Thanks for your comments. I agree; it’s enough to make your blood boil. In fact, that leads us to another good reason to give up meat: health!

Nutritionists stress the need to reduce the consumption of meat and dairy and increase intake of fibre-rich carbohydrates, fresh fruit and vegetables in order to minimise risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and some cancers and high blood pressure!

Considering the rate at which developing nations are adopting the ‘Western diet’, this issue is becoming more critical: “If present trends continue, then by 2050 the world’s livestock will be consuming as much as 4 billion people.” (Colin Tudge, ‘So We Shall Reap’, Penguin 2003).

All the more reason to stick to the soybeans!

Bethan

We do eat too much meat in this country and across the Western World.
Arable land does not have to be used for animal fodder. Farmers used to have fewer cattle per acre and suffice with the hay they could harvest themselves. Sustainable farming practices are viable. Intensive animal rearing is the cost of cheap meat and environmental damage. Less cows in a field, less manure nitrates in the river systems.

Of course, Cows, sheep and all the animals of the world fart, burp and emit GHG’s. So do we, all the 6 billion + of us, but sadly no longer the people that have died in natural disasters recently and the endangered animals that die as a result of human activity.

A balanced view from Tom Heap – please!! I need to lower my blood pressure