STUDY: Warning labels similar to cigarette packet warnings could cut meat consumption
Warning labels on meat packaging or menus could highlight evidence that meat products increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and according to one study, dementia. There is also evidence of red and processed meat consumption leading to a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity and multiple cancers.
JACK HUGHES: There was a time when smoking cigarettes was not only a normal thing to do, it was actually encouraged by doctors. Eventually, the evidence caught up. A similar thing has happened with meat over the last couple of decades. Recent statements by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have confirmed that meat damages human health and the planet. But as with tobacco in the 1960s and 70s, this scientific knowledge has taken time to filter into consumer behaviour.
Messages such as “smoking kills” and “smoking causes blindness” alongside a graphic image have been legally required on all tobacco products in the UK since 2008. These warning labels helped reduce the number of smokers nationally. Could something similar work to reduce meat consumption? And if so, what is the best thing to warn people about?…
A new study found that graphic warning labels cut the selection of meat meals by 7%-10% when they described the consequences of meat-eating for health, disease epidemics and climate change… 1,001 UK meat-eaters to choose between four options for 20 meals in an online questionnaire. Participants had to confirm their preference by clicking an image of a meat, fish, vegetarian or vegan option for meals including burgers, curries, lasagna and pasta bakes…
To gauge the impact of graphic warning labels on the number of people opting for meat… When no warning label was presented, participants chose the meat options about two out of three times (64%). This figure dropped to 54% with the pandemic warning labels, 55% with the health warning labels and 57% with the climate warning labels…
Warning labels on meat packaging or menus could highlight evidence that a relatively high intake of meat products increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and according to one study, dementia. There is also evidence of red and processed meat consumption leading to a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity and multiple cancers.
Or, these labels could warn people that meat farming dramatically increases the risk of a pandemic. Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases (which jump from animals to humans, such as COVID-19 or swine flu) are more likely to emerge where animals are kept in extremely close contact. And as farms expand into wild land, species deprived of habitats migrate into towns and cities where encounters with people are more likely. SOURCE…
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