In Wake of Marijuana Decriminalization Vote, Group Says Just Because It's Legal Doesn't Mean You Should Eat It
For Immediate Release:
November 8, 2012
Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Seattle -- PETA hopes to have Seattle motorists doing double takes any day now. That's because the group is currently negotiating with local outdoor advertisers to put up its new billboard ad showing a cow next to the caption "Say No! to Pot (Roast). Just Because It's Legal Doesn't Make It Right. Go Vegan!" The billboard comes on the heels of a ballot measure to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana that passed in Tuesday's election. PETA's point? That although it's legal to eat animals, they still suffer chronic abuses on factory farms and terrifying and painful deaths in slaughterhouses. And they can be murder on your health.
"Meat-eaters are doing a lot more harm to their health than someone who smokes the occasional joint," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Chickens, fish, pigs, and cows who are raised on today's factory farms are fed growth-promoting drugs by the bucketful, and those drugs—along with artery-clogging fats and cholesterol—are passed along to consumers who eat meat and dairy products."
Meat and dairy products are often loaded with drugs and chemicals, including pesticide residues, hormones, and antibiotics. In addition to carrying a high risk of contamination from pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella, meat, eggs, and dairy products contain no fiber and are packed with artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer than meat-eaters are.
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 suffocate or are 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. In addition, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water pollution, land degradation, and greenhouse-gas emissions.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.