Did You Know ?

• That 18% of greenhouse emissions come from livestock production: 4% more than all modes of transport put together.
  
• That in Spain and Italy dairy cows at the end of their working life are dragged on to trucks to take them to slaughter houses. These poor creatures cannot get up or walk because of the horrors they suffer in producing high milk yields.
  
• That sale of meat and milk from cloned animals could soon become a reality in the US. Egg cells are taken from ‘donor’ female animals such as pigs, goats and sheep. After the cloned foetuses are created they are implanted into ‘surrogate’ mothers. Human beings - where will they stop?
  
• That around 150,000 dairy calves are shot at birth every year. Another 100,000 are exported to continental veal farms. GO VEGAN!
  
• That a typical glass of milk contains 35 hormones and 11 growth factors. This is due to modern dairy farm methods. Two thirds of retail milk in the UK is taken from pregnant cows when levels of hormones and growth factors are sky high.
  
• That researchers from Harvard Medical School found that women who ate more than one and a half servings of meat a day, equivalent of a burger and a sausage, almost doubled their risk of breast cancer.
  
• That scientists writing in the journal, ‘Nutrition Reviews’ said that prostate cancer patients who ate the most fruit, vegetables and pulses (peas, beans, lentils) and the least meat and dairy products lived longer.
  
• That some researchers suggest that prostate cancer should be considered a ‘nutritional disease’. Diets high in heterocyclic amines (abundantly found in grilled boiled meats), saturated fats, milk and eggs increase the chances of prostate cancer.
  
• That 33% of the world’s grains production is fed to animals.
  
• That livestock farming releases 37% of global methane which is 23 times as warming as CO2
  
• That animal slurry and wastes also release large amounts of ammonia which contributes to acid rain which kills trees. It also releases nitrous oxide which has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2.
  
• That around 1.5 million American children aged 8-18 are vegetarian
  
• That the World Cancer Research Fund recommends that we should eat, ‘ mostly foods of plant origin’ Red meat is a ‘probable’ cause of some cancers, while the link with colorectal cancer is ‘convincing ’.
  
• That according to one study high dairy intake in childhood considerably increased the risk of bowel cancer in adulthood.
  
• That according to one national paper ‘ oily fish’ could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes because of the lethal chemicals it contains like PCBS, DDT, mercury, dioxins and flame retardants.
  
• That every day 2 million chickens and 73,000 pigs, cattle and sheep are slaughtered in the UK.
  
• That male chicks are useless to the egg industry and so around 30 million of them are gassed or tossed alive in giant industrial shredders. Any one for an omelette?

Around a billion live animals are transported every week to slaughter houses, many to other countries. Here are some heart wrenching examples:

Pigs: They are transported from Canada to Hawaii. Crammed together in the dark they do a 4,500 mile journey to Hawaii lasting 9 days. They suffer from exhaustion, hunger and vomiting.

Cattle: Zebu cattle endure a 17 day journey from Brazil to Lebanon. Some of the 2,500 animals on board die on the way from heat stroke or respiratory disease.The rest are killed on arrival.

Sheep: Australia sends 4 million live sheep every year to the Middle East. The gruesome journey takes 32 days. Many die of suffocation on the way. Ironically Australia is paying a heavy price for rearing sheep. Deserts are spreading due to over grazing. Water shortage is becoming a serious issue. The ecological damage to the country and failing rains are a sign that Australia is paying a far greater price than what it gains from exporting sheep.

Goats: 15,000 goats a week are packed into a truck for the 2,500 mile journey from Namibia to South Africa. They have nothing to eat or drink in temperatures exceeding 40c.

Horses: They are transported from Spain to Italy on a 46 hour journey.

Please turn vegetarian at the earliest and pass it on to everyone who is unaware of the above facts and help them in turning vegetarian too . . .