Why must every American president shoot the obligatory "and here I am chowing down on a burger" photograph? Best bet? To please the meat lobby and because of the old-fashioned idea of what "being American" is all about: no falafel; it's red meat and guns for me. Mr. Obama is no exception, often deliberately choosing hot dogs and burgers for his photo ops with visiting heads of state.

Well, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has taken the POTUS to task for promoting foods that are known to contribute to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. and that have been linked to cancer. PCRM has started a petition asking the White House to ban staged photos that show the president, the first family, the vice president, or the president's Cabinet eating unhealthy foods such as processed meats.

You can sign the petition and ask the pres to set a good example for Americans by eating healthy food. Some Obama Oatmeal With Presidential Peaches sounds nice.

PETA promotes and educates the public on the benefits of a vegetarian diet. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.

PETA U.K.'s dead-serious anti-obesity billboard is stirring up some weighty controversy:

PETA U.K. erected the billboard near a new mortuary in Gloucester built especially to accommodate obese corpses. Oddly, the U.K.'s National Obesity Forum labeled the ad as "irresponsible," although the group didn't say what exactly it objected to. We're not sure why an obesity-awareness group would take issue with a billboard that aims to help people deal with obesity pre-coffin, but protesters ripped down part of the sign (unhelpfully revealing an ad for chips—or French fries to us in the U.S.).

Isn't an obesity-awareness group's protest of an obesity-awareness sign somewhat akin to Shopaholics Anonymous holding meetings at the mall?

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.  

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

Audiences are flocking to see the new thriller Contagion for its exciting action scenes and big-name celebrities, but the film's storyline is more true to life than many people may realize.

As the recent swine and bird flu outbreaks have amply illustrated, deadly diseases that originate on factory farms easily spread to humans. Just last month, three children in Pennsylvania were diagnosed with a new strain of swine flu that the state's Department of Health believes they may have contracted from animals at an agricultural fair. And the World Health Organization is concerned about a true pandemic this winter. 

Filthy conditions on severely crowded factory farms are the perfect breeding ground for deadly contagious diseases. Considering that factory farms breed swine flu, avian flu, MRSA, mad cow disease, and E. coli, not to mention cruelty to animals, isn't it time that we ditch diseased dinners in favor of healthy platters of plants?

PETA will be distributing leaflets about the dangers of factory farming at theaters showing Contagion across the country. To get involved, contact our Action Team.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

nathan cremisino/cc by 2.0

As a nutrition and fitness expert for almost 80 years, Jack LaLanne dedicated his life to inspiring people to eat properly and exercise. So it's no wonder that the nonagenarian was still remarkably spry when he passed away on Sunday at the age of 96. For LaLanne, eating properly meant avoiding meat and milk. When questioned about his aversion to milk during an interview on Dateline NBC, the always jovial Jack said, "It's not good for you. It's good for a suckling calf. Are you a suckling calf?"

Among his many credits, the "godfather of fitness" authored many books on health and hosted the longest-running television exercise program in history, The Jack LaLanne Show, for 34 years. LaLanne opened many health clubs and designed much of the equipment used in gyms today. He is also known for his amazing feats of strength, such as swimming from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco while handcuffed (vegan PETA Foundation staffer and endurance swimmer Becky Fenson has made the same trek—swimming the butterfly, no less—but admittedly handcuff-free), towing up to 70 boats long distances while handcuffed and shackled, and doing 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes. LaLanne set several world records for strength and endurance.

Jack LaLanne's feats brought him fame, but all he really wanted was to show people how to be healthy. If you would like to follow Jack's long-lived example, you can start by picking up PETA's free vegetarian/vegan starter kit. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Forks Over Knives is not your typical flick about senseless killings and weapons of mass destruction—rather, it's about how people are killing themselves by eating dead animals and heavily processed garbage food. 

Spoiler Alert: I don't want to give away the ending—especially since I haven't even seen it yet—but here's a hint: It has something to do with preventing, controlling, and even reversing degenerative diseases by going vegan. 
 

Normally, I'm not crazy about "predictable" movies, but I think I'll make an exception for this one! The film, which features Rip Esselstyn—PETA's favorite vegan Texas firefighter and the author of The Engine 2 Diet—comes out in early March, but you can catch an advance showing in one of the many cities where it's being pre-screened. Take your friends—especially your meat-eating ones—because this movie is a bound to be a true life-changer.

Written by Heather Moore

My father was an adventurer who drove across the salt marshes of the Great Rann of Kutch at the most dangerous time of the year, took his little boat out into the Gulf of Mexico in tropical squalls, and climbed up a 200-foot tower on a windy day just to change a light bulb.

When I was born―his only child―he made the best of having ended up with a daughter rather than a son. He taught me boys' games, like how to spit cherry pits, and practical things, like how to read survey markers. Together, we clambered up mountains, including those covered with ice above Tangmar in Kashmir, and out onto rocks on the wild Cornish coast.

He was a bear of a man but also kind in his own way: He gave to the poor in Bangladesh after seeing the devastation caused by a typhoon there, he hired men who were down on their luck, and he would share his packed lunch with a stray dog or a passing seagull. But it was only much later that I witnessed how his generational bias, his old-fashioned belief in not being "soft," would be the death of him.

He loved meat and milk: steak and chops, cheese and ice cream. In his day, not to indulge in feasts of flesh when the opportunity presented itself was thought to be unmanly. And so it evolved that my father, who fearlessly traveled by a traditional boat called a dhow in the Gulf of Arabia and on foot across the Sahara, was felled by his own fork.

Gout got him first, then heart disease, and finally prostate cancer, all the diseases that today's men―at least those who have read up on the artery-clogging and cancer-inducing properties of meat and milk-based foods and are no longer afraid to show their compassion for animals―are, in large part, able to avoid.

Sometimes I wish I'd spoken to my father more about his health, albeit a touchy subject, like politics. What would have happened, had I, when he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, said, "The best gift you can give me is to stop eating meat"? Perhaps I and my mother, now a vegetarian, would have had his company for many more years.

It is often said that animals have no voice so we must speak for them. But of course, they do have voices: Elephants communicate in rumbles too low for us to hear without auditory equipment, rhinos communicate with breathing sounds, frogs tap out their messages on tree trunks, and monkeys have various screeches that let their fellows know if a threat is coming from the ground or the sky. Studies of prairie dogs have shown that they use verbs and nouns and have different calls to indicate the approach of a stranger, more than one person―perhaps even a traveling salesperson! Still, they need our voices in order to be heard in a world in which our species' most trivial considerations drown out their most basic needs. Indeed, to be good people, we must speak up for all those who cannot adequately defend themselves: the chained dog, the injured bird, the elderly, the battered woman, the abused child, the homeless.

And perhaps we must also speak up for those who don't yet understand that by no longer sanctioning the killing of animals for the dinner table, they may live longer, healthier lives that they can spend with those they love. That's why, at PETA, we say, "Animal liberation is human liberation."

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

The cruel treatment of chickens raised for food is reason enough for people to stop eating them, but Dr. Mehmet Oz just provided his viewers with yet another reason: On a recent episode of The Dr. Oz Show, he explained exactly what's in chicken flesh—chemicals, antibiotics, arsenic, drugs, and salt—and how it can lead to antibiotic resistance and other health problems.

Gardein vegan chicken anyone?

Written by Heather Moore

I've caught some fascinating tidbits in media reports about Chelsea Clinton's recent wedding: The bride dropped the ring during the ceremony. She and Marc did a sexy tango during the reception. Chelsea's father, former President Bill Clinton, followed his daughter's lead by going vegan—and he moonwalked during the reception!

Wait—Bill Clinton went vegan?

That's right: People magazine's Sandra Sobieraj Westfall recently revealed to Today show viewers that, because Chelsea is so concerned about her father's health, Mr. Clinton "went on a vegetarian, no dairy diet, took lots of walks, and he dropped twenty pounds."

So, will he stick with heart-healthy, animal-friendly, green cuisine? Considering his heart problems vs. vegan vitality and incredible vegan edibles, I'm optimistic. What do you think?

Written by Karin Bennett

You say you care about lonely, neglected dogs who are chained up in all weather extremes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? How far would you go to prove it? Seminole County resident and PETA member Bryan Wilson (right) and a friend went so far as to chain themselves up for eight hours in the blazing Florida heat to call attention to the plight of dogs who spend all day, every day fighting off flies, fleas, and hopelessness.

"Dogs are very social animals," Wilson told a reporter. "By [depriving] them of their human packs, they are essentially reduced from family members to lawn ornaments."

Wilson, who helped draft a proposed law restricting chaining in his county, isn't the only one going to bat for chained dogs. Deborah Linz and Paulette Dean, who are featured in the current issue of PETA's quarterly magazine, Animal Times, were each successful in passing ordinances restricting chaining in Kanawha County, West Virginia, and Danville, Virginia, respectively. More than six states and 120 communities across the country have banned or restricted chaining.

Want to be a hero to dogs by working to pass an anti-chaining ordinance in your community? You'll die happy! To get started, visit HelpingAnimals.com for information on lobbying for anti-chaining laws.

Written by Alisa Mullins