‘Smoking Baby’ Billboard Gives Parents Food for Thought After New Cancer Risk Study

Processed Meats Classified as Group 1 Carcinogens; PETA Says That You Might as Well Throw in a Cigar if You Feed Kids Bacon and Sausage

For Immediate Release:
October 30, 2015

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Confirming earlier studies that were largely ignored, the World Health Organization has just classified processed meats as a Group 1 carcinogen, alongside tobacco. That’s why PETA is now negotiating with outdoor advertisers in Sioux City—the highest pork-producing region in the nation—to run a billboard that shows a toddler smoking a stogie and the words “You Wouldn’t Let Your Child Smoke. Like Smoking, Eating Meat Causes Heart Disease and Cancer. Go Vegan!”

“In addition to being hard on animals and your arteries, all processed meats are now officially recognized as being as carcinogenic as tobacco,” says PETA Executive Vice President and mother Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s edgy billboard reminds parents to keep their families in good health by keeping tobacco and meat out of the reach of children and serving up delicious plant-based meals.”

Meat, eggs, and dairy foods contain no fiber and are loaded with artery-clogging saturated animal fat and cholesterol. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans are less likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer than meat-eaters are. A healthy plant-based diet can even reverse the effects of heart disease in former meat-eaters­­­­.

Vegans don’t just save their own lives—they spare more than 100 animals a year daily suffering and a terrifying death in today’s industrialized meat, egg, and dairy industries.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.