VIVA! EMAIL NEWS ALERT

DECEMBER 2004

Viva!

8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH, UK

Tel: +44 (0)117 944 1000 Email: info@... <mailto:info@...>

Web: www.viva.org.uk <http://www.viva.org.uk/> www.factoryfarming.com.uk
www.savethekangaroo.com <http://www.savethekangaroo.com/>





Please do not reply to this email. Contact us at: info@...
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In This Viva!City: Incredible Success for Incredible Veggie Shows

Dishing the Dirt: The Secret History of Meat

Christmas Recipes

US Foie Gras Success





Incredible Veggie Roadshows take Bristol and Brighton by Storm



Viva!'s first two Incredible Veggie Roadshows - in Bristol on October 30 and
Brighton on November 27 - exceeded all our expectations for numbers and
enthusiasm. The Roadshows are designed to bring the vegetarian message to people
right where they live and judging by these first two shows, they really hit the
spot. In Bristol, as part of the Vegan Fayre co-organised by Viva! and Yaoh,
thousands of people tried free food samples, attended talks, bought recipe books
and Viva! guides and picked up information about our campaigns. In Brighton, so
many people came that there were queues outside the door to the venue! We have
been overwhelmed with the tremendous response to these shows and look forward to
rolling them out across the country over the next eleven months.



The next show is in Solihull on Saturday 29 January 2005. Find out more about it
and see the full list of shows here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/roadshows/solihull.html> . If you can offer us help for
any shows - either with publicity beforehand or on the day itself - please get
in touch <mailto:angie@...> . It's incredibly rewarding to see so many
people interested in vegetarianism and the shows have proved so busy so far that
we really need all the help we can get!



Dishing the Dirt

The Truth About Meat



Viva!'s brand new Dirty Meat campaign got off to a flying start on our Day of
the Dirtbusters on November 6. Supporters up and down the country distributed
around 100,000 leaflets to shoppers in their local town centres and local media
coverage carried the message to many thousands more. We are now ready for the
next stage of the campaign which is the launch of our new report and video. The
56 page report, "Dishing the Dirt" , examines the link between modern farming,
animal diseases and human illness. Covering a range of issues from BSE and bird
flu to organic and factory farming, slaughterhouse practices and meat
processing, the report is a powerful account of the failings of meat
"production" and the dangers of its consumption. Among its key findings are:



* more than 5 million people suffer from food poisoning each year, most of it
caused by animal products. Half of all chickens on sale are contaminated by the
food poisoning bug campylobacter;
* use of antibiotics on farms has promoted the spread of antibiotic resistant
"superbugs". Animals are routinely drugged to attempt to control diseases like
pneumonia, parasites, dysentery, meningitis and salmonella;
* the Government body responsible for abattoirs officially failed to meet its
target for enforcing meat hygiene rules last year;
* BSE is now found in 24 countries and is suspected to exist in many more;
* a human epidemic of bird flu could kill tens of millions.



Viva! will be sending the report to key MPs, the Government, other organisations
and media outlets throughout the country. Our new Dishing the Dirt video is a
graphic and disturbing portrayal of farmed animal diseases and slaughter, backed
with key facts from the report. Both are now available to order from Viva!, at a
price of £5 for the report and £3 for the video or £6 for both. If you would
like to order copies, click here <mailto:alistair@...> .



To find out more about the campaign, click here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/dirtymeat/expanded.htm>







Fabulous Christmas Fare



Now that it's December, it's definitely time to start thinking about Christmas
dinner and Viva!'s Celebration Feast leaflet contains the recipe for a
luxurious, three course, animal-free Christmas dinner fit for a king. You can
see all the recipes online here <http://www.viva.org.uk/christmas/index.html>
and order a free copy of the leaflet itself. Don't forget there are other
delicious tried and tested recipes for meals of all kinds on our website. Check
them out! <http://www.viva.org.uk/recipes/index.html>



There's also still time to order Christmas turkey leaflets for delivery
door-to-door before Christmas. Small and colourful, these leaflets reach tens of
thousand of people every year with the message that turkeys suffer terribly on
factory farms. If you could distribute some in your area, order them here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/shop/campaign.htm> (just scroll down to the bottom of
the page for Christmas materials).





Another Victory for Viva!USA



Following an impassioned plea by Sir Paul McCartney to Arnold Schwarzenegger,
the California Governor has signed into law a Bill outlawing the production and
sale of foie gras in the whole of California.



Sir Paul's intervention was made at the request of Viva!'s director, Juliet
Gellatley, and attracted global publicity, ensuring that millions of eyes were
focussed on Governor Schwarzenegger as he decided whether or not to pass the
Bill. Sponsored by Viva! USA and three other American groups, the landmark Bill
will outlaw not only cruel foie gras production (which involves ducks and geese
being force-fed to grossly enlarge their livers) but even the sale of foie gras
in California. Until the last few days of the Bill's turbulent passage through
the State legislature, it was thought that the Governator (as he is known!)
might use his veto to prevent the bill becoming law. In the event - and after
Sir Paul's plea - he endorsed the Bill by putting his signature to it. We
congratulate Viva!USA's Lauren Ornelas and her team on another terrific victory.





Your Viva!City



This email alert reaches thousands of people but we'd like your help to make it
even better. At the moment, we have just one list of addresses which means that
we have to send the same email to everyone. From time to time we'd like to let
people know about things happening in their area or get in contact with our
younger supporters but we don't want to fill everyone else's mailboxes with
information that isn't relevant to them. What we'd like to do is compile email
lists separated into different regions so that if we do have something we'd like
to tell people in Scotland or Yorkshire about, we can send them the information
without bothering anyone else.



The simplest way for us to identify which area you live in is to know your
postcode and so we'd be grateful if you could take a minute to fill in our
online questionnaire <http://www.timetogoveggie.com/emailconfirm01.php> . We'd
also really like to know your age if you're under 18 - you can fill in your date
of birth on the form. You won't receive any postal mailings (unless you want
them and fill in your other details) and the information will be used only to
sort your email addresses. You don't even have to give us your name if you don't
want to.





That's it for this month, except, of course, have a great Christmas and a very
happy New Year!! See you in 2005!





As ever, if you would like any more information about any of our campaigns,
check out our website www.viva.org.uk <http://www.viva.org.uk/> or get in touch
with us directly - contact details at the top of this email. Please don't click
"reply", however: your email won't be seen at that address.



Thanks again for all your support.





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