DID YOU KNOW?

1 That by 2050 the livestock population will, on present trends, have grown to the point where the plant food it consumes could feed an extra 4 billion people.

2 That in UK 165,000 people die of heart disease every year but this figure could be halved if everyone was vegetarian.

3 That it takes 900 litres of water to produce 1 kg. of wheat compared with 100,000 litres to produce 1kg. of beef.

4 That liquid slurry from livestock oozes into watercourses and waterways and the excess nitrogen and phosphorus levels ruin ground water quality. Worldwide, livestock produce an estimated 13 billion tonnes of waste every year.

5 That farmed fish are starved for 7-10 days before slaughter. This is done to empty the gut.

6 That biotechnology is used to produce fish known as 'Triploid' in fish farms. This process of chromosome manipulation is done in conjunction with a technique to change the sex of the fish. Tens of millions of trout eggs are produced in this way.

7 That genetic engineering of fish using transgenic methods such as putting human or animal growth hormone genes into fish has already begun.

8 That the life cycle on a fish farm begins when eggs are stripped from female fish. Female fish are anaesthetised and the eggs are released by a stockman who massages the fishes abdomen.

9 That farm animals are mutilated without any pain relieving drugs. Pigs, lambs, calves and cows have their tails cut off, while male piglets, lambs and calves are castrated. Hen's beaks are cut off and calves are de-horned. These animals suffer immense pain and humiliation. If only they could communicate with humans!

10 That as meat consumption grows in developing countries they import more and more grain to feed the animals they raise for slaughter. China, which was a net exporter of grain 10 years ago, is now the second largest importer in the world.

11 That more than 10,000 people are killed every year in the UK by side effects of prescription medicines. This is now the fourth biggest killer in the western world. Little
wonder then that 82% of doctors are concerned that testing drugs on animals and the resultant data can be misleading.

13 That dairy cows produce an average of 57 litres of excreta every day and utilise 18-35 litres of cleaning water.

14 That in North Carolina, USA there are 7 million pigs which produce four times the waste that the state’s 6.5 million people produce.

15 That according to the American Dietetic Association and Dieticians of Canada, ‘vegetarians show lower blood cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lower rate of
hypertension, type 2 diabetes and lower prostate and colon cancer'.

16 That roughly 1 billion people in the world are vegetarian or virtually vegetarian.