THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510210016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
A woman sets her dog on fire.
A cat is found in the projects with an arrow sticking out of its back.
We are horrified, appalled, disgusted.
But an overweight pig? Why, that's so cute! It's a story worthy of national media attention.
Each year, billions of innocent, sentient animals are raised in misery and slaughtered in pain and terror, in the fallacious idea that meat is a necessary food. The whole slaughterhouse process is so heinous, most sensitive people can't bear to think about it, yet they continue to buy and consume carcasses.
Over and over, meat consumption has been linked to heart disease and some cancers, as well as other diseases that we have come to assume are natural to aging. High blood pressure, heart attack, breast and colon cancer, osteoporosis, gallstones, kidney disease, adult-onset diabetes, obesity, hemorrhoids - these ailments aren't natural. They are the result of years of consuming cholesterol-laden, fiberless meat.
World hunger is exacerbated by our meat-feeding frenzy. In developing countries, grain is fed to cattle while the people go hungry. Cycling grain through livestock wastes 90 percent of the protein that was available in the grain.
Consider going meatless for a day. Investigate vegetarianism. Discover how to have outrageous good health and vitality.
If you love animals, do it for the cows and pigs. If you are concerned about the environment, learn how eating a plant-based diet will save topsoil, precious freshwater, tropical rain forests and the ozone layer.
BETTY J. ATKINSON
Virginia Beach, Oct. 10, 1995 by CNB