Is Meat the New Tobacco?

For many years, tobacco companies were able to maintain a strong pro-tobacco stance.

America has done a national about-face on tobacco, and anti-tobacco campaigns are prominent.

When thinking about the effect of animal products on human health, should we anticipate the day when TIME magazine features an apology from someone who promoted animal products? Because according to health and wellness activists, the evidence is in and it continues to grow: animal products kill a lot more Americans than tobacco does.

The West's three biggest killers are heart disease, cancer and stroke, all of which have been linked to poor diets and excessive animal product consumption. Generally, vegetarians have much lower risk of all three. They also have a fraction of the obesity and diabetes rates of the general population. Both of these diseases are at epidemic levels and are only getting worse.

More important than the vegetarian community's general statistics is what can be done with the right vegetarian diet: For some years now, doctors have not just been preventing, but even reversing, heart disease using a low-fat vegetarian diet.

There's also a link from animal product consumption to our country's No. 2 killer. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, about as much cancer could be prevented by diet and exercise as is caused by smoking. Dr. T. Colin Campbell has documented the link between cancer and animal products.

Health activist, Kathy Freston, joins HER Radio to debate whether or not people need to cut meat out of their diet altogether. 

Kathy has also launched a Change.org petition. "McDonald's: It's Time For A Healthy, Meatless Option" asks McDonald's to add a veggie burger to their menu. She shares why it's time for meatless options at fast food restaurants.