Still bitter over the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) not taking its “medical” advice to heart in the 2011 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, one animal rights group is hoping a sympathetic judge will help ram its anti-meat agenda down the USDA’s throat—and yours.
Led by Dr. Neal Barnard, a psychiatrist with a history at the helm of The PETA Foundation, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed a federal suit yesterday in Washington, DC. In typical publicity-stunt hysterics, PCRM demands that the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) immediately withdraw allegedly “vague and ambiguous language” from the new Dietary Guidelines. (PCRM claims that the new advice “hide[s] the ill effects of consuming meat and dairy products.” PCRM, of course, has been pressuring the government for months to adopt its vegan alternative to the nutritionally balanced Food Pyramid. [This is the legal equivalent of a hands-on-hips foot stomp.])
Barnard told The Washington Post that the Dietary Guidelines don’t do enough to warn Americans about the bogus health risks associated with consuming meat and dairy products in moderation. This scare tactic isn't anything new for PCRM or its lawyers, of course.
In recent years we’ve seen PCRM tying up the court system from coast to coast, seeking to remove eggs, milk, meat, and seafood from the American diet. Here are some examples for your reference:
2004
PCRM Sues Estate of Deceased Atkins Diet Guru
2005
PCRM Full Of Hot Air On “Sour-Milk” Lawsuit
2006
PCRM’s Dairy-Intolerant Lawsuit Goes Out With A Whimper
PCRM’s Legal Eagles Try to Skewer Grilled Chicken Restaurants
PCRM’s “Atkins Diet” and “Sour-Milk” Suits Dismissed by Judges
2007
PCRM Vows to Sue “Virtually Every” Non-Vegetarian Calif. Restaurant
PCRM's Milk Labeling Scam Suit Tossed by Judge
2008
PCRM Slammed For Cynical Courtroom Ploy
2009
PCRM Lawsuit Attempts to Show Grilled Chicken Causes Cancer
2010
PCRM's Sues FDA to Promote Vegan Alternative to Diabetes Drugs
You get the picture. Judges have had no appetite for PCRM’s antics thus far, largely because they don’t want their courtrooms leveraged to advance a radical agenda. The sidewalk in front of the White House, however, is fair game. Just be sure to bring a Humane Society of the United States doctor along for “credibility.”(That’s HSUS’s Dr. Michael Greger on the left.)
We're not expecting this plea for judicial activism to work in PCRM’s favor. If the group’s members want to practice veganism, it’s a free country. But muscling in on everyone else’s health recommendations is bad politics.
And besides—if the USDA were to suddenly scream “Go Veg,” who would listen?
