SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A piglet looks out from its enclosure. (Photo: Kevin/flickr/cc)
With New Leadership on the Way, Public Health Experts Demand WHO Take on Factory Farms
'The harms caused by large-scale, industrial animal farming are global in nature and felt beyond those who consume meat, dairy, and eggs,' states a new open letter
May 22, 2017
As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to select its new director general, public health, food, and science experts are urging the new leader to take action on the issue of factory farms and global threats they pose.
In an op-ed published Sunday at the New York Times, Scott Weathers, Sophie Hermanns, and Mark Bittman reference comments last year by the outgoing director general, Margaret Chan. She referred to "three slow-motion disasters: a changing climate, the failure of more and more mainstay antimicrobials, and the rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases as the leading killers worldwide." If left unchecked, they "will eventually reach a tipping point where the harm done is irreversible," she said.
"Factory farming," which has driven an increase in meat production and consumption, "connects the dots" between the three disasters, write Weathers, a graduate student in public health at Harvard, Hermanns, a graduate student at Cambridge and visiting fellow at Harvard, and Bittman, who is on the faculty of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia.
The trio cites the links between chronic diseases and meat-heavy diets, the increased human exposure to antibiotics--thereby contributing to scourge of antimicrobial resistance--as a result of their rampant use in industrial farming, and the climate impacts from factory farms as a result of their greenhouse gas emissions.
They also point to an open letter released Monday and signed by over 200 health and science experts (including Weathers, Hermanns, and Bittman). Echoing the op-ed, it calls on the organization's new head "to publicly acknowledge the harm that industrial animal farming inflicts on global health" as well as "limit the expansion of industrial animal farming and encourage dietary recommendations that reduce meat consumption."
It states:
The harms caused by large-scale, industrial animal farming are global in nature and felt beyond those who consume meat, dairy, and eggs. Climate change does not recognize borders and neither do drug-resistant infectious diseases. Although they contribute least to the global burden of animal farming, the world's poorest countries are also the most vulnerable to rising water levels, natural disasters caused by climate change, food insecurity, and infectious diseases. Finding solutions to problems posed by industrial animal farms and shifting us toward more healthful agriculture will therefore require the global leadership of WHO.
Just as the WHO has bravely confronted companies that harm human health by peddling tobacco and sugar-sweetened beverages, it must not waver in advocating for the regulation of industrial animal farming.
Among the specific policy recommendations the letter lays out for the new director general are to:
- Discourage member states from subsidizing factory farming and its inputs, which can cause significant harm to the public.
- Work closely with ministers of health and agriculture to formulate policies that advocate for a greater proportion of plant-based foods in the diets of member states.
- Work with all relevant ministries, including those outside of health, to reduce the size and number of factory farms to better balance dietary need and ecological capacity.
The WHO's governing body will choose between three final candidates on Tuesday.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to select its new director general, public health, food, and science experts are urging the new leader to take action on the issue of factory farms and global threats they pose.
In an op-ed published Sunday at the New York Times, Scott Weathers, Sophie Hermanns, and Mark Bittman reference comments last year by the outgoing director general, Margaret Chan. She referred to "three slow-motion disasters: a changing climate, the failure of more and more mainstay antimicrobials, and the rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases as the leading killers worldwide." If left unchecked, they "will eventually reach a tipping point where the harm done is irreversible," she said.
"Factory farming," which has driven an increase in meat production and consumption, "connects the dots" between the three disasters, write Weathers, a graduate student in public health at Harvard, Hermanns, a graduate student at Cambridge and visiting fellow at Harvard, and Bittman, who is on the faculty of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia.
The trio cites the links between chronic diseases and meat-heavy diets, the increased human exposure to antibiotics--thereby contributing to scourge of antimicrobial resistance--as a result of their rampant use in industrial farming, and the climate impacts from factory farms as a result of their greenhouse gas emissions.
They also point to an open letter released Monday and signed by over 200 health and science experts (including Weathers, Hermanns, and Bittman). Echoing the op-ed, it calls on the organization's new head "to publicly acknowledge the harm that industrial animal farming inflicts on global health" as well as "limit the expansion of industrial animal farming and encourage dietary recommendations that reduce meat consumption."
It states:
The harms caused by large-scale, industrial animal farming are global in nature and felt beyond those who consume meat, dairy, and eggs. Climate change does not recognize borders and neither do drug-resistant infectious diseases. Although they contribute least to the global burden of animal farming, the world's poorest countries are also the most vulnerable to rising water levels, natural disasters caused by climate change, food insecurity, and infectious diseases. Finding solutions to problems posed by industrial animal farms and shifting us toward more healthful agriculture will therefore require the global leadership of WHO.
Just as the WHO has bravely confronted companies that harm human health by peddling tobacco and sugar-sweetened beverages, it must not waver in advocating for the regulation of industrial animal farming.
Among the specific policy recommendations the letter lays out for the new director general are to:
- Discourage member states from subsidizing factory farming and its inputs, which can cause significant harm to the public.
- Work closely with ministers of health and agriculture to formulate policies that advocate for a greater proportion of plant-based foods in the diets of member states.
- Work with all relevant ministries, including those outside of health, to reduce the size and number of factory farms to better balance dietary need and ecological capacity.
The WHO's governing body will choose between three final candidates on Tuesday.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to select its new director general, public health, food, and science experts are urging the new leader to take action on the issue of factory farms and global threats they pose.
In an op-ed published Sunday at the New York Times, Scott Weathers, Sophie Hermanns, and Mark Bittman reference comments last year by the outgoing director general, Margaret Chan. She referred to "three slow-motion disasters: a changing climate, the failure of more and more mainstay antimicrobials, and the rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases as the leading killers worldwide." If left unchecked, they "will eventually reach a tipping point where the harm done is irreversible," she said.
"Factory farming," which has driven an increase in meat production and consumption, "connects the dots" between the three disasters, write Weathers, a graduate student in public health at Harvard, Hermanns, a graduate student at Cambridge and visiting fellow at Harvard, and Bittman, who is on the faculty of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia.
The trio cites the links between chronic diseases and meat-heavy diets, the increased human exposure to antibiotics--thereby contributing to scourge of antimicrobial resistance--as a result of their rampant use in industrial farming, and the climate impacts from factory farms as a result of their greenhouse gas emissions.
They also point to an open letter released Monday and signed by over 200 health and science experts (including Weathers, Hermanns, and Bittman). Echoing the op-ed, it calls on the organization's new head "to publicly acknowledge the harm that industrial animal farming inflicts on global health" as well as "limit the expansion of industrial animal farming and encourage dietary recommendations that reduce meat consumption."
It states:
The harms caused by large-scale, industrial animal farming are global in nature and felt beyond those who consume meat, dairy, and eggs. Climate change does not recognize borders and neither do drug-resistant infectious diseases. Although they contribute least to the global burden of animal farming, the world's poorest countries are also the most vulnerable to rising water levels, natural disasters caused by climate change, food insecurity, and infectious diseases. Finding solutions to problems posed by industrial animal farms and shifting us toward more healthful agriculture will therefore require the global leadership of WHO.
Just as the WHO has bravely confronted companies that harm human health by peddling tobacco and sugar-sweetened beverages, it must not waver in advocating for the regulation of industrial animal farming.
Among the specific policy recommendations the letter lays out for the new director general are to:
- Discourage member states from subsidizing factory farming and its inputs, which can cause significant harm to the public.
- Work closely with ministers of health and agriculture to formulate policies that advocate for a greater proportion of plant-based foods in the diets of member states.
- Work with all relevant ministries, including those outside of health, to reduce the size and number of factory farms to better balance dietary need and ecological capacity.
The WHO's governing body will choose between three final candidates on Tuesday.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.