Meat News from World

UN Says 'Fart Tax' One Way to Slow the Ever-Growing Carbon Footprint of Livestock

A UN report has suggested a "fart tax" on cattle as part of a raft of measures that could help tackle greenhouse gas emissions from livestock.

Released yesterday, the report from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) calculated that the world's 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo, 1.8 billion small ruminants, and almost one billion pigs produce methane emissions equivalent to about two billion tons of CO2 every year, or six per cent of all annual greenhouse gas emissions.

It recommends a host of measures to tackle the problem, including a potential tax on methane emissions

The report argues that market-based policies, such as taxes and fees for natural resource use, "should cause producers to internalise the costs of environmental damages caused by livestock production".

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Growing global appetite for meat stretches resources, warns UN

Urgent investment is needed in the global livestock sector, especially in China, to support the one billion people whose livelihood depends on it, the United Nations warned on Thursday. The sector must must ensure the sector meets growing demand for meat and other animal products in countries such as China, the Rome- based UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said its annual report.

But major research is also required to mitigate environmental and health concerns associated with the keeping of cattle, goats and sheep, the FAO said in the latest edition of its State of Food and Agriculture report which covers 2009.

"The rapid transition of the livestock sector has been taking place in an institutional void," FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf in the report's foreword.

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WCRF Criticises Meat Industry Over Misleading Public Statement

World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has accused the British meat industry of misleading the public by making factually inaccurate and potentially defamatory comments.

In a coordinated attack, the National Beef Association (NBA), the British Pig Executive (BPEX), the National Sheep Association (NSA) and the National Farmers' Union (NFU) have issued statements suggesting that WCRF has misled the public with its recommendations on meat.

But WCRF has responded by assuring people it continues to stand behind its recommendation to limit intake of red meat to 500g (cooked weight) per week and avoid processed meat. This is the conclusion of an independent panel of international scientists who judged the evidence that they increase colorectal cancer risk to be convincing, following the biggest review of the evidence ever undertaken.

The UK meat lobby accuses WCRF of making mistakes in analysing the scientific literature about the link between meat and colorectal cancer and then refusing to admit to these mistakes. This is not true.

Any errors in the report were too minor to have affected the overall conclusions. These are detailed on our website at http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/?p=errors_and_omissions and have been set out in detail in letters to the meat industry.

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