Written by PETA
Scarlett Johansson and Tobey Maguire have already let their congressional representatives know that they support HR 4870, the Healthy School Meals Act, which would require schools to offer more vegetarian options in cafeterias. Now it's your turn: Today, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is hosting a School-Lunch Lobbyist Call-In Day. Please call your representative and politely ask him or her to co-sponsor HR 4870. You might also want to mention that you can't stomach cruelty to animals or greasy, cholesterol-laden mystery meats and pizza boats—and that you're sick of hearing your classmates chant, "Fatty, fatty two-by-four, can't fit through the classroom door."
Anyone can call—students, parents, teachers, and everyone else who's ever set foot inside a school cafeteria or shuddered to think what they're being served in one. It only takes a minute and it's much easier than a math quiz.
Written by Heather Moore
Gorgeous, voluptuous, and sexy: All of those words describe actor/singer Scarlett Johansson. And now that she's the newest luminary to show support for the Healthy School Meals Act, we can add "humanitarian" and "friend to animals" to the list.
If launched, this $4 million pilot program will ingrain (sorry, couldn't resist) vegetarian food and drinks into school districts' lunch programs over a two-year period. In her letter, Scarlett points out, "Millions of families in America rely on subsidized school lunches, and these meals are absolutely crucial to children's well-being." The Healthy School Meals Act will give kids a chance to develop healthy eating habits that center on nutritious plant-based fare, instead of body parts from stressed, mutilated, and exhausted animals.
By joining Spiderman's Tobey Maguire and health experts around the country in this effort, Scarlett has revealed her smarts and her 24-carrot heart of gold. (Oh, yes, I did.)
Written by Karin Bennett
"I have been in many lunchrooms during lunch period and can attest to the food that is frequently lacking from a nutritional perspective and very high in saturated fats. … What our bill will do is provide some lower-fat and lower-cholesterol ways for kids to get the nutrition that they need to be healthy." —U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) on the Healthy School Meals Act, which would start a $4 million pilot program to incorporate vegetarian food and drinks into school districts' lunch programs over a two-year period.
We'll cheer for that! Considering that vegetarian diets have been proven to curb childhood obesity, which remains a crisis in the U.S., Polis's proposed legislation would save kids and animals.
Many schools across the nation have already successfully adopted humane menus. Encourage your local schools to do the same.
Written by Logan Scherer
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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