Reason I love Perez #472

Headline Of The Week Weak


“PETA Calls Michael Moore Fat!

Snap! Click here to read the article accompanying this headline.

Dear Mike,

Congratulations from PETA on the reviews for SiCKO. Although we think
that your film could actually help reform America’s sorely inadequate
health care system, there’s an elephant in the room, and it is you. With all
due respect, no one can help but notice that a weighty health issue is
affecting you personally. We’d like to help you fix that. Going vegetarian
is an easy and life-saving step that people of all economic backgrounds
can take in order to become less reliant on the government’s shoddy
healthcare system, and it’s something that you and all Americans can
benefit from personally. Vegetarians weigh, on average, up to 20 percent
less than their meat-eating counterparts—meaning less weight-related
problems like heart attacks and strokes—and live about eight years longer.
I’m sure that your fans would appreciate having you around longer! By
going vegetarian, you would also provide a powerful message of personal
responsibility for one’s health, allowing others to become less reliant on a
system that doesn’t care about them. As they say at Nike (sorry!): “Just do
it.” We can help, but first, here are some facts:

• Vegetarians suffer far fewer heart attacks than meat-eaters.
Cholesterol, the principal culprit in clotted arteries, is found only in
animal products. Thus, those of us who forgo the flesh, milk, and eggs
of animals have a heart disease mortality rate one-tenth the rate of our
flesh-eating counterparts. In fact, a healthy vegan diet has been shown
to reverse heart disease.
• Vegetarians have far lower rates of cancer than meat-eaters.
Ninety-five percent of the toxic chemicals that humans are exposed to
come from meat. Thus, women who eat meat daily have 3.8 times the
breast cancer rate of women who don’t. Men who eat meat daily get
fatal prostate cancer at 3.6 times the rate of vegetarian men.
• Vegetarians are not as likely to be obese as meat-eaters. Obesity
kills about 112,000 people per year in the U.S., according to The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and makes many
more people sick. It can also lead to serious diseases like diabetes. The
CDC also reported that overweight and obesity accounted for nearly
10 percent of all American medical expenses in a recent year. On
average, vegetarians weigh up to 20 percent less than meat-eaters.
• Vegetarians don’t run the risk of getting sick from contaminated
meat. Sure, they may get sick when animal waste is sprayed on
vegetables and fruit, but meat is the big hazard. Just as dead humans
rot and attract maggots and bacteria, so do other dead animals.

Millions of people in the U.S. get sick—and thousands die—each year
from eating meat contaminated with salmonella, campylobacter, E.
coli, or one of the many other bacterium found on animal flesh—even
after it’s been cooked.

Yes, America’s health care system needs to be fixed, but personal
responsibility is a big part of why people look and feel as ill as they do.
We hope that you will focus your personal lens on the benefits of
vegetarianism—which can satisfy you easily—stop turning a blind eye to
meat’s impact on America’s health, and lead the charge for a healthier
America by taking our 30-Day Veg Pledge. You can find tips on going
vegetarian and recipes for meatless meals like faux fried chicken at
GoVeg.com.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President and Founder