'Beef.Com' Goes Vegetarian

In a move that will probably infuriate the beef industry, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has taken control of the domain name Beef.com.

Instead of brisket recipes and tenderloin tips, visitors to Beef.com will get information about the dangers of mad cow disease and the many other health risks associated with eating meat.

PETA is concerned that when it comes to mad cow disease, the beef industry and the U.S. government have been more concerned about public relations than public safety.

After mad cow disease was detected in British cows in the mid-1980s, feeding animals to animals was banned in the United Kingdom.

Although the U.S. banned feeding ruminants to ruminants in 1997 and announced a ban on slaughtering "downed" animals (those too sick or injured to walk) for human consumption several weeks ago, it is still legal to feed cows’ blood to cows, to feed sheep and cows to pigs and chickens, and to feed pigs and chickens to one another and to cows, even though these practices have been banned in Europe and Japan out of fear that other animals might also contract spongy brain diseases.

According to animal advocates, the cattle industry has battled safety legislation every step of the way. As recently as December 2003, cattle-rancher lobbyists helped defeat a bill that would have prohibited downed cows from entering the human food supply.

"Visitors to Beef.com will get straight talk about mad cow disease, not cattle industry P.R. spin," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's Director of Vegan Outreach.

"Consumers deserve to know the truth about the dangers posed by meat consumption and to learn that they can protect themselves by going vegetarian," he said.

© 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.