Eating vegetables may prevent hardening of the arteries, research suggests. U.S. researchers found 38% less build up of fatty deposits in the arteries of mice who were fed a mixture of vegetables. The researchers from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine assessed the effect of diet on heart disease by studying mice that had been specially bred to rapidly develop atherosclerosis - the formation of fatty plaques in the arteries which can eventually block blood flow leading to heart attacks and strokes.

Half the mice were fed a vegetable-free diet and half the mice were fed a diet which included broccoli, green beans, corn, peas and carrots. After 16 weeks, researchers measured cholesterol content in the blood vessels and estimated that plaques in the arteries of the mice were 38% smaller. Although there was also a reduction in total cholesterol and body weight in mice fed the vegetable-rich diet, analysis showed that this could not explain the reduction in atherosclerosis.

[Editor's note: It is interesting that this is touted as big news and unfortunate that mice had to suffer to determine it. I recall hearing in a lecture by Dr. Michael Klaper, Institute of Nutrition Education and Research, almost twenty years ago, that saturated fat in meat causes plaque build-up in the arteries. It also seems to me that they have looked at the research results backwards.]

On the occasion of a WHO/FAO meeting in Rome, the FAO distributed a press release stating that "the EU diet has gradually deteriorated and has become too rich in fats, particularly saturated fats, sugar and cholesterol," thus contributing to the dramatic situation that 400,000 more children become overweight every year. Rampant obesity threatens Europeans with heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease, arthritis and certain types of cancer.

Sedentary lifestyles certainly play a role in this dramatic situation but, also according the FAO's explanations, diet is a main culprit. If they are so dangerous, why do people buy an excessive amount of fatty animal products? The EU-agriculture policy which heavily subsidizes all but vegetable products may be one of the reasons why consumers prefer cholesterol-laden food stuffs over healthier but more expensive fruit and vegetables. The situation in the U.S. is similar...Mr. Secretary General, we stand ready to support any of the United Nation initiatives leading to a promotion of the beneficial and compassionate vegetarian lifestyle which will bring better health to humans and play a crucial part in building a more wholesome world for all.

Two cases of mad cow disease in Texas and Alabama seem to have resulted from a mysterious strain that could appear spontaneously in cattle, researchers say. These cows appear to have had an "atypical" strain that scientists are only now starting to identify. Laboratory studies on mice in France showed that both the classic and atypical strains could be spread from one animal to another. But scientists theorize the atypical strain might have infected cattle through an unusual way. Mad cow disease is believed to spread through feed, when cows eat the contaminated tissue of other cattle. That happens when crushed cattle remains are added to feed as a protein source. This once-common practice ended in the United States in 1997.

Humans can get a related disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, in similar fashion - by eating meat contaminated with mad cow. Mad cow in humans afflicts younger people; the average age at death is 28 years. A more common form of CJD - not linked to mad cow - can happen spontaneously. This form occurs mostly in older people; the average age at death is 68. Some scientists are raising the possibility that the atypical strain also might happen spontaneously in cattle. The Texas and Alabama cows were older animals, as were some of the other animals in Europe with seemingly atypical cases.

Those who like their porterhouse steaks rare and their burgers with bacon probably won't be found in the tofu aisle any time soon. But Toronto-based entrepreneurs Tal Rosenbloom and Chris Bower are hoping such hardcore carnivores will sink their incisors into their new product, the Better Burger, which is half beef and half soy. An alternative to the veggie or nature burger, the Better Burger caters not to strict vegetarians or anyone who wants to taste actual blood when biting into their meat, but to a rapidly expanding demographic - flexitarians. Otherwise known as part-time or casual vegetarians, flexitarians mostly stick to a flora-based diet but will occasionally indulge in a bit of fauna depending on the situation.

The American Dialect Society voted "flexitarian" the most useful word of 2003 and defined it as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat." Charles Stahler, co-director of the Vegetarian Resource Group, based out of Baltimore, estimates that while true vegetarians make up around 3% of the American population, flexitarians may account for up to 40%. And there's been more research that suggests some 75% of the vegetarian products consumed annually in North America are by meat eaters. But while it's only just picking up steam here in the West, flexitarianism has been going strong in other countries for years. In the Philippines, for example, dishes commonly feature both tofu and meat.

Never mind pets, smokers or loud music at 2 a.m. House hunters in Bombay increasingly are being asked: "Do you eat meat?" If yes, the deal is off. As this city of 16 million becomes the cosmopolitan main nerve of a booming Indian economy, real estate is increasingly intersecting with cuisine. More middle-class Indians are moving in, more of them are vegetarian, and the law is on their side.

Vegetarianism is a centuries-old custom among Hindus, Jains and others in India. The government reckons India has some 220 million vegetarians, more than anywhere else in the world. Rejected home-seekers have mounted a slew of court challenges to the power of housing societies to discriminate, but last year India's highest tribunal ruled the practice legal. While Indians are accustomed to housing societies demarcated by religion, separation by diet has meat-eaters worried. Bombay likes to think of itself as a city wide open to the world, and some worry that the vegetarian tide goes against that trend.

In May, [Alex] Jamieson, the vegan-chef girlfriend of Morgan Spurlock, creator and star of celebrated documentary, Super Size Me, the story of one man living on McDonald's food for a month, married on the tiny island of Fiji. Jamieson wore a hemp-silk wedding dress (made by her mother) and it should come as no surprise that the Super Size Me couple, who have inspired many to change their diets and think about the impacts of their personal food choices, would make conscious decisions about their wedding.

For too long, weddings have been an event for which all logic goes out the window. Brides become "bridezilla." Dads go into debt. All sense of "normalcy" is put off until after the wedding. While over-the-top celebrations have far from vanished, an audible fluttering in the world of vows and flowers has definitely emerged. More weddings are going green. Engaged couples are thinking about the environmental and social impacts of their big day. They are seeking organic and ethically sound options, and that demand is creating more green choices for gowns, flowers, salons, cakes, catering, gifts, jewelry and even honeymoons.

Hundreds of the world's animal welfare groups have begun the massive task of building a petition of ten million signatures. The "Animals Matter To Me" petition calling for a United Nations Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare [was] officially launched at the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) Biennial Symposium meeting in London. The event is attended by more than 300 animal welfare groups from over 110 countries around the globe. The "Animals Matter to Me" campaign is the public face of a government-led initiative to persuade the United Nations to adopt a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, similar to earlier initiatives in the sphere of human rights and the environment.

Five UN member states (Costa Rica, Kenya, India, Czech Republic and the Philippines) have already formed a steering group committed to taking the initiative forward to the United Nations. In principle the Universal Declaration will call on the United Nations to recognise animals as sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain and suffering, and to recognise that animal welfare is an issue of importance as part of the social development of nations worldwide. "Global recognition of animals and their welfare would not only provide the basis for their increased protection. It is also closely linked with improving human health, social development and environmental sustainability" [said a spokesman.]

It looks like news-at-six video of a puppy mill bust. Except the filthy, neglected animals are hens, and the setting is a modern industrial-strength egg barn. The camera sweeps across a long aisle lined high on both sides with "batteries" (stacks) of wire cages, then slowly pans across a single tier. The hens inside are packed so tight they can barely move...Everything is cloaked in filth. "This is a life sentence with no parole. Their only escape is slaughter," say the video's closing titles. "The Truth About Canada's Egg Industry" is produced by CCFA [Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals] and the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS). Debra Probert, Executive Director of VHS, says the video should be a wake-up call for Canadians [where] "Government and industry are constantly reassuring consumers that things are better for farm animals."

The primary Code for Canada's 1000+ registered egg producers (producers who have 500 or more hens - almost all the hens in Canada) is the 2003 Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pullets, Layers and Spent Fowl. It gives producers the green light to house their hens in wire-mesh battery cages with no litter on the bare floors and just 67 square inches per four-pound bird. [Imagine] the outspread pages of The Aquarian, 22 inches by 15.5 (341 square inches). The Code would allow you to house five hens on that area, day-in, day-out, until their egg production wanes - typically 12 months - and then kill them. [Editor's note: This in-depth article by Syd Baumel is well worth reading in full.]

Pork producers in New South Wales have been told to improve their standard of animal care, especially for pregnant pigs. The Australian pork industry wants to limit the use of gestation stalls to six weeks, instead of the current sixteen weeks of pregnancy. Spokeswoman for Animal Liberation Angie Stevenson says the stalls should be completely banned. "Sow stalls are inherently cruel," she said. "The pigs are living on concrete floors, they're living in their own feces. "They can't turn around, and these just aren't conditions that are conducive to a happy life."

Rico, a border collie with what appears to be an uncanny talent for human language, may be a genius among dogs or just your average pooch. Either way, he has scientists wondering if man's best friend is smarter than they thought. A series of careful studies concluded that the energetic German house dog has a stunningly large vocabulary of about 200 words and can even do something scientists thought only humans could do: figure out by the process of elimination that a sound he has never heard before must be the name of a toy he has never seen before.

The findings are the latest evidence that animals are capable of more complex communication than had been thought. Scientists have determined that many species have complex vocalizations that enable them to communicate sophisticated information among themselves. And researchers have been able to teach many creatures to recognize human symbols and language. "A lot of people have argued that the perceptual and cognitive mechanism that underlie what we call language and speech acquisition are unique to humans," said Mark Bekoff, who studies dogs at the University of Colorado. "What this study shows clearly is that is not the case. What this shows is that other animals possess those cognitive and perceptual abilities."

After being hunted close to extinction the majestic humpback whale was beginning to make a welcome comeback thanks to 20 years of protection. But now Japan is going to slaughter these awe-inspiring 65-ton gentle giants again, supposedly for scientific reasons, putting the survival of the species in peril. Leading naturalist Sir David Attenborough and other whale experts have made a heartfelt plea to stop this barbarity. [Sir David said] "There is hard, scientific, dispassionate evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale at sea. Dr Harry Lillie, who worked as a ship's physician on a whaling trip in the Antarctic half a century ago, wrote this:

"'If we can imagine a horse having two or three explosive spears stuck in its stomach and being made to pull a butcher's truck through the streets of London while it pours blood into the gutter, we shall have an idea of the method of killing. The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream the industry would stop, for nobody would be able to stand it.' Harpoons with explosive grenade heads are still the main technique used to kill whales today." Chris Butler-Stroud, chief executive of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "The 'science' practised by Japan is not the science of conservation. Indeed, it's a perversion of the very notion. It's time that the world stood up for the whales and said no to those who want to kill them for a 'principle.'"

The European Vegetarian Union is happy to announce that the book "Utopia Today - Reality Tomorrow: A Vegetarian World" is now available! Thirty five authors - nutritionists, medical doctors, authors of bestsellers, founders of important organizations, researchers, IT-specialists, philosophers, sci-fi fans, musicians and talented individuals - generously contributed to this fundraiser project. The authors come from a variety of countries, cultural backgrounds and religions but they all have one thing in common: the conviction that a more compassionate world is not only possible but inevitable if humanity is to prosper.

The authors share their individual ideas of how tomorrow's vegetarian world will be, whilst looking at a more compassionate future from many different angles. The result is a cocktail of good vibes, light and hopes. Yes, it is true. Vegetarians are still a minority today. But WHAT a minority!

As a girl growing up in Berkeley, California, Anna Lappé split time between her mom's place - where veggies prevailed and the closest thing to junk food was a rice cake spread with peanut butter - and her dad's, where meat and sweets also made their way to the table. Although her parents' eating habits might not have matched, their commitment to revealing the politics behind food production did. Lappé's dad produced such works as "Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate Takeover of Your Food." More famous was her mom, Frances Moore Lappé, author of the 1970s vegetarian manifesto "Diet for a Small Planet" and, later, "World Hunger: Twelve Myths and Great Meatless Meals."

Now thirty-two years old, Anna Lappé continues her parents' fight as an author, educator, and philanthropist. In April, Penguin Putnam released "Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen," a hip, chatty cookbook coauthored by Lappé and Brooklyn-based chef and food activist Bryant Terry. The combination food treatise and recipe collection attempts to engage readers in the sustainable whole-foods movement. Lappé penned a 125-page introduction to the topic with chapters debunking the supposed benefits of industrial agriculture, explaining the environmental and social goals behind organic farming, and offering affordable strategies for incorporating unprocessed foods into a busy lifestyle.

McDonald's is pressing ahead with plans for a World Cup burger bigger than its Big Mac despite MPs calling for a ban. The fast food chain will sell the burger, which will be 40% bigger than its current biggest burger and will have 669 calories, for six weeks. Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb, who organised a petition against the burger, said he was concerned about the impact on children's diets.

Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Minister Moti Kashyap is facing an angry backlash from the state's Jain community for having claimed that prawns are vegetarian food. In his eagerness to promote prawn culture in Madhya Pradesh, Kashyap has put forth arguments that haven't gone down too well with some.

"Like eggs, the protein content in prawns is very high. Both are covered in shells. Scientists consider eggs vegetarian. Therefore, I have labelled prawns as vegetarian too," he said. Other similarities suggested by Kashyap are that eggs and prawns both solidify after being boiled, and like poultry eggs do not hatch, prawns too do not reproduce in fresh water.