GOVERNMENT

DANIEL RODGER: Medicines and medical devices containing animal-derived ingredients are frequently used on patients without their informed consent, despite a significant proportion of patients wanting to know if an animal-derived product is going to be used in their care. Here, I outline three arguments for why this practice is wrong. First, I argue that using animal-derived medical products on patients without their informed consent undermines respect for their autonomy. Second, it risks causing nontrivial psychological harm. Third, it is morally inconsistent to respect patients’ dietary…

HUAXIA: Sustainable consumption of livestock-based diets including meat, eggs, and milk should be prioritized in order to combat malnutrition affecting pregnant mothers and children in low-income countries, UN Nutrition said in a new report launched in Nairobi... Titled "Livestock-Derived Foods and Sustainable Healthy Diets," the report says that resource-constrained households should be encouraged to consume animal-based proteins in order to reduce undernourishment and stunting... It says that plant-based diets alone are not enough to eliminate the global malnutrition crisis, which…

JIM HOFT: Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors in Kansas City Sunday carried a casket through downtown, resting it on the steps of police HQ. A pig dressed as an officer inside. “Abolish the police” and “the other white meat” painted on the exterior. SOURCE... RELATED VIDEOS:

DAVID O. WIEBERS & VALERY L. FEGIN: The world is enveloped in a global health emergency that is exacting enormous medical and economic tolls upon humanity... The medical community finds itself on the front lines throughout the world dealing with the immediate human health consequences of this rapidly evolving crisis and trying to develop therapies and vaccines, as countries and their leaders attempt to mitigate the overwhelming societal and economic devastations that are unfolding... Yet, in the midst of all of the pandemonium and destruction, and as we begin to find our way through…

GISELE GALOUSTIAN: As early as the Neolithic period (circa 3900 BC), the domestication of animals likely led to the development of diseases including measles and smallpox. Since then, zoonotic disease has led to other major transnational outbreaks including HIV, Ebola, SARS, MERS, and H1N1 swine flu, among others. Currently, more than half of all existing human pathogens, and almost three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases, are zoonotic in nature. COVID-19 is the latest and most impactful zoonotic event of the modern era, but it will certainly not be the last. Given the breadth of…

KRISTOF DHONT: COVID-19 is a once-in-a-century pandemic that has killed scores of people, incapacitated economies, education, and travel, plus severely disrupted social life globally. Although scientists forewarned about the imminence of global pandemics such as COVID-19, humanity collectively failed to dodge its arrival. Sensibly, governments deployed a range of tactics to curb the further spread of the disease, saving human lives. Yet, with the dominant focus on how to be prepared and respond once pandemics hit, surprisingly few conversations seriously discuss prevention tactics... The…

FRANCINE JORDAN: For all the disruption and devastation Covid-19 has brought, for some it has granted more time to consider their lasting legacy on the planet. It could provide some positives for the environment in the long run. New research from The Vegan Society has found a huge number of people in the UK have reduced the amount of animal products they consume since the pandemic first hit our shores more than a year ago. The two surveys, focused on changing consumer habits over the last 12 months, discovered one in five people have reduced the amount of meat they are eating, and twelve…

VIVECA MORRIS: President Joe Biden cannot deliver on his climate pledges if his administration keeps allowing meat and dairy corporations to emit vast amounts of planet-warming pollutants unchecked. Greening the energy, transportation, manufacturing and housing sectors — the focuses of Biden’s American Jobs Plan — is not enough to prevent devastating temperature rise. Even if fossil fuel use ended overnight, global emissions related to food production alone are on track to make it impossible to meet the Paris climate agreement’s target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees…

VICTORIA LINDREA: Animal rights protesters say they are blockading four McDonald's distribution centres in the UK to stop deliveries to the fast-food chain's 1,300 UK outlets. Animal Rebellion said activists were using trucks and bamboo structures to stop lorries leaving depots in Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood, Greater Manchester. The group is targeting McDonald's "for its role in the climate emergency"... Animal Rebellion describes itself as "a mass movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to bring about a transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food…

UNIVERSITY OF KENT: New research led by the University of Kent has found that people fail to recognize the role of factory farming in causing infectious diseases. The study published by Appetite demonstrates that people blame wild animal trade or lack of government preparation for epidemic outbreaks as opposed to animal agriculture and global meat consumption... The study, led by Dr. Kristof Dhont (Kent), alongside Dr. Jared Piazza (Lancaster University) and Professor Gordon Hodson (Brock University), explored public understanding and opinion to determine where people place the blame of…