The healthy choice?

I was pleased to see that PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk’s visit to town was covered by the Mirror [“Carnivorous cruelty,” March 21]. I noticed, however, that the article seemed to deal more with PETA than with the various issues surrounding vegetarianism, which is actually what Newkirk was in town to promote with her talk entitled “Ten Billion Reasons to Change Your Diet.”

While the questions asked of Newkirk were interesting ones, it would have been nice to read a little more about the ethical or health benefits of choosing a meat-free diet. For example, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a vegetarian diet can prevent 97 per cent of coronary occlusions. Information like this is available on PETA’s own Web site, so it wouldn’t even entail a vast amount of research for your reporter.

Why not write some future articles regarding the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, or exploring the ethical and environmental aspects of vegetarianism? I’m sure many readers would be interested.

—Marsha Howie

Fate of the passenger pigeon

In his letter to the Mirror, Laurent Cauchon [“Pro- and anti- PETA,” March 28] mentions that PETA is as menacing to our personal liberties as the religious right is. This is a common reactionary view.

But it is important to remind him that it is far too easy for him to take potshots at vegetarians because they are still in the minority, numerically speaking. However, vegetarians are exerting a growing global influence and simply cannot be ignored. To speak up for or defend animals who cannot defend themselves against abuse is not a crime, nor should it ever be one.

For sure I do not agree with PETA’s hard-line stance on issues like animal experimentation, but if PETA and other animal rights and wildlife conservation groups did not exist, hundreds more animal and bird species would have gone extinct than already have. Do people need reminding that two centuries ago the passenger pigeon numbered at more than 50 million, but by 1920 the species had gone extinct? They are gone forever. And this is only due to the greed of hunters.

How many more species need to go extinct? Every year several animal and bird species go extinct as it is, often due to humans. We need more animal rights activists as much as we need human rights activists. It is not a case of one or the other. Animal rights bashers should put this in their pipe and smoke it.

—Manish Patwari

Wheels of charity
This is in reference to the article entitled “Bike for the needy,” that appeared in the March 21 issue of the Mirror. Almost a year ago, I was in England where I saw that the participants of the London Marathon were invited to raise funds for any charity in the U.K. The participants raised something like 40-million British pounds, which translates roughly to $60-million.

Murray Levine should be commended for trying for 12 years to accomplish here in Montreal what happens every year in London. I wholeheartedly agree that the participants of Le Tour de l’Île should be encouraged to raise funds for charity.

I totally fail to see how the mission of Le Tour could be compromised in any way by cooperating with charity. If a world-class event like the London Marathon can help humanity then why not Le Tour? As a health care provider here in Quebec, rest assured that our hospitals could use every penny that such an event could give them!

—Leslie Robertson

Manson mix-up
Jade Devangelis and I wanted to apologize to Marilyn Manson for the mention in the Mirror’s Spring Fashion supplement [“Posh goth,” March 28] that Miss Devangelis would be “revamping his image.”

Marilyn Manson has always, and will always, be in complete artistic control of his image, although he has occasionally enlisted designers in facilitating his unique and extraordinary vision and public image.

—Allan Edgar