PETA: Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse

[Min Pins Dot Com]

PETA: Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse
Group Plans Billboard In Light Of 555-Pound Teen
Jennifer Phillips reporting

POSTED: 11:27 am EDT July 1, 2009
UPDATED: 11:48 am EDT July 1, 2009

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- An animal rights group is planning to post a billboard in the Greenville area that calls feeding meat to children abuse in light of recent news stories about a 555-pound South Carolina teenager.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals want to put up the billboard that features a picture of an overweight boy who is about to eat a hamburger with the tagline “Feeding kids meat is child abuse.”

The billboard also directs readers to the Web site goveg.com.

PETA campaign manager Lindsay Rajt said the group got the idea after hearing about Jerri Gray and her 14-year-old son Alexander Draper, who weighs 555 pounds. 


Gray garnered national attention when deputies said she skipped town with her son after she learned the Department of Social Services was planning to remove him from her home.

An Upstate personal trainer said the billboard is exploiting the teen’s condition.

“There are a lot of average sized or small children who eat two or three hamburgers a week and they’re not having issues,” said personal trainer Cathy Frohnheiser. “Taking one heavy child and 'let’s exploit that' is really not the approach they need to be taking.”

Rajt said she knows the billboard is going to cause controversy.

“It appears that Alexander Draper’s health crisis was caused by eating fatty animal products from fast food restaurants, and overwhelming scientific evidence has linked meat and dairy products to obesity, as well as heart disease, cancer and diabetes,” Rajt said.

Rajt said PETA is not sure exactly where the billboard will be placed yet.

FOX Carolina tried to contact Gray for comment but could not reach her