Written by Jeff Mackey
In 2008, when PETA offered a $1 million incentive to anyone who could develop a marketable in vitro (lab-grown) meat, there were some who scoffed. Since then, research into in vitro meat has exploded—the research, that is, not the labs—and the idea (along with PETA's offer) has shown up in The New Yorker and on TV shows ranging from Better Off Ted (R.I.P., Veridian Dynamics) to The Colbert Report.
Who's laughing now?
wwarby|cc by 2.0
Though no one has yet stepped up to claim the prize by the June 30, 2012, closing date, there has been so much encouraging progress that PETA has decided to extend the deadline until 2013. Several scientists appear to be getting close—the University of Missouri (Go, Tigers!) is a hotbed for in vitro meat research, for some reason—but if you think you can close the gap, get crackin'!
Even if you don't know a test tube from a champagne flute, you can help animals, your health, and the environment today by enjoying any of the delish vegan meats—from veggie burgers to faux hot dogs to chick'n nuggets—already in your grocer's freezer case. View or order PETA's free starter kit to learn more about meatless living!
Written by Michelle Kretzer
If you always have a sleepless night after watching a horror movie, you might want to think twice before sitting down to a meal of dead bodies. Here's why meat is more dangerous than an ax-wielding maniac:
If you're still eating fish despite the dangers of mercury, might I suggest that you may also enjoy a summer job at Camp Crystal Lake?
As every randy teenage slasher-flick victim can attest, hormones can be deadly. Hormones in meat can cause all sorts of unsexy conditions, such as "moobs." Which leads me to number three …
Eating meat causes impotence. Given their druthers, I think a lot of men would opt instead for the hockey mask–wearing serial killer.
That's another good reason not to ingest all the saturated fat that meat contains.
Find yourself short of breath when you hear that ominous theme music ("Ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma")? The toxic gasses and bacteria that wind spreads from factory farms make it even more difficult to inhale.
Do you ever shout, "Why are you running into the woods?!" when some moron is being chased by a psycho? People in real life do dumb things that lead to their untimely demise, too, like eating meat, eggs, and dairy products even though bad diets are to blame for one-third of all cancer deaths.
Have you seen PETA's slasher movie that features video footage from chicken farms? If you're too chicken … don't eat chicken.
Heart disease caused by diets high in artery-clogging animal products will do the trick, too.
In Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Voorhees is finally done in by toxic waste in the sewers. If the kids had only gotten him into one of the waterways polluted with factory-farm runoff, he would've been a goner a lot sooner.
Meat's got its own resilient killer: antibiotic-resistant bacteria caused by the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.
Between meat and dairy products, trying to choose which is more deadly is like trying to decide which serial killer you want to take a weekend getaway with.
Poo. And lots of it. Yeah, it gets in meat, too.
Maybe the worst thing about how deadly meat is, is that we actually have to pay for it—both at the check-out counter and in the form of government subsidies. I mean, at least when Jason is swinging a machete, he's not simultaneously asking for your wallet—am I right?
Slash your risk of getting killed off early by running from meat as if your life depended on it. (But don't go running through the woods. That's never a good idea.)
Chris P. Carrot got to reminisce about being a baby carrot when he visited with children at Memphis' Peabody Park yesterday.
The root enjoyed getting back to his roots and gave kids stickers and booklets encouraging them to eat their veggies, not their friends. A recent University of Minnesota study showed that when kids were shown pictures of vegetables, they ate more of them.
Helping kids eat healthy veggies in lieu of fatty meat? Piece of (carrot) cake.
Like Van Halen said, "Go ahead and jump."
After learning that Detroit was the second-saddest city in America, the leaping "Lettuce Ladies" made Detroiters hoppy by telling them about the cure for the blues: going vegan. Studies show that vegetarians have lower rates of depression and anxiety than meat-eaters do. The receptive residents grabbed up our "Think Before You Eat" leaflets like they were vinyl copies of 1984.
Ready to eat your way to happiness? "You say you don't know—you won't know … until you begin…"
Written by Alisa Mullins
After Food Network star Paula Deen revealed that she has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and is now going to plug pharmaceuticals, PETA wrote to the queen of southern cuisine and urged her to trade in her chitlins for chickpeas. The side effects of a vegan diet are glowing skin, more stamina, and a slimmer figure. The side effects of taking drugs? Well, listen to the TV spots and count 'em!
In our letter, we pointed out that numerous studies have found that adopting a vegan diet can reduce or even eliminate the need for diabetes medications and reduces the risk of developing the disease in the first place. A groundbreaking study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that 43 percent of people with type 2 diabetes who ate a low-fat vegan diet were able to reduce their medications, compared to only 26 percent of those who followed the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association.
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with diabetes, check out Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes and also order one of our free vegetarian/vegan starter kits, which we've sent to Paula Deen along with a copy of Sir Paul McCartney's Glass Walls DVD. Who knows—maybe the girl from Georgia could team up with the boy from Liverpool to devise a "wild honey pie" suitable for diabetics and vegans.
Written by PETA
In a move that would have made horror film legend Vincent Price proud, PETA's "zombies" haunted patrons at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse in Cincinnati yesterday, just in time for Halloween.
Our enlightened undead let everyone know that flesh is for zombies and advised them to "eat grains, not brains." Many flesh-eaters used their brrrrraaaaaiiiiins and got information about going vegetarian or vegan.
If even zombies are urging people to bury their meat habit, you know that the stuff is gross. For meals that will bring your taste buds back to life, check out our hundreds of tasty meatless recipes.
And for more Halloween enjoyment, text "spooky" to 73822 to guide PETA's feathered friend Nugget safely through a zombie-filled haunted house. Text message and data rates may apply (see full texting terms and conditions here).
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Motorcycle engines roaring, 2,000 bikers gathered to show off their rides, listen to country music … and chow down on some vegan "beef" jerky at the annual Love Ride in California on Sunday. PETA's two sexy Lettuce Ladies could barely keep up with the demand as they handed out pieces of Primal Strips jerky and PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kits.
In addition to coming back for second helpings of delicious vegan jerky, Love Ride attendees were hungry for information about improving their own health and preventing cruelty to animals by adopting a plant-based diet. Don't be left in the dust: Check out our free guide to adopting a vegan diet today!
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
You might expect to see gloomy angels descend to Earth during the end times, but yesterday in Oakland, California, two PETA angels were all smiles as they offered passersby a sweet treat ahead of California resident Harold Camping's predicted apocalypse. It was a flurry of halos, wings, and lingerie as our angels for animals handed out vegan cookies and nearly 500 vegetarian/vegan starter kits.
In addition to providing delicious vegan victuals to help make the eve of the rapture as pleasant as possible, the angels reminded passersby that eating animal products supports hell on Earth for animals. Pigs, cows, and chickens are raised in cramped, filthy conditions before being crammed onto trucks and dumped at slaughterhouses where they suffer slow, agonizing deaths as they are hung upside down by their legs and have their throats cut while still conscious.
To make your last supper before the world ends a compassionate one, check out PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit. As one passing admirer said about our angels, "Vegan—is that what they are? I want to do that!"
No animals were arrested in the making of this protest, but yesterday in Zuccotti Park Liberty Square, a "pig," "cow," and "chicken" joined the Occupy Wall Street protesters to push for more corporate accountability. Our animals were at the center of a whirlwind of police, photographers, protesters, and intrigued passersby who stopped to read the animals' posters and pick up copies of PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit.
Bearing delicious vegan pizzas, the animals—representing 100 percent of the animals raised for food in the U.S.—brought attention to the fact that corporate greed is responsible for billions of animals' being treated like cogs in a meat machine rather than the intelligent, sensitive individuals they are.
On factory farms, pigs have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers; cows are fattened for slaughter on barren, filthy feed lots; and chickens are crammed by the tens of thousands into airless sheds, where their accumulated waste results in ammonia-laden air that burns their eyes and throats.
To opt out of the corporate abuse of animals, order your own free vegetarian/vegan starter kit and get busy breaking down the barricades to protecting animals, your health, and the planet.
Thank you, China! In a move that breaks with a tradition reportedly going back 600 years—when dogs barked, giving away the army's position—officials have canceled an annual Chinese festival in which 5,000 to 10,000 dogs are killed and eaten on the streets of Jinhua City. The cancellation follows protests by thousands of animal rights advocates. This is a wonderful move by the Chinese government, and we hope to see many more compassionate decisions like this in the years ahead.
Damhyojung | cc by 2.0
One protester described what he had seen at previous festivals: "I've seen the dogs being stabbed, strangled and even beaten into comas and thrown into boiling water. Some dogs woke up in the extremely hot water and they struggled, but the vendors kept pushing them, plucking their fur."
If this sounds horrifying, bear in mind that animals by the billions meet similar fates in American slaughterhouses every year. Improperly stunned cows, turkeys, pigs, and chickens have their throats cut while they are still conscious. The beating and intentional abuse of animals by farm workers is rampant. And pigs, chickens, and turkeys are often still alive when they are dunked into tanks of scalding-hot water to remove their hair and feathers.
Order your free vegetarian/vegan starter kit today and protect all animals from painful slaughter.
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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