100-Year-Old Marathoner Fauja Singh Becomes PETA’S New Pro-Vegetarian Poster Boy

For Immediate Release:
20 October 2011

Contact:
Sandra Smiley +44 (0) 207 357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]

London – Just days after scoring a Guinness World Record as the oldest person to complete a marathon, 100-year-old runner Fauja Singh finds himself with another first: He’s the oldest person to star in a PETA ad campaign! Singh, who made headlines around the world when he completed the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, has joined the ranks of celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney and Alicia Silverstone by appearing in PETA’s “I Am a Vegetarian” ad series. The ad features him mid-stride and reads, “I Am Fauja Singh, and I Am a Vegetarian. 100-Year-Young Marathon Runner and World Recordholder”. Singh rediscovered his passion for distance running at age 81 and credits his vegetarian diet with giving him awe-inspiring stamina and longevity.

“Fauja’s vitality is an inspiring demonstration of the positive effects that a vegetarian diet can have on our physical and mental well-being”, says PETA spokesperson Mimi Bekhechi. “A meat-free diet not only reduces our chances of developing life-threatening illnesses but also, as Fauja demonstrates, helps us to live longer!”

“You need a balanced and wholesome diet. It doesn’t matter how nice to look at or sweet food is – if your body can’t digest it, why eat it?” Says Singh. “In many parts of the world, people are dying because of starvation, whilst others are dying because of overeating. My solution is just to eat what my body needs.”

Eating animal products has been conclusively linked to heart disease, diabetes, strokes, obesity and cancer. Vegans and vegetarians are much fitter and trimmer, on average, than meat-eaters are. The meat industry also causes animals on factory farms unimaginable suffering, as they are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds; wire cages; farrowing crates and other confinement systems.

Fauja Singh is part of a long list of celebrities – including Joss Stone, Pamela Anderson and Bryan Adams – who have teamed up with PETA UK and its affiliates to promote a vegetarian diet.