“WARNING: Consumption of this product can cause cancer, heart disease, strokes and other diseases that can lead to premature death.”

No, this isn’t a warning label against tobacco – it’s what the government should require to be put on packages of meat and dairy products.

The Irish government’s plan to introduce plain packaging of cigarettes means that the writing is on the wall – not the packet – for tobacco. But like cigarettes, animal-based foods also increase the risk of cancer and other life-threatening diseases, consumed in the current indulgent quantities seen. Some animal products are even bad for your health regardless of the quantity consumed.

We eat far more red meat than is considered ‘safe’

Dietary surveys indicate that the average person in Ireland consumes far more red meat than the amount considered safe in the Food Safety Authority of Ireland guidelines and is at risk for the same diseases that smokers are at risk for and then some.

Meat, eggs and dairy products – all of which contain cholesterol and saturated fat – are the main culprits in the obesity epidemic, which contributes to Ireland’s top killers: heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and various types of cancer. According to reports, approximately one in four primary school children in Ireland today are either overweight or obese, and many – including the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute – have called for an urgent plan to combat the expanding problem.

One recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston – which followed more than 120,000 people for over 30 years – found that people who regularly eat red and processed meat are more likely to die young. According to the study’s lead author, “Any red meat you eat contributes to the risk”. However, processed meat – that is, bacon, sausage, ham, and the like – poses even more significant health problems than unprocessed cuts, raising the risk of heart disease and cancer deaths by 21 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.

The World Cancer Research Fund recommends never eating processed meat because of its tumour-causing properties.

Tobacco isn’t the only threat to public health

Another major recent study from Oxford University – the largest ever of its kind in the UK – showed that going vegetarian reduces the risk of death or hospital admission from heart disease by almost a third. In fact, a World Preservation Foundation study found that 75 per cent of common chronic illnesses can be prevented if people eat vegan foods instead of meat, eggs and dairy products.

Yet the Irish government still subsidises the meat and dairy industries. The government can save the lives of more people, not to mention animals, if it treats the meat and dairy companies the same way that it treats the tobacco industry.

The latest statistics suggest that around a quarter of Irish adults still smoke – but around 95 per cent currently eat meat and dairy products. If the government pushed for warning labels on meat and dairy products half as hard as it has pushed for plain packaging on cigarettes, more people would realise that tobacco isn’t the only cancer-causing substance that you can put in your mouth.

Smoking prevention is a great first step toward improving public health – and encouraging Ireland to go meat-free is the logical next step. We can get all the nutrients we need (without the saturated fat and cholesterol) from healthy vegan foods.

Your choices are powerful

If this information leads you to think of your fork as a powerful weapon, you’re on the right track: it can defend you against any number of different, nasty surprises. It all depends on how you choose to load it.

With all of the delicious faux meats now available at your local supermarket, there has never been a better time to start cutting down on meat, eggs and dairy products. It can be as small a change as embracing Meat-Free Mondays or as rewarding as taking PETA’s pledge to go vegan for just 30 days. More than 10,000 starter kits for those interested in trying out a meat-free lifestyle were sent across UK and Ireland last year and – unlike the recipients’ waistlines – that number gets bigger every year.

Of course, vegans don’t just save their own lives – they each save up to 100 animals a year from immeasurable suffering on factory farms, in abattoirs and on the decks of fishing boats. Also, according to the United Nations, the meat industry is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”, and the UN has concluded that a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to saving the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst effects of climate change.

So whether it’s for your own health, the environment, or the animals’ lives you’ll be saving, there has never been a better time to rethink what’s on your plate.

Yvonne McNulty-Taylor is Senior Programmes Manager at PETA UK and overseas all aspects of the organisation’s campaign work. A vegetarian from the age of 12, McNultyTaylor spent almost a year interning at PETA US and, in 2004, began working as a campaigner for PETA UK. A couple of highlights from that era include wearing nothing but strategically-placed lettuce leaves in subzero weather as a PETA Lettuce Lady in Kazakhstan and being deported from China after taking part in an “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” protest.