The latest from PETA ...

[bubble99]

I heard a representative from PETA this morning on 'Farming Today' on R4 (yes, I get up at stupid o'clock with DS3)....saying this. I can't do links, but if you Google 'PETA meat child abuse' it will show up.

Valid points about additives, hormones etc used in intensive farming. But this is outrageous scaremongering, IMO. And to link something as awful as child abuse to dietary choices is just wrong.

Sorry. PETA have said that 'Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse'

what an incredibly stupid analogy they should take a look at the NSPCC website if they want to know what child abuse is.
Like PETA care about humans anyway...
I am much more of a Compassion in World Farming person anyway bubble99

I don't think PETA are helping their cause at all. Commercially farmed meat IS full of dangerous hormones and additives though and should be avoided (or banned!). That said, it is very insensitive to link it with child abuse, although no doubt it will attract lots of publicity.

I know, Marina. After their 'Milk causes Cancer' debacle, too.

As you say, human welfare is, I imagine, so far down on their list of priorities anyway.

The 'Farming Today' woman handled the interview well. She asked the PETA woman for scientific stats/facts to back up this statement and the PETA woman was floundering and kept trying to refer her to the PETA website. The interviewer persisted in asking and said that if she (the PETA) woman was prepared to make such statements, that surely she had facts to hand to back it up..

The meat industry in the USA is a disgrace, true (remembers Fast Food Nation and shudders) but responsibly farmed, humanely reared meat is readily available in the UK and it is NOT child abuse to include it in a balanced diet
What with this and CALM using an image of the bombed bus to publicise suicides amongst young men the advertising industry is not covering itself with glory this week...oh, and Save the Children's campaign stating that you are more likely to die young if you have brown eyes...

Good to know she didn't have an easy ride on Farming Today. I bet people were spitting their tea across the kitchen all over Britain's farmhouses though

IMHO PETA saying that is no different to the Breast vs Bottle aguement about giving your child teh best start in life

TooTicky, you're right that they are 'preaching to the converted' about additives etc. I only buy/use more expensive organic meat, which means that my family eat less meat, purely because of the amount of additives and hormones added to the diet/treatment of intensively farmed animals.

And you're right that they do nothing to further the cause of 'good' farming.

Thing is, they want to see no meat eaten.

I feel very disappointed when these issues are handled so badly. Viva are far more responsible. I don't eat any meat/fish/dairy/egg, but if people do, I think it should be organicand humanely reared for everybody's sakes (animals included!)

PETA have always gone for the media interest stories far more than VIVA

I realise that throwing the words/terms 'cancer and 'child abuse' into statements attracts media interest. The thing that annoys me is that their stated aim is to stop people eating meat or consuming any animal products. I don't know why they don't just say this instead.

To be fair, there are plenty of very good reasons not to eat animal products.

Good reasons. But not life threatening ones?

I know that a serving of broccoli can provide as much calcium as a yoghurt, for example. But yoghurt is something that children can eat at any time of day. And it is easily purchased by someone living in a remote area.

Perhaps the problem (aside from animal welfare/factory farming/additives) is that people simply eat too much meat and get very little exercise - years ago, people really worked hard physically.
Oh, and the third world famine problems caused by the high demand for meat in the west.

"Oh, and the third world famine problems caused by the high demand for meat in the west."

Please explain?

I heard this lady on Jeremy Vine yesterday spouting her non sense and I was appalled.
I live in a rural area with farmers as our next door neighbours and can assure you that the animals are treat in the best of ways, with access to grass, water fresh air etc, and are cared for really well. If you want to be veggie, then fine, thats your choice but to tell us meat eaters that feeding our kids meat is child abuse is appalling. PETA would be far better off campaigning to stop intensive/battery farming which I am wholeheartetly against, and they will find they have so much more public support that with this latest piece of scaremongering, which will only turn the public off PETA.
This has really got me mad

Yes, do explain TooTicky. Like bubble, we eat a reduced quantity of organic meat from traceable farms in Kent - several of which organise open days and are members of the Soil Association/Demeter/CWF etc.
I think global sustainable agriculture is better served by our family choice to eat in-season British produce that has not been flown in from poorer countries tbh. I'm quite happy with my choice of an omnivore diet based on fair-trade, sourcing locally and organic produce.

Okay, I'm posting in a hurry now, but here are a couple of links:
link 1
link 2
Something that really shocked me recently was reading that during the big famine in Ethiopia, the country was producing animal fodder to be sold to Europe.

Thanks for those.
Though I was rather hoping for research independent of any kind of vested interest, whether it be vegan or livestock industry. Maybe from an aid agency/NGO?
An organisation like VegFam is naturally going to make this kind of statement, surely?
Obviously if it is true that Ethiopia was exporting animal feed to Europe during its famine then that is plain wrong.

One of the first words our nearly-three year old said was 'Meat!' When I'm in the kitchen now, she'll often come in ask if 'we have meat today?' It's a good job they all love their veggies too.

I'm quite unapologetically omnivorous, and I agree with everyone that has said about responsible farming. Does anyone really take PETA seriously anywhere?

PETA are far too extreme for me to take notice of - they are of the 'I'm right, you're wrong' school which is immature and unrealistic in a world populated by people with different cultures & personalities. If you are unable to negotiate and compromise then you are unlikely to be able to change anything in your life.

Humans are omnivores. To say that we should stop eating meat all together is utter nonense. If you don't want to eat it, that is your choice. I remember one of the Ray Mear's episodes was about a tribe in South East Asia and their diet comprised mainly monkey meat. I bet PETA would have a field day with that. Are they going to try stop wild animals like lions and tigers from chasing some poor gazelle to death, catching it and then ripping it too shreds to feed their brood? Are they going to stop cats from killing birds or mice? What about birds like eagles who eat small rodents and insects? These people need to find some corner of the world where they can go and live their boring and empty lives.

Also, as an aside, what about the Inuits who wear real fur? Are they going to have a go at them too.

FGS, lions don't use factory farms. They also don't pump the gazelles with growth hormones, preventative antibiotics and god knows what else. They don't clear forest for gazelle grazing and they don't breed unnatural numbers of gazelle.

I like the fact we breed 'unnatural' numbers of sheep, cows, pigs etc. Makes our countryside the beautiful thing it is, instead of a prairie.
Peta is a nasty organisation, which keeps making these distasteful comparisons. Farming is just like the Holocaust, apparently.

Sorrell, do you know what goes on in factory farms?