“Just” BS: There’s Nothing Just about PETA’s New Campaign
An email arrived in my inbox yesterday announcing that Pinky Cole, aka the “Slutty Vegan” will be fronting a new PETA campaign claiming to promote “Food Justice” by handing out free vegan food and lobbying governments to end support for farmers and ranchers and instead promote highly processed, less nutritious, and more expensive vegan foods.
Unfortunately, PETA’s campaign is nothing more than a cynical attempt to disguise its radical “total animal liberation” while hurting people and communities already at most nutritional risk.
It’s true that many families in low-income areas lack access to healthy foods. And the fact is that for those who are already food insecure, suffering from nutrient deficiencies and other diet-related diseases, access to nutritious and affordable meat promotes food equity and justice.
Meat is one of the lowest calorie and most nutrient-dense foods, providing critical protein and nutrients like iron, B12, and essential fats that are either unavailable in plants or hard to absorb. Multiple studies, experts, and international organizations agree that nutrient-dense meat, dairy, and eggs are essential in healthy diets.
These benefits absolutely cannot be replaced by PETA’s “vegan meal starter kits,” and evidence does not support PETA’s claims that vegan foods are better for people or the environment than real meat, eggs, and dairy.
In fact, taking meat away from those already receiving too little will increase devastating health consequences, especially for women and children who are particularly vulnerable to iron and B12 deficiencies (two of the most common nutrient deficiencies worldwide). Meat is the best source of these nutrients. Plant-based alternatives are not nutritionally equal to animal-sourced proteins, and can be twice as expensive.
Contrary to what many concerned people hear from groups like PETA, there are no published studies showing meat, something humans have consumed for millions of years, causes heart disease or cancer. Studies vilifying meat are based on weak evidence that relies on observational research, which can only show associations, not cause. To understand the flaws with this kind of research, consider the fact that people who frequent airports tend to drink coffee. That doesn’t mean airports cause coffee consumption.
There is only one randomized control trial (the gold standard for scientific evidence) that looked at variations in meat consumption. The trial found that children who ate more meat had improved growth, cognitive and behavioral outcomes.
There is no evidence that removing meat from diets improves health or growth. To the contrary, when people in low-income countries have more access to meat and other animal-sourced foods, they live longer, healthier lives. When adjusted for factors like fresh vegetable consumption (something we can all get behind), and lifestyle factors like smoking, drinking, sleep and movement, there is no difference in all-cause mortality between omnivores and vegetarians.
Humans are omnivores, this is an undisputed fact of biology. America’s 70% overweight/obesity rate is not the result of eating meat, it’s the result of eating too many nutrient-poor, ultra-processed foods.
It’s clear that PETA doesn’t care to help promote real food justice solutions that ensure people have access to the nutrition they need. Instead, this unjust campaign parrots elitist, unscientific and false claims in service of PETA’s real agenda – forcing people everywhere to embrace a radical anti-meat agenda.
If you agree, please join GFJA in standing up for a healthy, sustainable, equitable, & ethical food system. Visit https://www.globalfoodjustice.org/take-action to learn more.