Written by PETA
So you've probably heard that the Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport (DFW) is having financial problems. And what is PETA if not a helping hand? We've asked the airport if they'd be so inclined as to sell advertisements in their bathrooms, and if so, we're first in line! While folks are busy evacuating (and forgive me, but we're not talking hurricane routes here), they could read about the benefits of a vegan diet, ensuring them less stuffed-up feeling (and we're not talking about a summer cold) and much happier insides (not to mention a happier environment and a longer life). Check out our suggested ad below:
Here's our letter to the DFW CEO. Let us know what you think.
August 18, 2008Jeffrey Fegan, CEODallas-Fort Worth International AirportDear Mr. Fegan:We at PETA are sorry to hear that the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is experiencing financial difficulties, but I have a proposal that might help. While DFW doesn't currently have bathroom advertisements, we'd like to suggest them as a new revenue source, and we'd like to be the first to buy space. The ad we'd like to run on bathroom stall doors (attached) promotes the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. The ad makes the point that one of the many health hazards of eating beef—as well as other meats and animal products—is an increased risk of colon cancer.The scientific evidence linking meat to society's most severe health problems, including colon cancer, is extensive. A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology identified "red meat intake and white meat intake as important dietary risk factors for colon cancer …." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition states that a "vegetarian and fiber-rich diet and a decreased risk for colon cancer has been reported in many studies." According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians have "lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease" as well as "lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer" than meat-eaters do.There are other important reasons to promote vegetarianism. In addition to being rotten for your health, meat-eating is also murder on animals and the environment. Chickens and turkeys often have their throats cut while still conscious and are scalded to death, pigs have their teeth broken off and their tails and testicles cut off without any painkillers, and cows are often skinned alive. Furthermore, a recent UN scientific study concluded that raising animals for food causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, ships, and airplanes in the world combined. Bathroom advertising is an emerging trend in a variety of public places—restaurants, bars, and even airports, including JFK in New York. Will you please consider running our ad in bathroom stalls at DFW? Not only would the ad raise revenue for the struggling airport, it would also potentially help airline passengers stay healthy and able to travel for years to come. Please contact me as soon as possible to discuss pricing and how we can proceed with placing this ad. Thank you very much for your consideration. Sincerely,Tracy ReimanExecutive Vice President
Written by Christine Doré
With that subject line you may be expecting a punch line here, but I’m under strict orders to play this one straight. Apparently, the “First Colon” is not to be joked about . . . So, no snickering.
Anyway, I’m sure you all heard that President Bush had five polyps removed from his colon during his colonoscopy at Camp David on Saturday. And although the growths were benign, PETA VP Bruce Friedrich fired off a letter pointing out that according to leading health and medical professionals, eating a diet based on meat and other animal products significantly raises a person’s risk for colon cancer. And since we’re so sure the president will be going vegetarian any day now, we also offered to dispatch a gourmet vegan chef to train the current White House cooking staff in preparing delicious and healthful vegan meals.
Surprisingly, we haven’t heard back from good 'ol Dubya yet. Must just be some rare White House mixup . . . Anyway, here’s the letter we sent.
Remember the University of Connecticut story from a couple of weeks ago? Long story short: the USDA fined the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) for seven violations of the Animal Welfare Act, stemming from experiments in which a guy named David Waitzman bolted restraint devices to monkeys' heads, drilled holes in their skulls, attached electrodes to their brains, and fastened small wire coils directly to their eyeballs.
Well we just took it a step further and filed a formal complaint with state auditors Kevin P. Johnston and Robert G. Jaekle urging them to investigate possible violations of the University of Connecticut's Code of Conduct as well as the possible misuse of public funds and property by the UCHC, its institutional Animal Care Committee (ACC), and UCHC animal experimenter David Waitzman.
Based on UConn graduate student Justin Goodman's 2005 complaints, the USDA confirmed that Waitzman was consistently in violation of laws governing the care and use of animals in research. Waitzman had received more than $1.7 million in federal funds to conduct the experiments, and part of his salary, the entire salaries of his support staff, and his overhead expenses were funded by state taxpayers, who will also have to pick up the tab for the $5,532 fine. Also, UCHC officials made false public statements regarding Waitzman's experiments.
UConn's Code of Conduct requires that faculty and staff abide by all federal, state, and institutional laws and regulations regarding the use of animals. However, since March 2003, UCHC has been cited for more than 65 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act related to the treatment of monkeys, cats, gerbils, guinea pigs, and rabbits at the facility. These violations include failure to employ personnel who were qualified to handle nonhuman primates, thus causing physical harm to the animals; failure to consider alternatives to painful procedures; failure to provide appropriate sedatives to animals; failure to painlessly euthanize a monkey who experienced severe tremors and seizures for more than six months; and conducting unauthorized experiments.
Here’s what PETA VP Bruce Friedrich had to say on the issue, "UConn has been torturing animals, making a mockery of its Code of Conduct, and squandering taxpayers' money in the process, UCHC's negligence and lack of oversight led directly to the prolonged suffering and deaths of animals, and we're calling on the state to impose all appropriate disciplinary measures."
I’ll keep you posted as things progress . . .
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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