Scientists Say Meat Is Crucial to the Human Diet – Warn Against Vegan ‘Zealotry’

Dozens of experts were asked to look into the science behind claims that meat eating causes disease and is harmful for the planet in a special issue of a journal called Animal Frontiers.  They have warned against a widespread societal push towards plant-based diets, arguing that poorer communities with low meat intake often suffer from stunting, wasting and anemia driven by a lack of vital nutrients and protein.

Thousands of scientists across the globe have also joined The Dublin Declaration, a group stating that livestock farming is too important to society to “become the victim of zealotry.”  They say that many of the negative claims about meat in our diet are simply not true.

The Dublin Declaration group has published a statement allowing global signatories to join them in defending meat supported diets and contradicting common claims made by establishment institutions against livestock in agriculture. In particular, the scientists stress that meats provide vitamin B12 intake in human diets, play a major role in supplying retinol, omega-3 fatty acids and minerals such as iron and zinc, as well as important compounds for metabolism, such as taurine and creatine.  There is no vegan equivalent that fills these nutritional needs and a number of supplements are often required to keep them healthy.

Scientists note that only well resourced (wealthier) people have the means to abandon meat in their diets and consume vegetables and carbs alone.  In other words, veganism is a first world ideology that is impractical for the majority of the global population.  Even India, a developing nation often cited by anti-meat activists for its religious stance against killing animals, still has a 70% meat eating population.

Previous studies (such as the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factor Study, published in The Lancet in 2020) warning against the “dangers” of meat are also being debunked.  Dr Alice Stanton, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, one of the authors of a review of anti-meat claims, notes:

“The peer-reviewed evidence published reaffirms that [the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Risk Factors Report] which claimed that consumption of even tiny amounts of red meat harms health is fatally scientifically flawed…In fact, removing fresh meat and dairy from diets would harm human health. Women, children, the elderly and low income would be particularly negatively impacted.”

The anti-meat movement most likely finds its roots in astroturf.  Pro-vegan research tends to be funded by globalist institutions like the UN and the WEF, which have made clear that they want meat to become a “rare treat” rather than a dietary staple.

This would be accomplished by a number of means, but a primary tool would be emissions taxation on farmers and agricultural products leading to artificially higher prices.  The UN hopes to ward much of the populace away from meat by making it unaffordable.  This is similar to the tactic they have recommended for pushing people away from “fossil fuels.”  If price is a problem and you still need protein, the globalists suggest fake meat (which is more expensive than real meat for now), or shifting to a third world diet and eating bugs instead.

The UN says its goal is to enforce a completely meat and dairy free human diet by 2050 in order to “fight climate change,” though they have been caught in the past greatly exaggerating how much livestock methane contributes to overall emissions. Even if you believe that there is a real climate crisis (despite there being no evidence to support the hype), there is still the fact that livestock emissions are a negligible portion of supposed “greenhouse gases.”  You wouldn’t be accomplishing anything to save the planet by becoming vegan.

When climate hysteria is not effective, the same groups try to frighten people away from meat using fraudulent health concerns.  We have seen this lately in the meat issue as well as with natural gas appliances.  Baseless health risk claims are promoted using the corporate media as an amplifier, and the evidence proving the claims wrong is never addressed.

Without regular access to meat vast numbers of people may be dependent on manufactured supplements to stay healthy.  Much of these supplements are produced in countries overseas that may become hostile and cut off exports. Not to mention, governments could also control the supplies for their own citizens as leverage.  The price factor for foods would make sustaining the current population untenable, leading to either mass starvation or deliberate population reduction.

Article cross-posted from Zero Hedge.