Friday 6 April 2012

Use pictures to warn meat-eaters: Peta


Prior to the occasion of World Health Day, which falls on April 7, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has urged the Central government to introduce pictorial health warnings on the meat, poultry and other animal products.

Some of these posters include, Eating meat can cause heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer (with the picture of a man pressing his hands against the chest for relief from pain), Meat consumption may cause premature death (picture showing a patient wearing an oxygen mask), Drinking cow’s milk may cause juvenile diabetes (a girl having diabetic complications), and Egg consumption can cause heart disease (picture of the heart exposed).

Peta India staff nutritionist Bhuvaneshwari Gupta sent a letter to Union health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, urging the ministry to use graphic health warnings like those used on packs of cigarettes. Sample labels with a stark, but compelling, message about the alleged health dangers of meat consumption were sent to the health ministry for consideration.

“Meat, egg and dairy diets are linked to needlessly early deaths,” Ms Gupta alleged. “A mountain of studies links the consumption of animal products to India’s leading killers, including heart diseases, cancer, diabetes, stroke and obesity, Ms Gupta claimed.

The World Health Day would be the perfect time for the ministry of health and family welfare to encourage citizens to go vegan to live longer and healthier lives, said Bhuvaneshwari Gupta.

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