Blunt TV Spot to Run During Letterman
For Immediate Release:
May 17, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Fresno, Calif. — As the country waits for more information from the government investigation into a confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) from a cow on a Tulare County dairy farm, PETA is running its "Three Reasons to Go Vegetarian" TV spot on Fresno's CBS affiliate during broadcasts of the 11 p.m. news and Late Show With David Letterman from May 16 to 24. The number one reason to go vegetarian? "Because mad cow disease is in the U.S.," says PETA's ad, which also cites extreme cruelty to animals in the slaughtering process and the tenet that "might doesn't make right." The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently expanded its quarantine to a second dairy farm and has still not located the infected cow's mother or siblings, who may also have mad cow disease and who may have entered the food chain.
"Each new outbreak of salmonella, E. coli, or mad cow disease illustrates how hazardous to our health it can be to eat animals," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA's ad encourages Fresno residents to join all those who have acted on what they already know—that eating meat is unhealthy and cruel—by going vegetarian or, better yet, vegan."
Americans are now more aware that most cows are killed before they turn 2 years old and before they become symptomatic, making it impossible to know whether they are infected with mad cow disease unless they are one of the 0.1 percent of cows tested at random for the disease.
Mad cow disease isn't the only risk posed by consumption of meat and dairy products, which are also linked to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Factory farms represent enormous animal suffering: 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, and calves are taken away from their mothers within hours of birth.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
