PETA Statement: New Mo. Bill Aids Meat Marketers, Harms Health and Animals

For Immediate Release:
April 3, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in response to the Missouri House Agriculture Policy Committee’s passage of House Bill 2607, which was introduced by Rep. Jeff Knight and prohibits “misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry”:

PETA is asking Rep. Jeff Knight to stop giving environmentally destructive perpetrators of animal abuse and purveyors of ill health—the meat industry—more than their fair shake. Vegan companies should certainly be permitted to use the term “meat”—which in biblical times meant “food,” not “flesh”—but Knight should not be allowed to use the word “harvest,” something you do with fruits and vegetables, to describe slaughtering and butchering sensitive living beings. Merriam-Webster‘s proper, original definition of “harvest,” dating back to 1828, applies exclusively to apples, corn, and other crops, which are packed full of fiber and free of saturated animal fat and cholesterol, unlike animal parts, the consumption of which is linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity and which Knight wants to peddle for special interests. This bill seems designed to ignore facts and to build votes for meat producers at the expense of animals, public health, and the environment.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat,” and more information is available at PETA.org.