Going vegan is 'completely unnecessary', scientists warn as numbers skyrocket
Speaking
at a panel in London this week, several experts argued the benefits of eating
meat, claiming that going vegan is 'completely unnecessary'
While veganism used
to be widely unknown, the plant-based diet has been
adopted by hundreds of thousands of Brits in recent years.
Pro-vegan
documentaries including The Game Changers and Cowspiracy have influenced many
people’s decisions to ditch animal products, but new expert advice suggests
that this is ‘completely unnecessary.’
Speaking
at a panel in London this week, several experts argued the benefits of eating
meat.
Professor
Mike Coffey, from Scotland’s Rural College, said: “It’s completely unnecessary
to go vegan.
“If
everybody went vegan it would be devastating for the UK environment. Animals
bred for food help boost biodiversity.”
Meanwhile,
Professor Geoff Simm, Director of Global Academy Agriculture and Food Security
at the University of Edinburgh, argued that ‘demonising’ livestock farmers is
unfair.
He
said “I think (livestock farmers) do feel they are being demonised. Often the
argument is made that going vegan would minimise land use, and the modelling
studies that have been done demonstrate that that’s not the case.
“We
feel that while livestock production has a range of economic, social and
environmental costs and benefits, the costs have perhaps been receiving far
more attention recently than some of the benefits.
“Meat
has massive social benefits. It’s an important source of dietary protein,
energy, highly bioavailable micronutrients, even small amounts of
animal-sourced food have a really important effect on the development of
children, in the developing world on their cognitive and physical development
and they are really important.”
The
experts’ advice comes amid a flurry of people converting to veganism.
According
to The
Vegan Society , there are currently over 600,000 vegans in the UK
- quadruple the number there was in 2014.
Link
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire