News Releases

PETA ASKS PRESIDENT ARROYO TO FIGHT FOOD CRISIS BY GOING VEGETARIAN

Up to 16 Pounds of Grain Wasted to Produce 1 Pound of Meat, Says Group

 

For Immediate Release:

May 8, 2008

 

Manila -- In the midst of a food shortage that has left many families struggling to put food on the table, PETA is appealing to President Gloria Arroyo to fight the hunger crisis by going vegetarian.

 

President Arroyo has said that "poverty and inequity are the main culprits that threaten our peace, our stability, and the ability to sustain our growth" and that "the only way to build a brighter future for the Philippines is 'leadership by example.'" PETA is calling on her to lead the Philippines in the charge against hunger by trying and advocating a vegetarian diet.

 

How will giving meat the boot help feed starving people? In a letter sent to President Arroyo today, PETA points out that the world is already growing enough crops to feed every human being, but food that could be used to nourish starving people is fed instead to billions of chickens, pigs, and cows who are slaughtered for their flesh. In addition to being extremely cruel to animals, meat production is also staggeringly inefficient: It can take up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat. PETA also notes the numerous health benefits of kicking the meat habit--which include fewer heart attacks, decreased cancer rates, and smaller waistlines.

 

"Eating meat from farmed animals--more than anything else--takes desperately needed grain out of the mouths of the country's very poorest people," says PETA Director Jason Baker. "In light of the food crisis, we ask President Arroyo to lead the fight against hunger by adopting a vegetarian diet."

 

For more information, please visit PETA's Web site PETAAsiaPacific.com.

 

PETA's letter to President Arroyo follows.

 

 

Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

President of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street

San Miguel, Manila NCR 1005

Philippines

 

Dear Madam President,

 

I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific (PETA), which, with our affiliated offices, comprises more than 1.8 million members and supporters, to request a meeting to discuss the important issue of efficient food production.

 

As you know, the situation is critical right now for the hundreds of millions of people living in poverty who are facing a food-shortage crisis. What you may not know, however, is that by raising animals for food, we're condemning people in the Philippines and around the world to starvation. Animals raised for food consume nearly 1 billion metric tons of food edible by humans every year—that's enough to feed about half the world's population. It takes up to 16 kilograms of grain to produce just 1 kilogram of meat.

Adopting a vegetarian diet and publicly advocating the same would do far more than any photo-op--it would set a great example and show a deep commitment to ending the food crisis in the Philippines as well as world hunger.

Of course, a vegetarian diet is also kinder to animals, who are made of flesh, blood, and bone--just as we humans are. Animals have the same five physiological senses as humans, and they suffer and feel pain, just as we do.

Your moral invocation that "poverty and inequity are the main culprits that [threaten] our peace, our stability and the ability to sustain our growth" is absolutely correct. And you've said in the past that "the only way to build a brighter future for the Philippines is 'leadership by example.'" Will you now lead the Philippines in the charge against hunger by going vegetarian and advocating a vegetarian diet?  

 

Thank you for your time and consideration. PETA would be pleased to assist your staff with menus, information, or any other help that we can provide.

 

I look forward to hearing from you on this critical issue.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jason Baker

Director

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific