about how our actions either perpetuate or prevent abuse and exploitation.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, is a woefully outdated law that imposes fines so low that they have virtually no deterrent effect. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has drafted a new law – the Animal Welfare Act, 2011 – that would dramatically increase the penalties for animal abuse. The current penalty for cruelty to animals is 10 to 50 rupees for the first offence, which may go up to 100 rupees for a subsequent offence or up to three months in prison. The new proposed act would provide for a penalty of 10,000 to 25,000 rupees or imprisonment for up to two years – or both – for a first offence and 50,000 to one lakh rupees and imprisonment for one to three years for a subsequent offence.
Please write to the Ministry of Environment and Forests to urge it to pass the Animal Welfare Act, 2011. Take action here.