Deadly Warning to Bacon Lovers Appears on Hospital Sidewalks

PETA Ads Highlight the Link Between Cancer and Processed Meat

For Immediate Release:
August 31, 2017

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

In light of a study that ranked Nebraska as the top bacon-loving state in the U.S. and in time for International Bacon Day on Saturday, September 2, PETA has placed 20 sidewalk ads near Lincoln hospitals and medical centers that depict a dead person’s foot adorned with a tag illustrated with bacon strips and the words “It Seems You CAN Live Without Bacon After All. Go Vegan.”

PETA points out that according to the American Institute for Cancer Research, the daily consumption of just 1.7 ounces of processed meat—less than two strips of bacon—can increase a person’s risk of developing colorectal cancer by 21 percent. Every year, about 143,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and approximately 53,000 die of it.

“No amount of processed meat is safe for consumption,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s sidewalk ads will remind bacon lovers that a taste for pigs’ flesh can lead straight to the hospital morgue.”

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans are less prone to suffering from not only cancer but also heart disease, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters are. Vegans also spare sensitive pigs immense suffering: In the meat industry, mother pigs are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, they’re hung upside down and bled to death, often while still conscious.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—encourages diners to choose Tofurky Smoky Maple Bacon Marinated Tempeh, Lightlife’s Fakin’ Bacon, and other savory foods that are packed with flavor but free of cruelty and cholesterol.

The sidewalk ads can be seen outside Bryan College of Health Sciences, Nebraska Heart Hospital, and CHI Health St. Elizabeth. A full list of locations follows.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

“It Seems You CAN Live Without Bacon After All. Go Vegan.” decals appear in the following locations:

• Bryan College of Health Sciences, W. 1559 South St., Lincoln, NE 68502
• Bryan College of Health Sciences, W. 1557 South St., Lincoln, NE 68502
• Bryan College of Health Sciences, East Emergency Entrance, 4900 Sumner St., Lincoln, NE 68510
• Bryan College of Health Sciences, East Smoking Area, 4998 Sumner St., Lincoln, NE 68510
• Bryan College of Health East, Main Entrance, 1606 S. 48^th, Lincoln, NE 68510
• Bus stop, 590 S. 17^th, Lincoln, NE 68508
• Bus stop, 1501 S. 17^th, Lincoln, NE 68502
• Bus stop, 1340 N St., Lincoln, NE 68503
• Bus stop, 3445 O St., Lincoln, NE 68510
• Bus stop, 7056 Pioneers Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68506
• CHI Health St. Elizabeth bus stop, 6840 L St., Lincoln, NE 68510
• Gold’s bus stop (on the route to Nebraska Heart Hospital), 1100 N. St., Lincoln, NE 68508
• Nebraska Heart Hospital bus stop, 7600 S. 91^st , Lincoln, NE 68526