In a startling example of letting the lunatic run the asylum, CNN’s “Live this morning” show handed the microphone to Neal Barnard yesterday morning. Barnard, who runs the animal-rights front group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), advised CNN’s audience to “go all the way” and “take all of the animal products out” of their diets. While CNN’s Leon Harris acknowledged that PCRM is “basically against people eating meat entirely,” he failed to point out that the group has strong financial ties to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) via a multi-million dollar foundation co-chaired by Barnard and PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk. The final straw, though, came at the interview’s conclusion when Harris told viewers to “take the advice of the expert.” This despite the American Medical Association’s repeated condemnation of Barnard. The doctors’ group once called PCRM’s dietary guidelines “irresponsible and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans”; it has also called on Barnard personally to “stop “the unethical tactics [his] organization uses to manipulate public opinion.”
