PETA Plans to Replace Controversial Hacienda Billboard With Pro-Vegan Ad
For Immediate Release:
February 24, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 757-622-7382
South Bend, Ind. — Hacienda Mexican Restaurants might think that its drinks are "to die for," but PETA knows that it's the meat that's served in restaurants and sold in grocery stores that's killing people. That's why the animal rights group wants to replace Hacienda's controversial billboard on S. Main Street—which the restaurant is taking down this week because of a public outcry—with one that reads, "Is Eating Meat Suicide? Go Vegan."
"Some of America's biggest killers—including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity—have all been linked to eating meat and dairy products," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Animal flesh might not be laced with cyanide, but it's poisoning Americans with saturated fat and filthborne bacteria such as E. coli."
Factory farms are breeding grounds for salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter, and other dangerous pathogens. Meat, eggs, and dairy products contain no fiber and are loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters are. A naturally low-fat, meat-free diet has even been shown to reverse the effects of heart disease in many patients. In fact, former President Bill Clinton—who underwent coronary bypass surgery in 2004—has shed more than 20 unwanted pounds on his new heart-healthy diet, which he describes as "pretty much" vegan. Clinton talks about the benefits of a plant-based, zero-cholesterol diet in a two-minute Yahoo! interview.
Vegans don't just save their own lives—they save more than 100 animals a year from immeasurable 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, 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.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.