PETA to Kaiser Permanente: Carcinogens Aren’t Only in Couches—Ditch the Meat

Shunning Only Carcinogenic Furniture Leaves Cancer-Causing Meat Sitting Pretty

For Immediate Release:
June 6, 2014

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Kaiser Permanente has announced that it will no longer purchase upholstered furniture that contains fire retardant—a suspected carcinogen—but in a letter penned by PETA member and doctor of internal medicine Patrice Green,  the group suggests to Kaiser Chair and CEO Bernard J. Tyson that to tackle cancer-causing products, he and the board should look at their in-house menu and jettison the meat and dairy foods, including beef fillet and chicken roulade, that the company is serving to its inpatients.

“I’d like to suggest, with all due respect, that you look beyond the waiting room to the kitchen, where Kaiser chefs prepare foods laden with carcinogens and directly linked to cancer,” says Dr. Green. “May we help you protect patients’ health by hooking you up with a vegan chef and offering suggestions as to how you can replace the meat and dairy offerings in cafeteria and inpatient meals?”

In addition to cancer, the consumption of meat and other animal products is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes, whereas, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

PETA has even offered to help Kaiser choose delicious plant-based food distributors and provide a vegan chef to develop the new menu.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard J. Tyson follows.

June 6, 2014

Bernard J. Tyson
Chair and CEO
Kaiser Permanente

Dear Mr. Tyson,

I’m writing on behalf of my friends at PETA to applaud your efforts to keep your customers healthy by reducing carcinogens such as those found in fire-retardant-treated furniture. However, I’d like to suggest, with all due respect, that you look beyond the waiting room to the kitchen, where Kaiser chefs prepare foods laden with carcinogens and directly linked to cancer of the breast, bladder, colon, prostate, etc.! May we help you protect patients’ health by hooking you up with a vegan chef and offering suggestions as to how you can replace the meat and dairy offerings in cafeteria and inpatient meals?

Processed meats are highly carcinogenic, yet they are on the menu at Kaiser facilities. Other unhealthy menu items include beef fillets, chicken roulade, and hamburgers. Perhaps you missedresearch recently published in the journal Cell Metabolism showing that consuming meat, cow’s milk, and cheese can be as detrimental to a person’s health as smoking? Or the Harvard study that showed that eating skinless chicken increased the risk of bladder cancer by 52 percent? Harvard researchers have also found a significant link between meat consumption and breast cancer. A multitude of studies have linked eating red and processed meats to colon cancer, and dairy consumption has been linked to an increased risk of ovarian and prostate cancer.

Serving meat and dairy products also contradicts your stated initiative to “redouble [Kaiser’s] efforts” to combat “[p]roblems like obesity and diabetes” since consuming animal-derived products has also been shown to contribute to some of our nation’s other top killers, including heart disease and diabetes. On the other hand, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians are less likely to suffer from cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. And according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, vegetarians have a lower rate of total mortality.

Kaiser’s own peer-reviewed journal has recommended that doctors encourage their patients to adopt a plant-based diet, so we hope you will accept our offer to help you veganize the meals that are offered to patients and visitors in your facilities. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Patrice Green, J.D., M.D.