Written by Alisa Mullins
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is apparently anxious to show his campaign contributors that he will fight to the death (literally, perhaps) over Americans' right to be sick and fat. Sen. Grassley has attacked the conservative Meatless Monday program, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was promoting as a way to encourage its staffers to eat healthier and protect the environment. But the USDA has withdrawn the initiative, opting instead to prove that it is the servant of agribusiness and let its employees pay the price. PETA has hit back with a "Meat-Free Mondays Through Sundays" campaign.
The USDA inadvertently set off a firestorm of controversy earlier this week when it promoted the Paul McCartney–endorsed Meatless Monday program on its website. But the move was publicly blasted by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, after which the department yanked the promo, mumbling something about not receiving the proper "clearance," as if encouraging good health and environmental protection were a covert spy mission or something.
Apparently not content with that backpedal, Sen. Grassley, a legislator from a beef-belt state, vowed to "eat more meat on Monday" in an attempt to singlehandedly (forkedly?) make up for the meat that conscientious USDA workers might be planning to forgo on the first day of the workweek.
We're taking bets (place yours in the comments section below) on how long it will take Sen. Grassley to succumb to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or some other meat-related disease.
"From his reaction, it seems like a pretty safe bet that he's already got high blood pressure," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Were he a physician instead of a politician who truly puts his rancher money where his mouth is, he'd be guilty of malpractice."
Don't let fat-cat government lobbyists win—celebrate Meatless Monday every day of the week by ordering a vegetarian/vegan starter kit today!
Martin Cathrae|cc by 2.0
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 Jeff Mackey
There are countless things that we can do that endanger our lives, but there's one thing we can do that can not only help us live longer but also save many more lives at the same time: adopting a vegan diet.
Around 16 billion (that's "billion" with a "b") animals are slaughtered each year to feed Americans, which works out to more than 100 animals per meat-eater in the U.S. But you're smart—you do the math. And then do the smart thing: Go vegan.
Written by PETA
PETA first ran a billboard connecting meat consumption and Alzheimer's after former President Ronald Reagan died of the disease. Now, in recognition of Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month, PETA has created a new billboard to spread awareness about the link between eating more plant foods and Alzheimer's prevention.
Red pepper: © iStockphoto.com/subjug • Glasses: © iStockphoto.com/zlmrdm
According to the Alzheimer's Association, diets high in cholesterol and saturated fat may increase a person's risk of Alzheimer's. Since saturated fats are found primarily in animal-derived foods and dietary cholesterol is found only in foods of animal origin, eating a healthy, plant-based diet may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The American Dietetic Association has also stated that vegetarians and vegans have a lower risk of developing heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower rates of hypertension (high blood pressure) and type 2 diabetes, and lower body-mass indexes than meat-eaters. Every single one of these is linked to Alzheimer's.
If you haven't already, consider adopting a vegan diet to help ward off Alzheimer's and other diseases. A vegan diet also saves more than 100 animals a year from facing the horrors of fishing nets, factory farms, and slaughterhouses.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
When asked what one food he would ban if he could, PETA's chief medical adviser, Dr. Neal Barnard, responded with three: hot dogs, bacon, and ham. We'll let him tell you why!
In an interview with Forbes magazine, the bestselling author and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine cited those three processed meats as foods that no one, especially children, should ever eat.
In 2007," he says, "the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research released the most comprehensive review on diet and cancer ever published, prepared by the world's leading experts, and it was quite damning about the link between processed meat and colorectal cancer. In early 2011, an update to the report encouraged people to avoid processed meats altogether.
But the disease that's weighing on Dr. Barnard's mind and that has increased threefold in just the last 30 years isn't cancer—it's diabetes. And here again, meat is to blame.
Dr. Barnard notes that the fats that people consume, prevalent in meat, make muscle and liver cells resistant to the action of insulin, triggering diabetes. "The forecast from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is frightening: one in three people born in 2000 will eventually develop the disease," he says. "The medical burden is bad enough—the average person with diabetes loses well over a decade of life."
To read the rest of Dr. Barnard's eye-opening interview, visit Forbes.com. And to find tasty recipes that are 100 percent ham-, bacon-, and hot dog–free, visit our "Living" page.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
When we heard that MGM wanted to demolish the Harmon Tower—its brand-new but structurally unsound hotel and casino in Las Vegas―we had a dynamite idea: Turn the unusable building into a billboard.
We can't think of a better use for a doomed casino than an ad urging people not to gamble with their health, but instead to improve their odds of beating heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses by going vegan.
What's a lot easier than getting a 21 in blackjack? Getting a healthy body in 21 days with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program, beginning September 5.
An elementary school in Denver, Colorado, is giving its students food for thought. To promote healthy eating habits among its students, SOAR has become Colorado's first vegetarian school and earned itself a Compassionate School Award from PETA, for saving the lives of countless animals.
"There is tons of research about plant-based foods preventing disease," said SOAR's head of school, Gianna Cassetta. "[W]e're making a difference in the way people think about food. Hopefully by the time our kids are in fifth grade, they'll be very conscious about what they eat."
And it's working. SOAR lunches are loaded with fruits and vegetables, and even the food students bring from home must adhere to SOAR's guidelines. Parents report that when they are grocery shopping, if something isn't healthy enough to go school, it goes back on the shelf. SOAR is continuing its quest for a new generation of healthy kids with the opening of a second school next year.
To help the kids in your life make the switch to a healthy vegan diet that will help prevent heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other diseases, visit PETAKids.com/Vegetarian.
And, this week's 10% Wool "Tag and Release" winner is ... Beth Ann! Congratulations.
Don't forget to check out the archive of past 10% Wool comic strips here. Get more information on the series and the writer here, and learn how to get Jeff's other comic, DeFlocked, into your local paper here.
It's so hot in the city, you'd think I'd be making another batch of lemonade—but I've got a hankering for some Internet Soup. It's been a while since the last batch, so dig in!
Oof! I don't know about you, but I'm full after all that soup—and guac. This Special K needs a siesta. Until next time …
Written by Karin Bennett
The ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu is in danger of being eroded by constant tourist traffic, which has prompted PETA to make it the second destination for our plus-size virtual "tourist." Hopefully, his message will help restore this awe-inspiring attraction, which is one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World.":
Vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than their meat- and dairy-consuming counterparts. By shrinking their waists, tourists would also reduce their monumental carbon footprints.
Machu Picchu visitors may soon be taking lighter steps—or will overweight tourists run the Incan landmark into the ground?
Written by Shawna Flavell
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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