Washington, DC – This week an animal rights group claiming to be a medical charity released dubious “report cards” for 11 U.S. school district lunch programs, claiming that most fail to offer “healthy” foods to children. But analysis by the Center for Consumer Freedom suggests that the misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is more interested in promoting strict vegetarianism and animal-rights ideology than good nutrition.
“Like other PCRM publicity stunts, these phony ‘report cards’ seek to reward animal-rights-approved meal programs,” said Center for Consumer Freedom research director David Martosko. “This group is out to punish those school districts that dare to serve beef, chicken, and milk. PCRM’s president has claimed that feeding milk to children constitutes child abuse, and now his group is trying to strong-arm school menu planners into seeing things their way.”
PCRM has well-documented ties to the larger animal rights movement, including over $1.3 million that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has steered into its coffers. PCRM president Neal Barnard, a non-practicing psychiatrist, is also president of The PETA Foundation. The American Medical Association has censured PCRM in the past, saying that its recommendations are “irresponsible and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans.”
Martosko added: “The last thing school nutritionists need is misinformation from an animal-rights group. The mission of this phony ‘Physicians Committee’ is the same as PETA’s: to remove beef, chicken, pork, and all dairy foods from our diets, regardless of the consequences to children’s health. And sadly, this is just the latest example of how the animal rights movement targets kids with propaganda.”
This week the Center for Consumer Freedom released shocking details about PETA’s long-standing efforts to indoctrinate children into America’s animal-rights movement.
