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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, January 1, 2004: Droves of Britons gave up meat during England’s mad cow outbreak in the 1980s, but since the discovery of an infected cow in Washington state American vegetarians mostly have trod carefully, trying not to take advantage of a situation that could cost lives and cripple a $40 billion industry. “I caution vegetarians from using mad cow disease as a recruiting tool,” said Joseph Connelly, editor of San Francisco-based VegNews magazine. “Mad cow disease is not a good thing no matter how you look at it.” Though vegetarian headcounts are imprecise, Britain’s meat-free population surged following its bout with mad cow, which killed 143 people, according to Tina Fox, spokeswoman for the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom. She estimates up to 10 percent of the population is vegetarian, and up to 40 percent has reduced its meat consumption.



Vegetarian businesses and advocacy groups mostly say the discovery of mad cow in the United States still is too isolated to prompt people to change their diets. “We’re not really at that stage,” said Charles Stahler, co-director of the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group. “They haven’t shown that anyone is sick, so it’s really very different here.” For now, the discovery of one sick cow mostly will steel the minds of existing vegetarians.



“It’s giving them another good reason to stay firm in their beliefs,” said Carla Davis, managing editor of Glen Allen, Va.-based Vegetarian Times magazine, which has a monthly circulation of 300,000. Vegetarianism has been on an upswing in the United States. Vegetarian Resource Group estimates there are roughly 5.7 million adult vegetarians, up from about 2 million a decade ago.



Natural foods grocers, including giants Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats, said sales data aren’t in yet, but so far shopping habits don’t appear to have changed. “I’ve seen nobody coming in panicking, saying ‘I have to become a vegetarian,”‘ said John Hutchins, manager of the Concord Food Co-Op in Concord, N.H. “But if this keeps going I wouldn’t doubt if more people start experimenting.”



People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group already has activists around the country distributing information about vegetarianism outside restaurants and launched a new ad campaign: “You would have to be MAD to eat meat.” Bruce Friedrich, the group’s spokesman, said demand for PETA’s free vegetarian starter kits — a pamphlet of recipes and advice for changing one’s diet — has been so strong the group called in employees from vacation to handle the requests — 10,000, up from the usual 4,000. “The USDA and the meat industry are playing Russian roulette with the health of the American people, and the national consciousness is being awakened” he said.

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