Alarming new findings from Britain's Health Protection Agency reveal that many people could still be infected with, and eventually die from, mad cow disease. In humans, it is referred to as "new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease," or vCJD. As leading vCJD expert Professor John Collinge notes, "The incubation period, where there are no symptoms, can last for decades."

But that's Great Britain, not the U.S., right? Well, we're potentially at an even higher risk because while Europe banned the macabre farming practice that is believed to have caused mad cow disease—feeding ground-up farmed animals to other farmed animals—it is still legal in the United States. And while England tests every cow slaughtered for the presence of the disease, the U.S. tests only a small percentage. 

The symptoms of vCJD are so similar to those of dementia or Alzheimer's that there is some indication that a large number of Americans may have been misdiagnosed.

Obviously we can't un-eat meat we ate in the past that may have contained the indestructible prions that cause mad cow disease, although British scientists are working on a blood test that can check for the disease. But what we can do is reduce our risk of future infection by quitting hamburgers and steaks, ahem, cold turkey.

But if you're thinking that eating cold turkey or another meat would be better, don't be fooled—you still run the risk of all those other diseases that any kind of meat consumption contributes to, including heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. 

Continuing to eat meat despite the mounting evidence that it will hurt us in one way or another seems pretty mad, right?

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Achoo! Swine flu?

Sunshine State residents who feel under the weather should know that Florida has had 141 confirmed swine flu deaths. Sounds to me like Florida residents would do well to learn about ways to stop the spread of swine flu—hence our action in Jacksonville this morning.

PETA "pig" and his peeps, decked out in our new swine flu masks, handed out copies of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit" to passersby.

Evidence is growing that the meat industry is responsible for the swine flu outbreak, just as it was largely responsible for outbreaks of MRSA, mad cow, E. coli, and bird flu. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studies have shown that 30 to 50 percent of pigs raised for food in the U.S. have been infected with some strain of swine flu. That shouldn't come as any surprise, considering that jam-packed, filthy factory farms are breeding grounds for disease.

The best way to help guard against future swine flu outbreaks? Swear off the ham, Spam, and snouts—and go vegan.

Written by Karin Bennett

Let's say that you're South Korean. Let's also say that you're vegetarian. Now, what do you do if you basically sympathize with the sentiments of the tens of thousands of South Koreans who have taken to the streets in recent months to protest the importation of American beef, but you know that concerns over mad cow don't quite capture the whole story? Well, if your name is Kyung-Dam Park, you slip into a fuzzy cow costume, stand outside the South Korean embassy in Manila, and hold a sign that reads, "It's Mad to Eat Meat. Go Vegetarian."

This is what Kyung-Dam Park had to say: "With all the disease directly linked to eating animals, you really have to be mad to eat any meat these days. Going vegetarian is the best thing you can do for your health and animals."

Park's point? While South Koreans' fears about mad cow (the disease that ravages the brain and turns it into Swiss cheese) are well founded, there are lots of other reasons for South Koreans (and everyone else) to keep all meat (from the U.S. or anywhere else) off their plates.

Following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Bristol last week, PETA UK protesters took to the streets to remind shoppers that the solution to epidemics like foot and mouth, mad-cow disease, and bird flu is actually really, really simple. Go vegetarian. The pics are priceless.