New billboard campaign by an animal rights charity has sparked outrageAnimal rights charity PETA has sparked outrage after launching a controversial new billboard campaign featuring a child smoking in an attempt to raise awareness of cancer-causing meats.
The poster shows a boy aged around two or three years old lying on his stomach, reading a book, while holding a smouldering Havana-style cigar.
It urges people to 'Go Vegan!' and reads: 'You Wouldn't Let Your Child Smoke. Like Smoking, Eating Bacon, Sausages and Other Processed Meats Is Linked to Cancer' [sic].
Controversial: This new billboard in Leeds by animals rights charity PETA has sparked outrage for featuring a child smoking in an attempt to raise awareness of cancer-causing meats. It urges people to 'Go Vegan!'
The billboard has been put up on Burley Street in Leeds, West Yorkshire, just days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report listing processed meats, such as sausages and bacon, as a cancer threat.
The report said eating as little as 50 grams of processed meat a day - around one sausage or two slices of bacon - raises the risk of developing bowel cancer by 18 per cent.
It classified processed meat as carcinogenic alongside arsenic and asbestos, with global health chiefs warning it was as big a cancer threat as cigarettes.
The billboard came in for criticism on social media, with one Twitter user, Jennifer Lane, posting: 'I support PETA and I am against cruelty and abuse towards animals. But this is just b******* and over the top.'
Steven Conrads added: 'People will not respond well to misleading signs, esp [sic] when the science is lousy. Emphasis better placed on the ethical appeal.'
The billboard came in for criticism on social media, with one Twitter user, Jennifer Lane, posting: 'I support PETA and I am against cruelty and abuse towards animals. But this is just b******* and over the top'
COMPARING RED MEAT TO SMOKING IS RIDICULOUS, SAYS EXPERT
Robert Pickard, emeritus Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cardiff and a member of the Meat Advisory Panel, said: 'Red and processed meat do not give you cancer and actually the IARC report is not saying that eating processed meat is as harmful as smoking. In fact, comparing red meat to smoking is ridiculous.
'Looking at the report itself I am very surprised by IARC’s strong conclusion on categorising processed red meat as definitely and red meat as being probably carcinogenic to humans - given the lack of consensus within the scientific community and the very weak evidence regarding the causal relationship between red meat and cancer.
'There are many substances classed as carcinogenic such as air pollution, contraceptive pills and working as a painter. Interestingly IARC has even noted coffee, working as a hair dresser and shift working in the same category as red meat.
“The IARC ruling states that by eating 50g of processed red meat every day leads to a very small increase in the risk of bowel cancer. In the UK we are only eating 17g on average of processed meat a day. So we would have to eat three times the amount of processed meat to increase the risk.'
He added: 'Avoiding red meat in the diet is not a protective strategy against cancer. The top priorities for cancer prevention remain smoking cessation, maintenance of normal body weight and avoidance of high alcohol intakes.
'Red meat has a valuable role within a healthy, balanced diet thanks to its high protein content and rich nutritional composition.'
Another Twitter user wrote: 'ohh dear I don't like that advert at all.'
PETA, which has been a long-time proponent of veganism, says as well as 'saving' their own lives, vegans stop around 100 animals being slaughtered each year.
Elisa Allen, PETA associate director, said: 'We all know how important it is to set a good example for our kids, and that means choosing habits - such as eating vegan meals - that will steer them towards a healthier life.
'The billboard will remind us all that, just as we should put down the cigarettes, we should put down the bacon butties and pick up fibre-rich, heart-healthy plant-based foods instead.'
However, Kirsty Walker, head of health communications for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, hit back at the billboard's message.
She said: 'I think that consumers are sensible enough to know that smoking is by far the biggest cancer risk and that any potential risk from eating processed meat is tiny in comparison.
'We don't think that this campaign will have any impact on farming.
'It's also worth remembering that the average adult consumption of processed meat in the UK is 17g per day, roughly one third of the 50g per day that the recent International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report suggested could increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
'Also the vast majority of sausages that we eat in Britain are made from fresh meat and not classified as processed.'
She added: 'The recent IARC didn't say that eating red and processed meat as part of a balanced diet causes cancer.
'Nor did it say it's as dangerous as smoking, which Cancer Research UK has been keen to reiterate this week.
PETA's Elisa Allen said: 'The billboard will remind us all that, just as we should put down the cigarettes, we should put down the bacon butties and pick up fibre-rich, heart-healthy plant-based foods instead'
'IARC itself has issued a further statement saying: "The latest IARC review does not ask people to stop eating processed meats".
'IARC has also admitted that it is a "shortcoming" of the classification system that tobacco, processed meats and arsenic are in the same group.
'Red and processed meat plays an important role in a balanced diet, providing protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins.
'Furthermore, there's no evidence that removing meat from your diet protects against cancer.
'A major, long term study by Oxford University has shown no difference in colorectal cancer rates between meat eaters and vegetarians.'
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