PETA's Valentine's Day Billboard Goes Up in Capital of Leading State for Heart Disease
February 11, 2013
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Montgomery, Ala. — Showing lovers peering dreamily into each other's eyes next to the caption "Vegetarians Have 32% Fewer Broken Hearts. Fight Heart Disease: Break Up With Meat," PETA's brand-new billboard ad has just gone up in two locations in Montgomery. Why Montgomery? Because Alabama has one of the highest rates of heart disease in the nation, and the consumption of meat and other animal products has been linked to heart disease. As part of a just-completed, decade-long study of diet and health—the largest of its kind ever undertaken—researchers found that vegetarians are 32 percent less likely to suffer from heart disease than nonvegetarians.
The billboards are located at 6837 Atlanta Hwy. (north side of the street, east of McLemore Drive, facing east) and 1314 Eastern Blvd. (west side of the street, south of Carmichael Road, facing north).
"There's nothing romantic about being rushed to the emergency room because of a meat-induced heart attack," says PETA Associate Director of Campaigns Lindsay Rajt. "The best thing that Alabamans can do on Valentine's Day—and every other day—is break off their destructive love affair with meat and dairy products."
It's no wonder that meat, eggs, and dairy products increase the risk of heart attack when they contain no fiber and are loaded with artery-clogging saturated fats and cholesterol. Consumption of animal-derived foods has also been linked to other life-threatening conditions, including obesity—not exactly a Valentine's Day turn-on. Furthermore, consumption of meat and dairy products has been associated with impotence: The cholesterol and saturated fats in meat and other animal-derived products restrict the flow of blood to all the body's vital organs—not just to the heart.
Animals raised and killed for food suffer greatly. Chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while they're still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given painkillers, fish are cut open while they're still alive, and calves are taken away from their mothers within hours of birth.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
