PETA’S ‘LETTUCE LADY’ TO SYDNEY: GO GREEN – GO VEGAN

Lettuce-Clad Beauty Will Ask Residents to ‘Turn Over a New Leaf – Go Vegan’

For Immediate Release:
14 January 2015

Sydney – Wearing a figure-hugging gown made from real lettuce leaves and holding a sign that reads, “Turn Over a New Leaf – Go Vegan”, a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia will urge passers-by to go vegan on Pitt Street tomorrow.

Date:        Thursday, 15 January
Time:       12 pm sharp
Place:       At the intersection of Pitt and Market streets, Sydney

PETA’s “Lettuce Lady” wants to draw attention to the suffering of billions of animals who are raised and killed for food. The meat, egg and dairy industries are also major contributors to climate change, resource depletion, pollution and world hunger.

Animal agriculture is responsible for more than 30 per cent of the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Waste, antibiotics and pesticides from factory farms and abattoirs contaminate water sources. Farmed animals produce 13 billion metric tons of excrement a year – that’s 48 times as much as the world’s human population produces. Much of the Earth’s water supply is diverted to animal agriculture – even desert nations in Africa and the Middle East are pouring what little water they have into meat production. Each day, animal agriculture uses a shocking 2.5 trillion litres of water – enough for everyone in the world to take eight showers.

Meat production also wastes food that could be used to feed people. It takes up to 16 kilograms of grain to produce just 1 kilogram of meat, and animals raised for food consume nearly 1 billion metric tons of human-edible food every year. That’s enough to feed almost half the world’s population. By raising animals for food, we’re condemning people around the world to starvation.

Most animals used for food are confined to filthy, crowded enclosures and denied everything that’s natural and important to them. On factory farms and in abattoirs, chickens have their throats cut while they’re still conscious, piglets are castrated and have their tails cut off without any painkillers and cows are hung upside down and skinned while they’re still alive and able to feel pain.

“We’re asking people to turn over a new leaf and go vegan”, says Lettuce Lady Shareen Masawan. “With so many delicious alternatives to meat, eggs and cows’ milk available, it’s easier than ever to enjoy great food without causing animal suffering.”

For more information about animals used for food, please visit PETA.org.au. Broadcast-quality video footage of animals who’ve suffered in the meat industry is available here: http://www.petaav.com/4broadcast/mym_PETA_only_PAL.htm.

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