LEGISLATION

ANDY GREENBERG: In recent years, the animal liberation group Direct Action Everywhere has carried out some of the most brazen and tech-savvy operations and investigations to ever target the animal agriculture industry. It has rescued pigs, goats, ducks, and chickens from factory farms and slaughterhouses in midnight intrusions; captured virtual reality footage with custom-built 360-degree video rigs inside massive pig barns; and used hidden cameras to record some of the meat industry's most disturbing practices, from the carbon dioxide gas chambers that are increasingly used in pig…

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”…

CRESCENZO VELLUCCI: Attorney Wayne Hsiung was found guilty Thursday by a jury here in Santa Rosa County Superior Court after a two-month trial – including six days of jury deliberation – of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespass charges linked to nonviolent mass “open rescues” of injured animals at Sunrise (chicken) Farms in Petaluma, Sonoma County May 29, 2018. Hsiung, representing himself at trial, was immediately cuffed and taken to jail to await a sentencing hearing at the end of November, according to a statement by supporters. The court did not grant Hsiung bail until his…

VEGCONOMIST: Adfree Cities, a network of groups challenging corporate outdoor advertising, is calling for meat advertising to be banned in the UK. The campaigners point out that most animal products are produced through intensive farming, which they say “causes immeasurable suffering and inflicts colossal damage on nature and the climate”. They argue that since tobacco advertising has been banned due to the harm it causes, the same should apply to meat. To accompany the campaign, Adfree Cities has published a report called The Cows Aren’t Laughing, outlining nine tactics commonly used by…

ANJA VIDAKOVIC: Until recently veganism has held a negative image in the public. There was a large amount of discrimination and resistance directed towards vegans. On the systematic and individual level, vegans, which represented a small number of consumers, were ridiculed and represented as hostile extremists. On top of that, the vegan diet was constantly under attack by critics who argued that a solely plant-based diet was not only unhealthy but also unnatural for humans, and that it should be practiced only with extra caution. Such views were significantly pushed by animal product…

DAMIAN CARRINGTON: A public statement signed by more than 1,000 scientists in support of meat production and consumption has numerous links to the livestock industry, the Guardian can reveal. The statement has been used to target top EU officials against environmental and health policies and has been endorsed by the EU agriculture commissioner. The “Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock” says livestock “are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry” and calls for a “balanced view of the future of animal…

REBECCA GREGSON: Despite the established health and ecological benefits of a plant-based diet, the decision to eschew meat and other animal-derived food products remains controversial. So polarising is this topic that anti-vegan communities, groups of individuals who stand vehemently against veganism, have sprung up across the internet. To date, very little is known about these communities and the individuals who join them. Accordingly, in this study, we take a close look at the r/AntiVegan community on the popular platform, Reddit, and the social psychology of its members publicly…

VIJAY KUMAR MALESU: In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, a group of researchers assessed the sustainability of various diets based on protein sources, considering environmental, health, economic, and nutritional aspects... The study harnessed data from the NutriNet-Santé cohort, focusing on diets, nutrition, and physical activity's links to health. Participants, all internet-using adults in France, supplied information via regular questionnaires, including lifestyle and dietary habits... The study focused on a population primarily composed of women, making up 75%, with an…

FABIANA GONZALEZ: A new animal rights documentary premiered on World Farmed Animals Day, October 2nd 2023. "A Day in the Life of a Farmed Animal” is a collective project that empowers people around the world to speak up for farmed animals, share their stories, show their personalities, and raise awareness about the unnecessary suffering they go through every single day. With footage from 25 filmmakers from 11 countries, A Day in the Life tells an intimate and truthful story of what farmed animals go through during the arc of a 24-hour day... A Day in the Life of a Farmed Animal is a moving…

GFI EUROPE: The Danish government has published the first ever national action plan outlining how the country can transition towards a more plant-based food system. The plan, released by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark, is part of a political agricultural agreement from 2021 and sets out how the government wants to strengthen and promote the Danish plant-based sector. The government’s vision is for Denmark’s production and consumption of plant-based foods to inspire the rest of the world. Actions include providing training to chefs in public and private kitchens…