PETE WEDDERBURN Animal Doctor

has increased by nearly 13 times. This trend is continuing: it’s predicted that by 2050 world meat production will have almost doubled again, as the Western taste for meat, eggs and dairy products grows in developing countries. This increased production will continue to contribute to global warming, pollution, deforestation, land degradation, water scarcity and species extinction. Many people who worry about the environment feel that by taking a personal stance against meat eating, they can make a difference.

The second new justification for veganism is that a plant based diet is better for human health. Compared to the general population, vegans are leaner, and have lower BMIs and lower percentages of body fat. They are less likely to get weight-related diseases such as diabetes, they have a reduced risk of heart disease and they have lower cholesterol, blood pressure and reduced mortality rates.

Furthermore, recent research has suggested that eating certain processed meat products (such as bacon, ham and sausages) is as likely to cause cancer of the bowel as smoking is to cause cancer of the lungs.

My own long term view is less extreme than a typical committed vegan: I am happy to eat the products of animals as long as they have had good lives, and as long as they have not suffered fear, pain or distress at the end of their lives. In Ireland, I believe that most cattle and sheep fit into that category, but in most countries, the production of all meat has become so intensified that most farm animals do not have a life worth living. Most of the world’s pigs live short, tedious, frustrated lives in stark surroundings. Meat production isn’t the only problem area: over 80% of the world’s dairy cows never see a green field. Egg production is worse again.

Thanks to recent progress in our understanding of brains, we know that animals share similar consciousness as ourselves, yet the worst intensive farming systems treat them as if they were inanimate objects, devoid of sensation. The industrial scale over-intensification of livestock production globally has been described as one of the worst crimes in human history.

In Europe and in Ireland, animal welfare is largely treated with respect, but I wish I could say the same for the rest of the world.

I’ll be a full time vegan all January, and after that? I’ll let you know.