HEALTH

KENNY TORRELLA: If you were to guess America’s biggest source of water pollution, chemical factories or oil refineries might come to mind. But it’s actually farms — especially those raising cows, pigs, and chickens. The billions of animals farmed each year in the US for food generate nearly 2.5 billion pounds of waste every day — around twice as much as people do — yet none of it is treated like human waste. It’s either stored in giant pits, piled high as enormous mounds on farms, or spread onto crop fields as fertilizer. And a lot of it washes away into rivers and streams, as does…

JENNIFER YULE: Despite sustained growth for several years, sales of plant-based meat products are now stagnating. Even market leaders like Beyond Meat are hitting significant lows... The environmental benefits of adopting a diet that is less reliant on meat have been well-established. As UK nature presenter David Attenborough has pointed out: “We must change our diet. The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters.” So, working out why consumers are cooling towards this once-hot product is crucial, not only from a business point of view but to support the environmental benefits of low-…

ANAY MRIDUL: Only 1% of Americans say they are vegan – down from 3% in 2018 and 2% in 2012 – according to a new Gallup poll. The number of vegetarians, meanwhile, has also dropped from 5% in 2018 to 4% in 2023. The Gallup survey, conducted with 1,015 Americans in July, found that political liberals adults were among the demographics most likely to be vegetarian. 9% of liberals identify as vegetarian, three times as high as political moderates or conservatives. Lower-income Americans were around twice as likely as middle- (4%) and upper-income (3%) consumers to be vegetarian. The same goes…

BROKE KATO: Annabel Fenwick Elliott vowed to raise her toddler on a strict diet of plant-based foods — making kid-favorite foods like ice cream out of the question. Her one-year-old son, Jasper, survives on a diet of oatmeal, coconut-based yogurt, various vegetables, chickpeas, beans, breast milk and baby-safe supplements. The London-based mom expects pediatricians to “raise an eyebrow” when she reveals that Jasper is a vegan, but he’s totally healthy — he’s “never once been sick and has hit all the milestones,” she told Cater News. “I’m starting Jasper off on a plant-based diet until…

ANAY MRIDUL: In the EU and the US, livestock farming receives about 1,000 times more funding than plant-based and cultivated meat, with the “gigantic” power of the animal agriculture industry blocking the development of sustainable proteins, finds a new study... The Stanford University study, published in the One Earth journal, revealed that livestock farmers get 1,200 times more public funding in the EU than meat alternative companies, and 800 times more in the US. Public money spent on plant-based meat was at $42M between 2014-20 – just 0.1% of the $35B spent on meat and dairy. During…

ROBERT WALKER: For animal advocates, it is important to understand how and why people transition towards a vegan diet. Such information can help inform dietary campaigns and allow advocates to better support new and early vegans throughout their journey. Some academics have developed theories about how and why dietary change occurs. However, these theories are only useful if they accurately describe reality. For this reason, the authors of this paper tried to find out whether two theories of dietary change accurately describe the process of switching to veganism. The first theory is the…

HANS MONATH: Professor Amrita Narlikar (President of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies) advocates cross-species rights – not just to protect against pandemics... Hans Monath  (Tagesspiegel Magazine) in conversation with Amrita Narlikar... HM: Ms Narlikar, why do you advocate for animal rights and interspecies justice as President of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies? AN: As a researcher, I care about questions of power and justice, and I know that these concerns cannot be limited only to human-beings. And by the way, these are not just philosophical questions,…

NOELIA GOMEZ: The global pandemic not only brought with it health and social challenges, but also triggered a wave of reflection on our food choices and habits. In this context, plant-based eating emerged as a rapidly growing paradigm, generating deep discussions and redefining the relationship between personal health and the well-being of the planet. The lockdown and health crisis highlighted the vulnerabilities of food systems focused on animal production and intensive agribusiness. Outbreaks of animal-borne diseases and the depletion of natural resources underscored the need for a radical…

JEN FLATT OSBORN: Meat or tofu? That is the question. Vegans are popping up in America faster than a cow goes “Moo.” So how many vegans are in the US? And is it possible for most of our country to eat less meat? It’s not only possible; it’s probable. Nielsen reported that a huge percentage of Americans (39%) want to be vegan and do try to eat more vegetables. Most of the world, places like Europe and Israel, are way ahead of us in our choices for a vegan entree, but we’re doing our best to catch up... According to Global Market Research company Ipsos, there are more than 9.7 million…

CHARLOTTE KROL: Viewers tuned into a new documentary about the seedy side of the US food industry have been so disgusted that they’ve vowed to go vegan. Poisoned, a new film on Netflix, is an investigative documentary looking into the unsavoury side of food manufacturing including how it manages foodborne pathogens such as E.Coli. The film, which is based on Jeff Benedict’s book Poisoned: The True Story Of The Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed The Way Americans Eat, explores how pathogens have had fatal consequences for consumers... The synopsis reads: “Our policymakers and food…