DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090648

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Guy Friddell 

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

PRINCIPLES SHOULD GUIDE OUR DIETS, SAYS VEGETARIAN

Dr. William T. Jarvis' discourse last week on ``Why I Am Not a Vegetarian'' drew fire Thursday from Lisa Lange of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk.

In a publication of the American Council on Science and Health, Jarvis divided vegetarians into pragmatic and ideologic ones.

The diets of the pragmatic ones stem from objective considerations, he said. They are rational, not emotional. Ideologic vegetarians, he asserted, accept vegetarianism as a matter of principle, defend it as a dogma, exaggerate claims for its benefits and refuse to recognize its risks.

``Vegetarian'' is no longer a name for people who favor consumption of vegetables, he contended. It has become a code word for people who protest the eating of animal foods.

Lange, PETA's director of public affairs, noted that Jarvis ``clues us in to his real agenda'' by dividing vegetarians and by objecting to the ideological ones for seeing vegetarianism as an ethical issue.

``But what is wrong with choosing one's diet based on principle?'' she countered. ``In fact, what could be more right than putting one's principles and values into action every day through something as basic as eating?''

The truth is, she said, ``although mamy people think that meat is produced on an Old MacDonald's type farm, today's animals used for meat are kept in miserable conditions, squeezed in cages so small they can barely turn around.

``Such severe overcrowding causes injuries and rampant disease, problems that are masked by antibiotics in animal feed and such practices as cutting birds' beaks off, dehorning and tail amputations - all without anesthesia.

``Animals are deprived of veterinary care, exercise, sunlight, even the feel of grass under their feet.

``More and more of us are realizing that the simple choices we make as consumers can spare animals this terrible suffering. Going vegetarian is good for our health and our consciences.''

She cited the American Dietetic Association's conclusion: A considerable body of scientific evidence suggests positive relationships between vegetarian diets and risk reduction for several chronic degenerative diseases and conditions including obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer.''

In Dr. Jarvis' own university, Loma Linda, Lange noted, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that vegetarians have only one-third the heart disease mortality rates of meat-eaters.

Pure vegetarians - those who also cut out dairy products and eggs - had one-tenth the heart disease rate of meat-eaters.

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