If we could live happy and healthy lives without harming others... why wouldn't we? - Edgars Mission
March is MeatOut Month - a good time to reduce or eliminate meat consumption to help animals, you and the planet
March 24 is world day for the end of fishing
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In this edition...
Featured Video |
 Australian state passes law acknowledging animals have emotions |
Top Stories |
| Plant-based foods are the mega trend of 2018 |
| How animal activists took on the cattle industry and won |
| Canada must do better to protect freezing animals in transport |
| New Zealand seeing a vegetarian revolution |
Health and Environment |
| New comprehensive vegan health report |
| The actual benefit of diet vs drugs |
| Taxing meat could help offset environmental, health problems, activists say |
| 'Ultra-processed' products now half of all UK family food purchases |
| How showing compassion for animals can improve your health |
| Dogs can get by just fine on a vegetarian diet |
Lifestyles and Trends |
| U.S. senate issues failing dairy industry $1 billion handout |
| Canadian vegan figure skater earns Olympic gold medal |
| 'Reduce' and 'Eliminate': Both are effective messages for reducing meat consumption |
| Why is veganism becoming so popular? |
Signs of the Times |
| Tofurky now available at 1,000 stores in Australia |
| Push for plant-based, protein-rich foods could put Canadian farmers on top |
| Team Canada wears all-vegan uniforms at Olympics |
Animal Issues and Advocacy |
| Fish feel pain. Now what? |
| Hawaii's Leilani Farm Sanctuary: A haven for animals where compassion reigns |
| Switzerland makes it illegal to boil a lobster alive |
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(Excerpts are included from current news stories. Click on the "Full story" link to read the full article.)
Featured Video 
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| Top Stories
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Plant-based foods are the mega trend of 2018
Full report: Baum+Whiteman
New research shows that in 2018, vegan cheese will become commonplace in restaurants, plant-based meat will gain traction, and big brands will launch more vegan ice cream options. The report by Baum+Whiteman International Food & Restaruant Consultants predicts that plant-based food will be the top "mega-trend" of 2018. Last year, vegan-related Google searches increased by 90 per cent, plant-based food consumption among Americans rose to 83 per cent, and 35 per cent of consumers chose alternative sources of protein over red meat. The report goes on to explain that consumers are increasingly demanding plant-based options, and traditional restaurants are responding! [Thanks Meatout Mondays for bringing us this info!]
Read more... |
How animal activists took on the cattle industry and won
Full story: ABC Australia
The decision by a Brazilian court to suspend a shipment of 27,000 cows to Turkey, citing concerns about slaughter practices in that country, shows that animal activism, like the supply chains it targets, is going global.
Read more... |
ABC Australia - February 7
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Canada must do better to protect freezing animals in transport
Full story: Globe and Mail
Far from the minds of most cold Canadians is how such extreme temperatures are effecting the hundreds of thousands of farmed animals confined to open-sided transport trucks, travelling across the country for up to 52 hours at a time. Right now, animals are suffering from frostbite, food and water deprivation and death by freezing. And it's all perfectly legal. Condemned by animal advocates as the worst in the Western world, Canada's farmed-animal-transport regulations permit incredible suffering. Thankfully, the incredible increase in plant-based meat and dairy alternatives now available in Canada has made it easier than ever to avoid inherently cruel animal products. The next time we endure the Canadian cold - shivering our way from a heated car to a heated grocery store - we should give a thought for the tens of thousands of animals enduring that very same cold, but without anywhere warm to run.
Read more... |
Globe and Mail - January 7
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New Zealand seeing a vegetarian revolution
Full story: Stuff, NZ
Knock me down with a feather! New Zealand - home of the steak and cheese pie, where red-blooded blokes observe the Saturday barbie and Sunday roast with religious zeal - is going veggo. Stuff's Meat Under Heat investigation revealed we're eating an average of 15kg less meat than we did in 2010, and the number of budding vegetarians is up 27 per cent in just five years. While farmers are right to be worried, this is astonishingly good news for the rest of us.
Read more/Watch video... |
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| Health and Environment
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New comprehensive vegan health report
Full story: Viva!Health, UK
This pioneering report explains why a vegan diet is so beneficial to our health and how it improves or prevents many health conditions including asthma, cancer, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart disease, digestive disorders, kidney problems and how it helps protect our mental health. Fully referenced and based on scientific studies from peer-reviewed journals - for health professionals and everyone. Download PDF for free at the link.
Read more... |
Viva!Health, UK - February
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The actual benefit of diet vs drugs
Video source: NutritionFacts.org
 The best cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can do is an absolute risk reduction of 3.1 per cent over six years. A whole foods plant-based diet has been shown to work twenty times better - an absolute risk reduction of 60 per cent after less than four years. Overall, 99.4 per cent of patients who stuck with the diet avoided major cardiac events, such as death from heart attack.
Read more/Watch video... |
NutritionFacts.org - Archives
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Taxing meat could help offset environmental, health problems, activists say
Full story: CBC, Canada
The steep climb in global meat consumption has environmental interest groups debating a "sin" tax on animal products. Meat consumption grew by more than five times between 1992 and 2016 and has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, global obesity, rising rates of diabetes and cancer, soil degradation and deforestation, according to the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative. The British activist group argues meat should join products like tobacco, sugar and carbon, which are often taxed because they are harmful to people's health and the environment.
Read more... |
'Ultra-processed' products now half of all UK family food purchases
Full story: Guardian
Half of all the food bought by families in the UK is now "ultra-processed", made in a factory with industrial ingredients and additives invented by food technologists and bearing little resemblance to the fruit, vegetables, meat or fish used to cook a fresh meal at home. The study of 19 European countries shows that UK families buy more ultra-processed food than any others in Europe [lowest is Portugal at about 10 per cent]. There are two problems with all this, Professor Carlos Monteiro from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, who led the research team, said. People are missing out not only on vitamins and minerals but also bioactive compounds found in natural foods such as phytoestrogens and fibre.
Read more... |
How showing compassion for animals can improve your health
Full story: One Green Planet
The effects of compassion are far reaching and have been shown to have benefits for physical as well as psychological health. A wealth of evidence demonstrates that social support, when humans connect in a meaningful way with other people or animals, helps in the recovery from illness as well as promoting increased levels of mental and physical well-being.
Read more... |
One Green Planet - November 24
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Dogs can get by just fine on a vegetarian diet
Full story: LA Times
Every year in the U.S., our 180 million dogs and cats eat about 25% of all animal-derived calories consumed. Since the livestock industry is a top contributor to climate warming gas and water waste, the environmental toll from pet food is enormous. It's also largely unnecessary.
Read more... |
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| Lifestyles and Trends
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U.S. senate issues failing dairy industry $1 billion handout
Full story: VegNews
The dairy industry must rely on government bailouts to survive, as consumers increasingly turn to plant-based alternatives.
Read more... |
Canadian vegan figure skater earns Olympic gold medal
Full story: VegNews
World champion figure skater Meagan Duhamel and her partner Eric Radford helped the Canadian team secure an Olympic gold medal during their long-program performance. Duhamel has been vegan since 2008 and rescued a dog (named "Moo-tae") from the Korean dog trade ahead of the Olympics - with plans to bring another dog home to Canada.
Read more... |
'Reduce' and 'Eliminate': Both are effective messages for reducing meat consumption
Full story: Faunalytics
Animal welfare advocates, health care practitioners and environmentalists use a wide range of appeals to encourage people to eat less meat, even though there has been little research done on the effectiveness of these appeals. A study from the Animal Welfare Action Lab aims to address this lack of research, showing that appeals asking readers to reduce or eliminate their meat consumption lead to significant reductions in eating meat up to five weeks later.
Read more... |
Why is veganism becoming so popular?
Full story: BBC Podast
Why are more and more people giving up all food produced from animals? Mary-Ann Ochota explores if it's natural for us to eat meat, and the impact on our health and the environment.
She looks at how social media is helping spread the vegan message, the pros and cons of a solely plant based diet and whether eating meat today is ethical.
Listen... |
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| Signs of the Times
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Tofurky now available at 1,000 stores in Australia
Full story: VegNews
Oregon, U.S.-based vegan brand Tofurky debuted today at nearly 1,000 locations of grocery chain Woolworths across Australia. Tofurky founder Seth Tibbott made the announcement that Tofurky's expansion into Australia is part of Woolworths'-the largest supermarket chain in Australia-new initiative to offer more plant-based foods.
Read more... |
Push for plant-based, protein-rich foods could put Canadian farmers on top
Full story: CBC
Canadian prairie farmers who grow, rather than raise, protein sources are looking to break into the mainstream with new research and investments on how to sustainably feed the world. The push for plant-based protein such as beans and lentils - as opposed to animal sources like meat or dairy - comes as the global population continues to grow rapidly and more consumers think about their health and the environment, said Pulse Canada CEO Gordon Bacon.
Read more... |
Team Canada wears all-vegan uniforms at Olympics
Full story: VegNews
Animal-rights activists praise apparel brand Hudson's Bay Company for outfitting this year's Olympians in animal-free outwear. "With their faux-fur pom-poms, wool-free sweaters, and synthetic-down insulation, Team Canada's uniforms prove how stylish and warm vegan outerwear can be," PETA director of corporate affairs said.
Read more... |
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| Animal Issues and Advocacy
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Fish feel pain. Now what?
Full story: Hakai Magazine
The collective evidence is now robust enough that biologists and veterinarians increasingly accept fish pain as a reality. Yet this scientific consensus has not permeated public perception. Terrestrial animals get humane treatment and legal protections [if only all did and it were effective], but until now, fish pain has largely been ignored. [A lengthy but excellent article highly recommended.]
Read more... |
Hakai Magazine - January 2
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Hawaii's Leilani Farm Sanctuary: A haven for animals where compassion reigns
Full story: The Maui News, HI, U.S.
Named for the farm's first resident donkey, Leilani Farm Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that operates with an all-volunteer workforce and provides a safe home for animals freed from a life of neglect and deprivation, while educating the community on the humane treatment of farm and other animals. While founder Laurelee Blanchard's journey from driven career woman in designer business suits to agrarian kamaaina in rolled-up jeans and rubber boots may seem the stuff of popular fiction, it's all true. Her story is the real-life account of an impassioned activist following her true north - and giving up everything to find the only thing that matters: abolishing cruelty one changed heart, one rescued animal at a time.
Read more... |
The Maui News, HI, U.S. - January 28
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Switzerland makes it illegal to boil a lobster alive
Full story: USA Today
When it comes to cooking fresh lobster, the Swiss are now saying: We feel your pain. A law takes effect March 1 that bans the common cooking method of tossing a live lobster into a pot of boiling water, quickly killing the tasty crustacean. That practice is being outlawed because the Swiss say it's cruel and lobsters can sense pain.
Read more... |
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