Los Angeles City Council backs "Meatless Mondays"
Los Angeles city leaders have voted endorse "Meatless Mondays."
The City Council that had earlier declared war on trans fats and fast-food restaurants voted 14-0 on Friday to adopt a resolution urging residents to pledge they won't eat meat on the first day of the week.
The Los Angeles Daily News says it doesn't make Monday meat consumption illegal and police won't be checking what you brought to work for lunch.
The resolution is simply designed to make residents healthier and reduce the impact on the environment.
CBS Los Angeles reported in September that the cafeteria at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has implemented "Meatless Mondays" once a month. Dana Hunnes a senior dietician at the medical center told the station that eating a vegan diet helps prevent weight gain and diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
In April 2010, San Francisco leaders approved a no-meat Monday measure. According to the Meatless Monday web site, other U.S. cities that have taken up the campaign include Washington, D.C., and Durham-Raleigh, N.C. Twenty-four countries also participate, the site reports.
But the campaign has been met with opposition.
In July, a newsletter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture encouraged diner's at the USDA's cafeteria to participate in a Meatless Monday initiative to reduce environmental waste.
The newsletter, which has since been removed and retracted by USDA once it had been criticized, said in addition to health concerns from excess meat consumption, animal agriculture contributes to greenhouse gases and climate change and requires lots of resources including water, grains and pesticides, for beef production.
CBSNews.com senior political reporter Brian Montopoli reported in July that two Republican senators met the USDA's call by ordering barbecue on Mondays, to show support for American agriculture.