Animal Rights Activists Stage Bird Flu Publicity Stunt

Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals say they will lie naked in flower-decorated coffins outside the Department of Agriculture in Washington on Wednesday to "remind consumers that an addiction to poultry could lead to a bird-flu pandemic."

Protesters will raise a banner reading, "Bird Flu Kills: Go Vegetarian," and they plan to hand out "emergency vegetarian starter kits."

PETA quoted the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as saying that bird flu can be caught by eating undercooked meat or eggs.

But the CDC also notes that poultry products can be safely eaten, "provided these items are properly cooked and properly handled during food preparation." According to the CDC, the bird flu virus is sensitive to heat, which means that "normal temperatures used for cooking" will kill the virus.

"Avian influenza is not transmitted through cooked food," the CDC website specifically says. And it says there is no evidence so far that anyone has become infected after eating "properly cooked poultry or poultry products, even when these foods were contaminated with the H5N1 virus."

PETA sees a moral dimension to the anticipated pandemic.

"It's payback time, with avian flu now showing up as a direct consequence of a very sick and cruel industry," said PETA Vegan Campaign Director Bruce Friedrich.

"With diseases running rampant in crowded, filthy factory farms, not to mention the known link between meat-eating and heart disease, the safest thing to do with chicken flesh is to avoid it like the plague."

PETA is among the activist groups that oppose "factory farming," where birds and other livestock live in conditions that activists describe as cruel and inhumane.

source: (CNSNews.com) -