The Link Between Meat and Cancer

The article discusses the relationship between meat consumption and health, sustainability, and animal welfare. It highlights various perspectives and research studies on the topic, including the benefits of vegetarian diets, the environmental impact of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and the ethical treatment of animals in the meat industry. The authors also touch on the moral complexities of eating meat, the role of food systems in sustainability, and the importance of considering the broader implications of dietary choices. Overall, the article presents a nuanced exploration of the issues surrounding meat consumption and encourages readers to think critically about their food choices.

Food Policy
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ......................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCEs......................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
The case for reducing meat consumption has for quite some time been a convincing one
whichever point of view one takes such as, human wellbeing, environmental impact and animal
welfare (Lawrence, 2011). Livestock production and other animal-based items are associated with
high ecological consequence and its adding to environmental change (Jennie et al. 2015). For this
essay to debate if it is time to give up meat or not, it is necessary to know the damages done to the
environment and health by consuming meat. This essay is divided into two parts; first, it argues that
it is morally wrong to raise animals to produce meat, dairy products and most other food products.
Turning animal into food, and using them for their by-products, causes severe harm to animals that
are morally unjustified (The Intersection, 2011). The second part supports the reasoning before
finally concluding.
MAIN BODY
Diets around the world have seen enormous changes, including a movement from staple grains to
animal proteins and vegetable oils (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations,
2014). However, Lawrence (2011) argues that the two most demanding justifications behind cutting
on meat today are the environmental change and the worldwide populace development. Reisch and
Thøgersen, (2015) stated that the production of animal-based food products requires considerable
more resources than that of plant-based products. Also, they pointed out that the treatment of
animals, from birth to slaughter, is an important characteristic of a civilisation and requires ethical
justification. Peters et al. (2008) pointed out another important key that about 31 m2 of land is
needed to produce 1000kcal of beef while cereals need only 1.1 m2.
Flachowsky (2003) maintains that by 2025 there will be less than 2000m2 of agricultural
land per person available to produce the food and renewable resources needed. Therefore, the large
number of populations will not able to access the food products and died with the huger. Along with
this, due to less availability of agricultural land, the animals who are depending of the plants for the
food will not survive for the long time. Beside this, other animals who are depending on the other
animals will also not get food. Furthermore, PETA (2016) and Perez (2015) affirms that land is
being used to raise animals instead of crops, water and soil are lost; trees are cut down to make
more room for factory farm sheds and untreated animal waste pollutes rivers and streams. In fact,
PETA (2016) sustains that it has such a devastating effect on all aspects of the environment that the
Union of Concerned Scientists lists meat eating as the second – biggest environmental hazard facing
the Earth.
Kresser (2013) and Niman, (2014) argues that most of the statistics are not accurate such as
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FAO’s Livestock Long Shadow report from 2006, which stated that cows produce 18% of all
greenhouses gases when in fact they contribute less than 3% greenhouse gases emissions during the
production of meet. Due to this, this activity has affected the environment and other areas These
issues are poorly understood by the consumer, environmentalists, animal activists as well as beef
industries. It is important to realise that methane is agriculture’s second largest greenhouse gas, and
it should be noted that while methane emissions from beef and dairy cattle have repeatedly been
singled out for criticism, other parts of the food system also generate substantial methane (Niman
2014). She also mentions a point often overlooked that wetland rice fields caused as much as 29
percent of the world’s total human-generated methane in the late 20th century.
On the other hand, Hamilton (2009) and Abend (2010) sustain the argument that the only
factory farming CAFO’s cause environmental harm. Animals reared on organic pastures contribute
to farm ecology and land management. Therefore, they emphasise that it is only ethically
indefensible to eat animals brought up in large scale internment structures. It is not acceptable to eat
animals raised on natural fields and ranches. Energy and Environmental Affairs, (2016) defines
CAFO as a Concentrating Animal Feeding Operation where animals are confined at least 45 days a
year during a 12 months period.
Reich, Eberle and Lorek, (2013) state that food consumption is one of the private use areas
that has the largest impact on the environment. They further suggest that approximately one-third of
households’ contribute to the total environmental impact including energy consumption, land use,
water and soil pollution, and GHG emissions that it is related to food and drink consumption. Such
kind of activities have increased the negative impacts on the environment and created pollutions in
the near by area.
Reisch and Thøgersen, (2015) cited Reich et al., 2013 that a sustainable diet is an essential
part of responsible consumption. Sustainability includes economic, ecological and social attributes.
With regards to meat reduction, Pimentel et al., (2009) argue that plant-based foods are much better
from both environmental and energy – efficiency perspective than animal based food. Moreover
supporting the argument Lang and Barling, (2013) mentioned that to reduce the meat consumption
and dairy items are significant for making consumers eat less more sustainable and diminishing the
environmental outline of food systems.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (2016) and The World Health
Organisation (2016) have revealed that dietary factors represent no less than 30 percent of all
tumours in Western nations and up to 20 percent in developing countries. Balanttyne, (2015) states
that many researchers have uncovered links between diet and cancer, the most striking findings are
that people that were avoiding eating meat are less likely to develop such diseases. Overall these
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studies showed a significant reduction in cancer risks among those who avoided meat.
Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health (2016) demonstrated that day by day meat eaters
have around three times the risk of colon cancer, contrasted with the individuals who once in a
while eat meat. On the consumption side Delgado et al., (1999) stated that there is an increased
concern that animal products consumption is unhealthy. On the contrary, it has also found that in the
developed nations, the people have consumed meats because of its protein and micro- nutrient
deficiency. But in the developing countries, the community have considered meat as an unhealthy
food products and due to this the selling of the domestic animals products in the market are less as
compare to developed nations.
Bender (2016) and Thiessen, (2008) stated that a healthy diet requires amounts of nutrients,
especially proteins, iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and calcium that must be accomplished by eating meat
and dairy items. As a matter of fact, they sustain that cereal diet leads to poor growth because of the
reduction of proteins and amino acids compared to meat supplements foods. In this manner, eating
meat is required for a healthy diet. Moreover, Wax, (2014) Heisey (2013) argue that healthy food
does not need incorporate meat, particularly if it includes dietary supplements.
Hood, (2016) expressed that throughout the years have been few reports in the medical
press, highlighting the instances of vegetarian new-born children enduring protein and energy
shortage. Bramble and Fischer (2015) confirm that another typical reason for consuming animal
products is that numerous individuals find that they taste meat and found that it is not good and
pleasurable to eat. On the other hand, Barnes-Svarney and Svarney, (2015) maintain that as long as
consumers have a balanced diet and get plenty of nutritious food, the substitute of the animal food
products such as grains, beans, green vegetables etc diets, they have a lower risk of heart disease,
cancer, and allergies.
Furthermore, Raphaely and Marinova (2016), Dagevos and Voordouw, (2013) stated that in
recent years in various countries contemporary food consumers are changing their meat
consumption and restricting their intake of animal products. Such findings are promising regarding
consumer as an human being, they not only causing sustainability problems but also being a part of
the solution to make the food system more sustainable in the near future from an ecological and
health-related point of view. The reason is they have able to make the control over the animal food
products and try to ensure that their human activities make minimal impacts on different aspects of
environment.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this essay showed that vegetarianism has few advantages. Meat farming
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affects nature however no more than cereal cultivating, and numerous different pollutants have a
much more notable impact on the environment. Various individuals settle on dietary decisions given
morals principles about what is right and bad. Case in point, some people pick not to eat meat out of
sympathy toward nature. Domesticated animals are one of the leading donors to carbon discharges,
and some people reduce the measure of beef they eat to reduce their carbon footprint. Many people
refrain from eating meat out of sympathy toward animal welfare. The consumption rate of
consuming meat in the developing and developed countries have huge difference. For make the
balance in the eco-system, the human have needed to take actions in the direction of keep control
over the consuming of the meat and minimize the other human activities.
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