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Place 'I Am Not a Nugget—Go Vegan!' Ad on Lunch Trays, and We'll Write the District a Check, Says Group
For Immediate Release:August 22, 2012
Contact:Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Tucson -- This morning, PETA sent a letter to Dr. John Pedicone, superintendent of the Tucson Unified School District, with an offer the group hopes he can't refuse: Place PETA's ad that shows a chicken next to the caption "I Am Not a Nugget—Go Vegan!" on cafeteria lunch trays, and PETA will pay the school district a sum to be negotiated. The proposal comes in the wake of news reports that the district is facing a $17 million budget shortfall and has proposed a series of public meetings to discuss what cuts should be made.
"PETA's offer is a win-win solution for Tucson's schools," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "It will help bring in a new source of much-needed revenue, and—if kids heed the ad's message—it will keep students healthier and help stop animal suffering at the same time."
In its letter, PETA points out that a whopping 64 percent of the meat tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was contaminated with E. coli and that everyone who goes vegan saves the lives of more than 100 animals every year. As an added incentive, PETA is offering to sponsor—free of charge—a meal featuring faux-chicken nuggets for the entire faculty and student body at a school of Pedicone's choice.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Tucson Unified School District Superintendent John Pedicone follows.
August 22, 2012
John J. Pedicone, Ph.D.SuperintendentTucson Unified School District
Dear Dr. Pedicone:
On behalf of PETA and our more than 3 million members and supporters, including thousands across Arizona, I'm writing with an idea to help get your district's budget back in the black: Open up cafeteria lunch trays to paid ads promoting healthy foods and behavior for kids and allow us to run the first ad featuring an adorable chicken proclaiming, "I Am Not a Nugget—Go Vegan." To complement these ads, we urge you to increase vegan choices in your schools' cafeterias, as many others have done across the country.
As a parent of an elementary school student, I know how important it is for all children to have access to healthy plant-based meals at school. Feeding kids chicken and other meat and dairy products puts them at risk for a slew of health problems. For example, a study by Consumer Reports found that two-thirds of chicken in grocery stores was infected with either salmonella or campylobacter—or both—and 64 percent of meat tested by the Food and Drug Administration was contaminated with E. coli. Meat, dairy products, and eggs, which contain no fiber and are loaded with cholesterol and saturated animal fat, are also primary contributors to Arizona's growing childhood-obesity rates. Vegans, on the other hand, tend to be significantly healthier than their meat-eating counterparts. On average, they weigh 18 percent less, and according to the late Dr. Benjamin Spock, "[c]hildren who grow up getting their nutrition from plant foods rather than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer." Healthy vegan meals such as veggie tacos made with beans and rice also tend to be less expensive than meat and dairy products.
In addition to improving their own health, every vegan saves the lives of more than 100 animals per year. In today's industrialized meat and dairy industries, chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while they're still conscious, piglets are castrated without being given any painkillers, fish are suffocated or cut open while they're still alive on the decks of fishing boats, and calves are torn away from their mothers within hours of birth. Providing students with vegan meals would encourage them to make healthy, kind choices in other aspects of their lives.
If you agree to our offer, we'll also supply a delicious vegan lunch, consisting of protein-packed and cholesterol-free faux-chicken nuggets, chili sprinkled with vegan cheese, and corn on the cob to the students and faculty at one of the schools in your district. Please contact me to discuss this exciting partnership. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, Tracy Reiman, Executive Vice President