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MISS WORLD MALAYSIA URGES PETRONAS TO FORGO FOIE GRAS AT F1 EVENTS

Malaysian Beauty Thanuja Ananthan Joins PETA Campaign on Behalf of Tormented Birds

 

For Immediate Release:

17 May 2010

 

Kuala Lumpur -- With the launch of a new video featuring Kate Winslet that details the suffering of geese and ducks in the foie gras industy, Miss World Malaysia Thanuja Ananthan fired off a letter to Petronas CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbas calling on him to keep foie gras off the menu at all Formula One-related events. Petronas is a leading F1 sponsor. Thanuja Ananthan's letter follows a similar request by F1 heir Tamara Ecclestone. Petronas has failed to reply to either communication.

 

In the letter, Ananthan, who is also a law student, writes, "Foie gras production is hideously cruel". She goes on to explain that in order to make foie gras -- French for "fatty liver" -- workers jam metal pipes down the throats of ducks and geese and pump approximately 2 kilograms of a mixture of grain, maize and fat into the birds' stomachs several times a day.

 

"Many birds become too sick to stand", the letter continues. "The pipes often puncture birds' throats, and the massive amount of food sometimes ruptures their stomachs and other internal organs." The bodies of force-fed birds who have died show heavy internal bleeding, fungal and bacterial infections and hepatic encephalopathy -- a brain ailment caused by liver failure.

 

Foie gras production has been banned in more than a dozen countries, including the UK, Germany and Israel. Pope Benedict has denounced the production of foie gras as cruel, and Sir Roger Moore narrated a graphic video showing the cruelty of foie gras production.

 

A copy of Thanuja Ananthan's letter to Shamsul Azhar Abbas, CEO of Petronas, is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETAAsiaPacific.com.

 

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