The India unit of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has asked the Government of India make it mandatory that meat, poultry and other non-vegetarian products have warning signs on the lines of those displayed on cigarette packs warning against the health dangers of non-vegetarian foods.

PETA India staff nutritionist Bhuvaneshwari Guptahas signed a letter sent to the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, calling for stark messages and graphics including samples of such graphics.

"Meat, egg and dairy diets are linked to needless yearly deaths. A mountain of studies links the consumption of animal products to India's leading killers, including heart diseases, cancer, diabetes, stroke and obesity," Gupta claimed.

The warning slogans carried alongside the graphics: "Eating meat can cause heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer (with the picture of a man clutching his chest in pain),"Meat consumption may cause premature death," (picture showing a hospitalized patient), Drinking cow's milk may cause juvenile diabetes (a girl with diabetic), and Egg consumption can cause heart disease (picture of an exposed heart).

"The World Health Day would be the perfect time for the ministry of health and family welfare to encourage citizens to go vegan to live longer and healthier lives," Gupta said.

However, the central government, which runs the National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) to promote the consumption of eggs for healthier India, is unlikely to look sympathetically towards the demands of the PETA. The NECC has even termed the egg as one of the most balanced foods that is cheaply available for consumption for India's poor.