World Food Day

EUROPEAN VEGETARIAN UNION
Press Release - World Food Day, Tuesday 16 October

Meat, the hidden reason for growing food insecurity

This World Food Day was preceded by a series of FAO-warnings "Wheat prices
hit record-high level", "28 countries face food shortages", "Climate change
disaster is upon us", etc., and also the European Union cautioned that "2007
total cereal harvest will be ...1,6% below the average of the last five
years", and that cereal intervention stocks "have shrunk from 14 million
tonnes at the beginning of 2006/2007 to around 1 million tonnes now".

Environmental changes are given as a major cause for failing harvests, and
the FAO even names the culprits, pointing to future disasters by informing
that livestock's environmental impact "will worsen dramatically...".

So it's official: It's the beef!

What vegetarians have tried to get across for decades has finally become
official wisdom: 'Livestock's Long Shadow' puts a dramatic pressure on the
environment, contributes critically to climate change and global warming,
leads to failing harvests and threatens the global food supply. But that's
not all: Even in times of dwindling resources, enormous harvest shares
continue to be requisitioned for farm animals.

The result is obvious: Food is getting scarce and expensive for everyone
and, as always, the poor are the first to suffer and suffer the most.

Stop meat-business as usual

Since animal husbandry is one of the most prominent reasons for the world's
greenhouse pollution which threatens the food supply of billions of people,
more sustainable lifestyles have to be adopted urgently. There is absolutely
no need for the citizens of some countries to continue eating roughly their
own weight in meat every year! Reason and solidarity must bring about
lighter ecological footprints of the individual, and vegetarianism is the
prime choice in this quest.

On the occasion of World Food Day 2007, the European Vegetarian Union
appeals to all people of good will, and especially to national and
international decision makers, to accept and promote the vegetarian
alternative. The present terrifying crossroad shows clearly that for us and
all future generations, new ethical alternatives have to replace old
destructive habits - today.

Renato Pichler
President
European Vegetarian Union
Bahnhofstrasse 52
CH-9315 Neukirch (Egnach)
Fax: +41 (0)71 477 33 78