For Immediate Release:
April 5, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Annapolis, Md. -- After learning that Maryland is considering raising highway tolls because of a budget crunch, PETA has sent a letter to Beverley Swaim-Staley, secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), with an offer that could help the state and its millions of drivers. The group wants to pay to place pro-vegan ads on tollbooths featuring one of PETA's bikini-clad Lettuce Ladies and the caption, "Meat Takes a Toll on Your Health—Go Vegan." In the letter, PETA points out that besides benefiting animals abused on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, going vegan is an effective way to reduce one's risk of some of the country's biggest killers—including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease—and that means lower health-care costs.
"Our win-win proposal can help improve Maryland's budget situation and motorists' health at the same time," says PETA manager Lindsay Rajt. "No one wants to pay higher tolls, but a little less change in your pocket is nothing compared to the toll that meat, eggs, and dairy products takes on your body."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to MDOT Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley follows.
April 5, 2011
Beverley K. Swaim-Staley
Secretary
Maryland Department of Transportation
Dear Ms. Swaim-Staley,
As a Baltimore resident, I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and our more than 2 million members and supporters—including thousands across Maryland—with an offer to help ease our state's budget woes: PETA will pay to display our ad, which depicts a fit "Lettuce Lady" and reads, "Meat Takes a Toll on Your Health—Go Vegan. PETA," on Maryland tollbooths. The ad revenue will help with the state's budget woes, and the message will save the state and drivers money on health care as commuters shift toward a vegan diet.
Few behaviors do as much damage to one's health as consuming meat and dairy products. The American Dietetic Association reviewed the science and concluded that vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters are. Vegans can get all the protein, vitamins, and fiber that they need without the artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat found in animal flesh and dairy products. Our ads will influence people to eat more healthfully, which will help to lower Maryland's health-care costs.
Humans aren't the only ones harmed by people's addiction to animal products. In today's industrialized meat and dairy industries, chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while they're still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers, fish are suffocated or cut open while they're still alive on the decks of fishing boats, and calves are taken away from their mothers within hours of birth. So our ad will also help to create a more compassionate state.
Please contact me to discuss details. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Bruce Friedrich
Vice President