Is a tax on meat next?

More than half of some demographic groups questioned in a recent poll supported a tax on meat to cover the cost of health care associated with meat eating, Zogby International said in a statement.

While just 38 percent of white respondents supported the tax, 62 percent of Hispanics did, along with 50 percent of blacks. Fully 68 percentage of blacks living in the West supported the tax.

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The poll – conducted by Zogby for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – targeted equal numbers of white, black and Hispanic Americans.

Those interviewed also were asked whether they support federal laws that would protect farm animals from on-farm procedures such as castration. Sixty-one percent of whites said yes, as did 78 percent of Hispanics and 62 percent of blacks.

PETA advocates an excise tax on each purchase of meat to cover the cost Americans spend every year to treat hypertension, heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity and other diseases the organization says are related directly to the consumption of meat and dairy products.

"We're very encouraged that Americans have illustrated a willingness to help protect animals and even pay a tax on meat to cover the enormous cost of health care related to eating meat," says PETA Director of Vegan Outreach Bruce Friedrich in the statement. "But the best thing anyone can do to reduce their health care costs is to simply go vegetarian."

Further details about the poll are available at PETA's GoVeg.com website.