After a ten-year hiatus, Europe's lifting of the ban on British beef imports means our infant dairy calves will once again be making the long and terrifying journey to veal farms in Europe.

Of the British public, 75 per cent of those questioned claim to be against this trade, but how many know it is their desire for milk that drives it?

Currently, up to 500,000 newborn male dairy calves are shot in the head every year in the UK. Unable to produce milk and too scrawny for beef - it is these little unwanted by-products of milk production who will form the bulk of live exports to Europe.

It's not only dairy calves which suffer. Dairy cows are the only farmed animals to bear the dual burden of pregnancy and lactation, simultaneously nurturing a growing calf inside them while producing up to 120 pints of milk a day. This merciless workload renders their bodies useless at only five years old - when they could naturally reach 20 years.

The Government supports this cruel and callous trade - and has missed every opportunity to end it. However, consumers have the power to stop live exports. For people cutting cruelty from their diet, dairy should be the first to go.

For a free How To Be Dairy-free guide phone Viva! on 0117 944 1000 or visit the website www.milkmyths.org.uk

Toni Vernelli,

Campaigns Manager,

Viva!,

York Court,

Wilder Street,

Bristol.

Updated: 09:36 Saturday, May 06, 2006