Sir Paul McCartney's plan to use vegetarianism to help combat global warming has been met with mixed reactions from European politicians, with one minister labeling the proposals "muddled, misleading and wrong."

The animal lover and longtime vegetarian spoke at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday (03Dec09) to promote a new drive to encourage the public to go meat-free at least once a week. The former Beatle argues that if more people spend just one day in seven eating only vegetables, greenhouse gases can be reduced by up to 80 per cent.

He told the house, "I would be glad if this weren't true, and we could just carry on as we are forever quite happily and not bother with this whole subject. But I've got a nasty feeling that this is true. Our campaign says 'Try one meat-free day in the week.' It's very do-able. Once, for instance, we didn't recycle - we weren't interested, but now it's an accepted part of our lifestyles." But McCartney's speech didn't go down well among some Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

British MEP Richard Ashworth, a former dairy farmer, condemned the singer's plans, accusing the music legend of "selling vegetarianism on the basis it can save the world." He also branded McCartney's statistics "muddled, misleading and wrong." (LR/AFP/ZN)

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