Free market veganism – or why government shouldn’t interfere with our food
The answer is for government to step back, rather than searching for new ways to interfere. One of the most exciting things about the plant-based food industry is its uncanny ability to develop and advance new products.
EAMONN IVES: ‘The publication of a report by the EAT-Lancet commission encouraged people to dramatically scale back their consumption of beef, pork and dairy on the grounds that they are bad for human health and for the planet. Whichever way one looks at it, they seem to have a point… So, is ditching animal products once and for all the way to go? It may well be, but groups like the EAT-Lancet commission shouldn’t assume it’s because of them and their proselyting. On the contrary, their report strikes just the kind of scolding tone that does most to undermine veganism in the eyes of those who do consume animal products…
While this article shan’t concern itself with whether we should or should not encourage people to change their diets, if anything is going to, it’s grassroots actors and free market capitalism, not reports published by evangelising bureaucrats drawn from groups like the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, or other so-called public health bodies…
Indeed, if governments around the world really do want their citizens to eat and drink fewer environmentally damaging products, the answer may be to take a step back, rather than searching for new ways to interfere. One of the most exciting things about the plant-based food industry is its uncanny ability to develop and advance new products. Even in the space of just a few years, imitation meats and dairy replacements have become vastly more commonplace, and almost alarmingly convincing… As costs continue to fall, cultured meat will become commercially competitive, and everyday consumers will begin voting with their wallets.
While it may seem trivial, governments will doubtlessly have an important role to play here. From a regulatory perspective, it is vital that they do not cede to the demands of the incumbent meat lobby and place bureaucratic barriers on cultured meats, as has been seen across various jurisdictions with genetic modification, and even the far less controversial practice of genetic editing… Similarly, governments should avoid taking an unsympathetic stance towards plant-based alternatives in terms of how they market themselves’. SOURCE…
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