Press Releases from the EVU

Brussels, 21 January 2004

“Health for all” through a vegetarian lifestyle - an appeal by the European Vegetarian Union

During their 113th session being held this week in Geneva, the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation is discussing topics such as SARS and the global strategy on diet, physical activity and health.

In his message preceding the world health report 2003, the WHO Director-General said that “Twenty-five years ago, the Declaration of Alma-Ata challenged the world to embrace the principles of primary health care as the way to overcome gross health inequalities between and within countries. "Health for all" became the slogan for a movement. It was not just an ideal but an organizing principle: everybody needs and is entitled to the highest possible standard of health. The principles defined at that time remain indispensable for a coherent vision of global health…”

In an era of increasingly close-knit human communities and growing travel activities, health problems in one corner of the world are of concern everywhere. Only recently it has become obvious how strongly the industry of tourism and export can be affected by threats such as BSE, Avian Pest and SARS (which re-emerged this year after it had, according to WHO facts and figures, spread already to 30 countries and produced a total of 8422 probable cases and 916 deaths by early August 2003).

All the above mentioned problems and many others, mainly related to animal diseases, have one common denominator: meat.

In last year’s “WHO/FAO Joint Report on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases-Advisory” it was stated that there are major health benefits in eating more fruit and vegetables, as well as nuts and whole grains and moving from saturated animal fats to unsaturated vegetable oil-based fats. Based on these recommendations and a multitude of other scientific findings, the European Vegetarian Union appeals to the WHO Executive Board to put increased emphasis on the promotion of a vegetarian diet.


Herma Caelen
Hon.Secretary General
European Vegetarian Union
Tel. 00 32 65 362584
e-mail
www.european-vegetarian.org