Press Release | "Physicians Committee" Ranking Airport Food Is An Animal-Rights Group

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Home / Press Center / Press Releases Posted On November 19, 2008
"Physicians Committee" Ranking Airport Food Is An Animal-Rights Group New York Times Says PCRM Food Rankings Reflect “PETA Link” Washington, DC – Yesterday an animal rights group with a long history of promoting itself as a mainstream medical charity issued a report suggesting that only meatless and dairy-free airport meals should be considered "healthy." Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom is firing back, calling on the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to "come clean about its animal-rights motives for attacking restaurants (and airports) that don’t emphasize strictly vegetarian fare." According to The Center for Consumer Freedom, PCRM has well-documented ties to the animal rights movement, including over $1.3 million in financing from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). More than two-thirds of PCRM's budget now comes directly from Nanci Alexander, the wealthy founder of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. PCRM's leader, a non-practicing psychiatrist, is also a past president of The PETA Foundation. According to a February 2004 Newsweek story, less than 4 percent of PCRM's members are actually physicians. In an expansive November 2004 New York Times story about PCRM's dietary recommendations for airport travelers, travel writer Joe Sharkey concluded that "the physicians' committee has a PETA link, and its food rankings reflect that agenda." "Holiday travelers already have enough to worry about without wondering what's behind phony nutrition surveys like this one," said David Martosko, the Center for Consumer Freedom's Director of Research. "There's nothing special about this so-called 'physicians committee.' It's just PETA in a lab coat. The least they should do is be honest about their animal-rights agenda." "7 Things You Didn't Know About PCRM," a two-page primer on one of America's most deceptive charities, can be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/PCRM7things The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers, working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices. For media comment, contact our media department at 202-463-7112 ext. 115	Who’s Killed More Animals? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) loves to point the finger at others, when they should be looking at their own record of killing more than 90% of the animals left in their care. According to government records PETA has killed more than 14,400 animals since 1998. click to view » PETA: Anti-Cure for AIDS "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it." — Ingrid Newkirk, President and Co-Founder of PETA PETA has funneled over $100,000 to criminals convicted of destroying medical research and firebombing scientific laboratiries in the name of "animal liberation." click to view » Put Helmsley's billions to use in animal shelters PETA and HSUS have announced their intentions to claim big slices of the $8 billion bounty. But neither one has the track record to handle such a responsibility. read more here » California Focus: The new animal-rights battleground The animal-rights movement is far from harmless. And since California seems to be the current animal-rights Ground Zero, it's worth considering what the movement stands for. read more here » Humane Society Changing HSUS president Wayne Pacelle's insistence that his group is "not telling people to become vegetarians" doesn't jibe with reality. read more here » Cancer Project actually has ties to PETA I'd like to correct some misconceptions about an animal rights group that posed as a legitimate medical-advice charity. read more here » Meat-diabetes link questioned There's a good reason Caroline Trapp argues that eating meat is responsible for climbing diabetes rates in every corner of the world. read more here »