Written by PETA
Everyone seemed to have something to say about our recent billboards in Jacksonville, Florida. Some people loved one or both, while others loathed the first and were bored by the second. But regardless of where you stood, please help us decide what billboard should go up next.
We've narrowed the options down to four billboards that make the point that a vegetarian diet is brain food. First, read this and then please vote for your favorite billboard, invent your own, or heck, even tell us not to run any of them. It's in your hands.
A recent article in New Scientist reveals that researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles have discovered that as people age, the bigger their body mass, on average, the smaller their brain, "with the frontal and temporal lobes - important for planning and memory, respectively - particularly affected."
No wonder Grandpa can't remember where he put that "Double Down."
Since a vegan diet (no fatty, cheesy crap) is almost guaranteed to make you slimmer, it can likely also increase your odds of staying sharp as you age. Our four billboards drive home the point that a pure vegetarian diet is a smart diet. Cast your votes here.
Written by Karin Bennett
My dog, Charlie, loves to swim and goes nuts for the Crazy Daisy. But he won't go outside if it's raining. He plants his butt on the floor and refuses to budge—until I bring out the treats.
After all these years, I've think I've finally figured out why Charlie balks at walking in the rain. He can't bear the idea of being dried off with that old, faded beach towel.* It makes sense. After all, a distinguished dog like Charlie deserves a Soggy Dog towel, made just for dogs.
Actually, every dog deserves one—especially yours. Score one for your best friend by submitting the funniest caption for the photo below in the comments section.
We've got one to give away. The contest ends on September 16, 2009, and we'll choose the wining comment on September 18, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!
*Sure, Charlie's really holding out for the cookies, but I'm still getting him the fancy towel.
A recent article in USA Today reveals why so many dairy-lovin' adults spend too much time in the loo, cutting the cheese.
According to the article, titled "Sixty Percent of Adults Can't Digest Milk,"
[P]eople who are lactose intolerant can't digest the main sugar—lactose—found in milk. In normal humans, the enzyme that does so—lactase—stops being produced when the person is between two and five years old. The undigested sugars end up in the colon, where they begin to ferment, producing gas that can cause cramping, bloating, nausea, flatulence and diarrhea.
In other words, Gouda is no good for you and Swiss is a digestive miss.
The article continues,
Being able to digest milk is so strange that scientists say we shouldn't really call lactose intolerance a disease, because that presumes it's abnormal. Instead, they call it lactase persistence, indicating what's really weird is the ability to continue to drink milk.
It's time for milk-drinking "weirdos" to get off the can and discover the delicious world of dairy alternatives. They are better than cheddar and nicer than ice cream—for human health and for cows and their calves.
Horses who pull heavy loads of tourists through noisy, polluted city streets are not retired to pastures where they graze their final days away. This anonymous contribution to PostSecret.com assures us of that.
To the anonymous poster, if your conscience bothers you, our investigators eagerly await more details.
As a PETA blogger, I know that male chicks in the egg industry are simply discarded and killed—but knowing about it didn't make watching it any easier.
This new footage from an undercover investigation by Mercy for Animals shows workers at an Iowa hatchery killing 150,000 newborn male chicks every single day.
Chicks born at hatcheries are sent off to slaughter the very day they take their first breath. The only lives these babies know is one in which they are sorted and handled like pieces of garbage. Workers grab them by their wings, toss them onto conveyor belts, and throw them down a chute to spend their final moments in a grinding machine—in which they are ground up while they are still alive.
All this is standard procedure, widely accepted at commercial hatcheries and within the bounds of animal welfare laws. The egg industry considers male chicks to be useless because they don't lay eggs and can't be raised profitably for meat. Their sisters are not exactly lucky to remain alive.
For anyone who thinks that eating eggs doesn't kill animals, millions of male chicks each year are born in hatcheries and promptly thrown into the blades of giant garbage disposals.
Egg-free recipes, anyone?
Written by Heather Drennan
Anyone out there know of a gadget that makes rotten retailers stop selling live frogs and snails in tiny prisons? Anyone?
Didn't think so. That's why we're calling on you to drop whatever you're doing right now and tell gadget magnate Brookstone to stop selling Frog-O-Spheres ASAP!
Despite complaint after complaint, Brookstone—a company that apparently has a heart of stone—is continuing to "package" frogs and snails together in pitiful plastic prisons and sell them to customers who don't have a clue about how to take care of these extremely delicate animals.
A distraught Brookstone employee has sent us undercover photos and horrifying details confirming that frogs and snails are sold with little regard for who will care for them:
"Most parents will exclaim right in front of me that they are not going to help the child to care for these living creatures. Then when I offer to sell them the additional food they will tell me flat out that the frogs won't live that long. It kills me that these frogs that can live to be 15 years old [won't] even last 1 year as a pet in a controlled [environment]."
The whistleblower went on to describe how animals are forced to languish and suffer on Brookstone's shelves without any veterinary care:
"We did have a frog that had a growth on its bottom. We eventually transferred that aquarium to the stock room and the frog died. No vet was called …. There is absolutely no policy or [veterinary] contact in my store for sick frogs. … [W]hen they do die we are told to "flush" them. … The snails die even more frequently. We have a bag full of over 15 snails that have died in the last month."
But, hey, no worries—if Kermit dies before his 30-day warranty is up, Brookstone will replace him for free! So long as you have your receipt, just flush and replace.
Let Brookstone know that these frogs aren't just a drop in the bucket. Please take action now!
Written by Amy Elizabeth
Mississippi chef, restaurateur, and author Robert St. John has revealed that PETA's recent billboard inspired him to go vegetarian for the month of September in an effort to lose weight. In a column for the Laurel Leader-Call, he wrote the following:
There's been a big stink in the news lately. The animal activist group PETA posted a billboard in Florida with a photo of an obese woman in a bikini with the tag line, "Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian." A lot of overweight people were offended. I'm a fat person, and I thought it was funny. If I had my choice, I'd rather see PETA's scantily clad model campaign, but I don't mind a good chuckle at the expense of a fellow fat person. I wasn't offended, though I was intrigued by the premise. Could I lose the blubber by going veggie? It sounded like a challenge to me, so I'm going to take the challenge.
There's been a big stink in the news lately. The animal activist group PETA posted a billboard in Florida with a photo of an obese woman in a bikini with the tag line, "Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian." A lot of overweight people were offended. I'm a fat person, and I thought it was funny. If I had my choice, I'd rather see PETA's scantily clad model campaign, but I don't mind a good chuckle at the expense of a fellow fat person.
I wasn't offended, though I was intrigued by the premise. Could I lose the blubber by going veggie? It sounded like a challenge to me, so I'm going to take the challenge.
Yep, for 30 days the meat-loving columnist will forgo the bacon and buffalo wings, which means that some pigs and chickens will be spared from winding up on his plate.
Our advice to Mr. St. John? Stay away from dairy foods too. Seriously, you could gain 2 pounds just by looking at cheese fries.
What does PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk think about Michael Vick’s return to the NFL? We’ll let her tell you:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Written by Shawna Flavell
Guess what, people: Eating vegetarian food is good for you! If you don't believe me, just ask the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which had the following to say in its latest position paper on vegetarian diets:
The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.
Need more proof? Check out the following recent studies:
So, how's about we mosey on over to VegCooking.com and get started fixing up a mess of cholesterol-lowering, artery-unclogging, cancer risk–slashing, brain-boosting veggies, shall we?
Written by Alisa Mullins
Looks like a lot more fun than this:
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.
Follow PETA on Twitter!