Enewsletter

News from Vegan Outreach

Leafleting Opportunity

Danielle Marino points out an upcoming concert series that seems to be especially conducive to leafleting: Ani DiFranco's "Vote, Dammit" tour. Locations and dates can be accessed on-line. Danielle helped table for an Ani show earlier this year and said that it was one of her most successful veg outreach events ever.

Notes from All Over

The Industry's True Face

People often ask us what specific farms are cruel, so they can boycott just those. But this isn't a case of "a few bad eggs" (so to speak). As we document in Why Vegan and our other literature, the standard industry practices are, to any compassionate person, inherently cruel.

The industry, of course, knows that most people would be sickened at what goes on in the production of modern meat. Not only do they hide factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses, they undertake PR campaigns to promote a false image of well-cared-for animals. USA Today has a new story surrounding one of these campaigns, noting:

"This time, BBB's national advertising review board again ruled against the egg producers, saying the seals give the impression the eggs are produced by hens 'accorded a more humane level of care than is actually the case,' according to the report.

"'There's great potential for consumers, especially consumers who care about this issue, to be misled,' says David Mallen, an attorney with BBB's National Advertising Division, the self-regulatory arm of the advertising industry."

The article also claims:

"The UEP standards, which today cover 85% of U.S. laying hens, were a giant leap forward in the standard of care of hens, says spokesman Mitch Head.

"Starvation to promote renewed laying and beak trimming at 10 days or younger still are allowed.

"Each hen is required to have a cage area at least the size of a sheet of notebook paper."

To the latter claim, Paul Shapiro, founder of COK (see their EggScam site for more), replies:

"The UEP guidelines do not call for each bird to have a cage area the size of a sheet of notebook paper, as Head presumably said. They call for 67 square inches per bird, as opposed to a piece of notebook paper (8.5 x 11 inches), which is 93.5 square inches. So, the UEP standards provide only 71% of the size of a sheet of notebook paper."

A "giant leap forward" in care, indeed.

This is the industry's best face.

More on the Industry

Paul Shapiro also passes along this excerpt from article entitled, "American Egg Board Summer Meeting," from the current Egg Industry (Aug. 04, p. 9) magazine:

"The animal rights people are becoming more and more aggressive and need to be dealt with, as shown in the recent problem that occurred at the Pilgrim's Pride poultry plant in West Virginia."

It's sad that the industry thinks it the animal activists who have to be dealt with rather than the extreme cruelty they allow to happen.

Donate To Vegan Outreach

Every donation prevents cruelty to animals.

From Our Members

Leafleting at the College of Lake County, Danielle and I came across a guy who was wearing a shirt that said "Vegan." He told us that he has been vegan since getting a Why Vegan at Columbia College last school season.
-Jon Camp

One of the nice things about leafleting 3 evenings in a row is that people who received a pamphlet earlier in the week will stop to ask questions. One person who got a Why Vegan earlier in the week, said he is now considering vegetarianism, but was concerned because he is an athlete who does a lot of running, and he had heard that plant-based proteins are not as good as meat based ones. I gave him a Vegan Starter Pack, pointing out Jack's article, "Staying a Healthy Vegan."
     I leafleted for about an hour today, and in that time I received many supporting comments, though my favorite comment of all was the somewhat not-so-supportive remark:
     "I hate those things. They make me think."
-Eugene Khutoryansky, who handed out over 1,000 Why Vegans for AAC last week.

Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of farmed animals by promoting informed, ethical eating. All donations are tax-deductible. Vegan Outreach POB 30865, Tucson, AZ 85751-0865