Freston: Meat Is the New Tobacco

Best-selling vegan author and lifestyle guru Kathy Freston argues in a new essay on The Huffington Post that the culture and industry surrounding meat are similar to those of tobacco in the mid to late 20th century. In the piece, titled “Meat Is the New Tobacco,” Freston revisits the tobacco industry’s frequent claims in the heyday of smoking that its products were non-addictive and healthy despite contradictory research. Freston also points out that three of the most common causes of death in the US—heart disease, cancer, and stroke—have all been linked to the consumption of animal products, in spite of the meat industry’s claims.