PETA Urges Duke Hospital to Stop Serving Meat to Patients

PETA urges Duke Hospital to stop serving meat to patients
Triangle Business Journal
Wednesday, March 11, 2009

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/03/09/daily48.html?t=printable
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/03/09/daily48.html

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the animal rights organization, wants Duke University Medical Center in Durham to go vegetarian.

PETA sent a letter Wednesday to Dr. Victor Dzau, CEO of Duke University Medical Center. The letter urges the hospital, the flagship facility of the Duke University Health System, to stop serving meat to patients and hospital workers.

The proposal is linked to animal rights, to human health and to Earth-friendliness.

PETA is touting a study by the National Health Service, Britain´s national health organization, which says cutting meat in hospitals would be good both for patients´ health and for the environment. Growing and transporting meat is a leading cause of environmental degradation, the British report says, citing another report done by the United Nations.

"Duke University Medical Center has an opportunity to make its meals a lot more Earth-, animal-, and health-friendly by serving patients delicious meatless fare," PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a written statement. "A hospital should be the last place you´d expect to find food that makes the planet and patients sick."

Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard University located in Boston, received a similar letter in late February.

A Duke spokeswoman had no immediate information.