Following the opening of Britain’s first mortuary to accommodate the bodies of people who weigh up to 50 stone, PETA has erected a billboard in Gloucester depicting a meat pie in the shape of a coffin and which reads, “Not Ready to Meat Your Maker? Fight Obesity: Go Vegan”. PETA’s points out that, in addition to causing animal suffering on a massive scale, eating animal products has been conclusively linked to obesity. A vegan diet, on the other hand, can take weight off and help people maintain a healthy weight.
“PETA’s new billboard highlights how meat pies and pasties have been linked to obesity and other ailments”, says PETA’s Yvonne Taylor. “The best thing that coffin dodgers can do for their health and to help animals is to go vegan”.
Not all Gloucester residents agree. Soon after the billboard was erected, protestors ripped down a section of the poster only to inadvertently reveal an earlier advertisement for oven chips. PETA responded by saying the petty criminals who wrecked the billboard are trifling compared to the “real criminal – the meat industry – which is responsible for the deaths of billions”.
Professor David Haslam, chairman of the National Obesity Forum (NOF), said the advert was insensitive. “There are much more sensitive ways of tackling the issue without pictures of coffin pies” he said.
However, worrying statistics on obesity suggest we need a wake up call. A quarter of all adults and about one in six children in the UK are already obese. And a recent study predicted that eight out of 10 men, seven out of 10 women and almost one in three children will be obese by 2020.
Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vegetarians and vegans are far less likely to be overweight than meat-eaters are and far more likely to be in better overall health. The British Medical Association has shown that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders and gallstones and that by changing to a vegetarian diet, meat-eaters can actually lower their cholesterol levels. Also, after recommendations by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, the Department of Health recently advised Britons to eat less meat in order to cut their risk of cancer.