Poorva Joshipura, Director, Asia Campaigns, PETA-- The Hindu

[Guest guest]

The Hindu-- Metro Plus ---14/03/2005

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/03/14/stories/2005031402150400.htm

IT'S A typical evening at Coffee Day: crowded tables,

buzzing conversation, dance music. But suddenly, my

coffee feels all wrong. Poorva Joshipura, Director,

Asia Campaigns, People for Ethical Treatment to

Animals (PETA), sits across the table, narrating how

cows are constantly impregnated artificially and their

calves separated from them immediately after birth, so

that we can take away all the milk. Males of the

species, considered useless, are starved or

slaughtered, she says, while the females' maternal

instincts towards their newborns are immediately

thwarted. Joshipura herself sips a guiltless vegan

milkshake. No milk, only soy products in this item

that PETA helped push into Coffee Day menus.

 

PETA is often considered a radical animal rights

organisation, advocating a vegan lifestyle and

arresting attention with their high-profile campaigns.

Pamela Anderson in a lettuce bikini promoting vegan

food habits, Shilpa Shetty in a tiger suit to

highlight animals' suffering in circuses, Madhavan

crouched, animal-like, in a cage. " When celebrity

volunteers speak, everyone listens, " explains Poorva,

who is based out of the U.K. and has been with PETA

for seven years.

 

The organisation works on many levels: first drawing

attention to animal rights abuses through often

high-profile campaigns, then investigating instances

of animals being maltreated and finally pressurising

industries to incorporate quality standards. Their

targets have included some mega corporations such as

KFC, McDonald's and Benetton and their lobbying for

Mercedes to introduce a fake leather option in their

cars has also finally come through; upcoming models

will offer this option.

 

Their vegan campaigns pressurise companies such as KFC

and McDonald's to eliminate at least the worst horrors

that chicken endure. An undercover probe by their

volunteers unearthed an Abu Ghraib for animals, with

chicken being thrown on walls and blood writing on the

walls with their guts, says Poorva. " There is no kind

way to kill animals, " she says, emphatically. " A

chicken may not be so `cute' but it still has the same

will to live as any other animal. "

 

Even in India, PETA has done some undercover work: in

Karnataka, they discovered unbelievable cruelty to

animals being transported for leather. They were

crammed in vehicles, often so closely together that

their bodies were mangled. Now PETA has a case in the

Supreme Court demanding that slaughterhouses operate

under animal welfare guideline principles. " Forty

major companies, including Gap, Reebok and Gucci,

won't use Indian leather till this is changed, " says

Poorva.

 

And for consumers, the issue is simple. " Every choice

has a consequence and every time you sit down to

dinner or wear a belt you make a choice to be cruel or

kind, " she says. Since change is often effected from

the consumers all the way up to the corporations,

individuals can exert pressure through their shopping.

 

 

In obvious ways. Don't drink milk, drink soy products.

At Bata ask for fake leather ( " You'd be surprised how

much fake leather there is! " ) chappals. Don't buy

cosmetics that are tested on animals. If you think

that living by these principles might be hard, ask

Poorva. She's vegan in the meat-loving U.K. " It's much

easier to make these choices now, " she says,

reassuringly. " Twenty-five years after people began

demanding cosmetics that don't test on animals, there

are some 600 companies which don't do animal tests. "

So as you raise your deodorant to aim and spray, think

of the animal that made it safe for you to use.

 

 

 

GREATNESS OF NATION AND ITS MORAL PROGRESS

CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED- M.K GANDHI.

STOP HUMAN AND ANIMAL SUFFERING - GO VEGAN

I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do

something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

Helen Keller 1880 - 1968

 

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