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- REGINA (CP) -- An animal
rights group is aiming below the belt with a public relations campaign
to persuade men to stop eating meat.
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- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA,
says eating meat can cause impotence and the U.S.-based organization is
launching a light-hearted billboard campaign to warn all hot-blooded Canadian
men of the danger.
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- But doctors say while there is some truth in PETA's claim,
it's only part of the story. The Canadian Cattlemen's Association called
it ludicrous. The first two billboards will go up this week in Regina and
Calgary. They'll be on view later in cities across the country.
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- The boards carry a photo of a bikini-clad beauty hoisting
a long, limp string of link sausages.
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- The caption reads: "I threw a party but the cattlemen
couldn't come. Eating meat can cause impotence."
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- Given the choice between a T-bone steak and a tofu salad,
it's not hard to guess what most Canuck males would choose.
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- But Bruce Friedrich of PETA, which boasts 600,000 members
worldwide, said he's confident macho meat lovers will become "Romaine
Romeos" once they realize their manhood is threatened. "In the
short-term, meat makes people fat and lethargic," he said. "In
the long-term, it makes them impotent and gives them heart attacks."
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- Friedrich said a high-fat diet clogs arteries. That means
less blood flow to all organs, including the penis, which requires good
blood flow to achieve an erection. "The evidence is absolutely conclusive,"
Friedrich said, noting that 25 per cent of men over age 60 are impotent.
"Men can be better in bed without popping pills by getting turned
on to vegetarianism."
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- He urges cattlemen "to rustle up veggie burgers
in the kitchen for a whopper in the bedroom." Friedrich said his
group thought a humorous approach to the subject would be most successful.
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- But some people definitely aren't amused.
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- The Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which represents
beef producers, dismissed PETA's claims as "ludicrous."
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- It issued a terse statement calling the campaign a "tasteless
publicity stunt" and urged reporters to ignore it.
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- Still, PETA has some medical research to back its claims
and many doctors agree with at least some of what the group says.
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- Dr. Richard Casey, a urologist at Male Health Centres
in Oakville, Ont., said it's clear that a high-fat diet leads to hardening
of the arteries. That, in turn, causes heart disease and many other physical
problems, including impotence. "What the PETA people are saying is
probably true for a number of health concerns," Casey said. "If
you have a healthier diet that's lower in fat, then probably your risk
of heart disease and your risk of erectile dysfunction will be reduced."
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- However, Casey points out that many other factors play
a role in impotence such as state of mind, smoking, alcohol, physical condition
and diabetes.
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- He also noted that a low-fat diet could include eating
lean meat.
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- Friedrich expects the campaign to be a much bigger success
in Canada than it was south of the border, where billboard companies in
12 states refused to run it. Some found the ads tasteless while others
didn't want to offend the cattle industry.
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- The anti-impotence campaign follows on the heels of another
billboard campaign last spring, titled Jesus was a Vegetarian, that encouraged
Christians to give up meat.
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