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Dear Mike,

Congratulations from PETA on the reviews for SiCKO. Although we thinkthat your film could actually help reform America’s sorely inadequatehealth care system, there’s an elephant in the room, and it is you. With alldue respect, no one can help but notice that a weighty health issue isaffecting you personally. We’d like to help you fix that. Going vegetarianis an easy and life-saving step that people of all economic backgroundscan take in order to become less reliant on the government’s shoddyhealthcare system, and it’s something that you and all Americans canbenefit from personally. Vegetarians weigh, on average, up to 20 percentless than their meat-eating counterparts—meaning less weight-relatedproblems like heart attacks and strokes—and live about eight years longer.I’m sure that your fans would appreciate having you around longer! Bygoing vegetarian, you would also provide a powerful message of personalresponsibility for one’s health, allowing others to become less reliant on asystem that doesn’t care about them. As they say at Nike (sorry!): “Just doit.” We can help, but first, here are some facts:

• Vegetarians suffer far fewer heart attacks than meat-eaters.Cholesterol, the principal culprit in clotted arteries, is found only inanimal products. Thus, those of us who forgo the flesh, milk, and eggsof animals have a heart disease mortality rate one-tenth the rate of ourflesh-eating counterparts. In fact, a healthy vegan diet has been shownto reverse heart disease.• Vegetarians have far lower rates of cancer than meat-eaters.Ninety-five percent of the toxic chemicals that humans are exposed tocome from meat. Thus, women who eat meat daily have 3.8 times thebreast cancer rate of women who don’t. Men who eat meat daily getfatal prostate cancer at 3.6 times the rate of vegetarian men.• Vegetarians are not as likely to be obese as meat-eaters. Obesitykills about 112,000 people per year in the U.S., according to TheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and makes manymore people sick. It can also lead to serious diseases like diabetes. TheCDC also reported that overweight and obesity accounted for nearly10 percent of all American medical expenses in a recent year. Onaverage, vegetarians weigh up to 20 percent less than meat-eaters.• Vegetarians don’t run the risk of getting sick from contaminatedmeat. Sure, they may get sick when animal waste is sprayed onvegetables and fruit, but meat is the big hazard. Just as dead humansrot and attract maggots and bacteria, so do other dead animals.

Millions of people in the U.S. get sick—and thousands die—each yearfrom eating meat contaminated with salmonella, campylobacter, E.coli, or one of the many other bacterium found on animal flesh—evenafter it’s been cooked.

Yes, America’s health care system needs to be fixed, but personalresponsibility is a big part of why people look and feel as ill as they do.We hope that you will focus your personal lens on the benefits ofvegetarianism—which can satisfy you easily—stop turning a blind eye tomeat’s impact on America’s health, and lead the charge for a healthierAmerica by taking our 30-Day Veg Pledge. You can find tips on goingvegetarian and recipes for meatless meals like faux fried chicken atGoVeg.com.
Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President and Founder