PHM-Exch> Article: India is Not a 'Vegetarian Country' Like the EAT-Lancet Report Would Have Us Believe

Sat Dec 7 02:19:12 PST 2019

 I found the Wire article very pertinent. If I may add a few remarks from
the standpoint of Human Rights and AMR:
The slant in the Lancet and the flood of anti- meat articles in mainstream
press... and Davos...is worrisome as Greta is paraded everywhere while
fighters for human rights or against inequality are... jailed or worse and
don't appear in mainstream media at all under a favorable view!
1) There is a campaign saying meat is too cheap and abundant and, so, to
reduce consumption, it should be 'TAXED'. Taxing meat will increase poverty
and hunger in OECD countries and globally. This proposition must be fought.
Just in the US we have half a million homeless, 15 million going to bed
hungry at night and 50% of US children at or below poverty line! In France,
+ 400 000 additional poor people over this past year alone!
Taxing meat will greatly increase malnutrition worldwide, and would keep
meat for the middle and upper class. That is not a way to increase health
and nutrition for the poor!
2) Real bio (as opposed to marketing 'bio') nuts and grains are in very
short supply. The fads of the middle class here for grains is depriving
poor overseas populations from cheap staple grains like chia, now a 50
billion USD business with prices often getting out of range for the poor in
Latin America as countries are induced to export massive amounts of chia to
cover debts...
And even in OECD countries, water shortages are appearing, for example, almonds
fads are creating a disaster in California!
3) Some bio (and non bio- citrus) fruits and vegetables are grown with
antibiotics / replacing pesticides. Like streptomycin, a key drug for child
lung disease!
4) The grains are today mostly produced in unsafe way such as with
glyphosate/ Roundup. Glyphosate was registered as an ANTIBIOTIC DRUG in
2014! Read Monsanto's own argument. So in this day and age of ANTIBIOTIC
RESISTANCE, we spray millions of tons of antibiotic in the soil, from which
bacteria will develop genes of resistance to all antibiotics, and bacteria
species exchange GENES. Little known to the public, a baby spinach leaves
salad or tomatoes are much more dangerous that meat to carry these genes of
resistance (inside the plant- washing is useless) ARGs!
5) AMR is also largely produced from poor RECYCLING of municipal waste
water for irrigation of plants (the E coli deaths last year from lettuce
grown in the USA is a good scientific example), in China half of their 600
cities have water shortages problems. To reduce 100 000s deaths yearly -
and millions of illnesses, related to lack of potable water and bad waste
management (from pharma production, from husbandry and municipal or
hospital waste, we badly need STATES to invest in PUBLIC WATER-SEWER-WASTE
MANAGEMENT. The UN WHA voted up the WASH (Water-Sanitation-Hygiene)
RESOLUTION last May. We need a sort of "Belt & Road" mass investment by
States to achieve that.
6) As the great book CHICKENIZING (Ellen Silbergeld, Pr, John Hopkins, and
presently in the UK LSHTM) makes the point: attention to safe husbandry,
respectful of farm workers, of slaughter house workers, hygienic - and by
the way more respectful of the animal and of the environment- is feasible
and ought to be our focus.
7) Last but not least: wars of all sorts, besides creating deaths and
disability, deviate manpower and resources and manufacturing capacities on
a grand scale from useful things and represent an important source of AMR
infections globally, (the new head of the Graduate Institute Global Health
Center, Pr Nguyen even blames the Iraki war as the start of AMR rise
globally, - article in the Chicago press- notably with the deadly A
Baumannii -nicknamed Irakibacter)
8) The poor suffers more from un-hygienic health facilities and un-hygienic
food production than anyone with a higher income, millions of deaths and
disabilities yearly!

Were we to fight to end massive investments in useless (yet dangerous)
weapons, create safe urban centers - replacing dangerous air conditioning -
big conveyor belts for diseases, by better housing, with natural
ventilation and good insulation, fight for public housing and public
transportation, we would achieve quite a lot for Health for all, and even
climate mitigation. We should also expand meat production so all the poor
get access but do it respecting animals, in super clean food chains..
Instead, the billionaire class wants the better off populations to focus on
their own individual plate...and their own little shop, in their own little
suburbs...with their own little bicycle... and think they are "doing
something" while we continue mass murder of the poor!
 These comments are mine and do not engage the NGOs I may represent
Garance

Le ven. 6 déc. 2019 à 09:46, Kaaren Mathias <kaarenmathias at gmail.com> a
écrit :

> Hi Sulakshana/ Sylvia and all -
> Thanks for sharing this excellent article in The Wire - you underline many
> important points in this article. At the same time I find as someone
> vegetarian for environmental reasons, that many in India believe that
> eating non-veg is somehow a politically progressive thing to do (in the
> face of Hindu nationalism). In this age of climate change and carbon
> footprints and over-eating, I think it behoves all of us with the
> privilege of being well-nourished, and above the poverty line to choose a
> largely plant based diet.
>
> Kaaren
>
> On Wed, Dec 4, 2019 at 5:30 PM Sulakshana Nandi <
> sulakshana.nandi at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Friends
>> Please find the link to an article by Dr. Sylvia Karpagam (who is part of
>> Right To Food Campaign and JSA) and others on the EAT-Lancet Commission
>> report and recommendations, in the context of India
>> https://thewire.in/food/eat-lancet-commission-vegetarian-country
>> I am sure that the issues raised in this article would be relevant for
>> many other countries too.
>> with regards
>> Sulakshana
>> _______________________________________________
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>
> --
> Dr Kaaren Mathias
> Public Health Physician - Director Burans
> Programme manager Mental Health - EHA
> www.eha-health.org
>
> Board Director - Health systems global
> Regional representative - South East Asia
> https://www.healthsystemsglobal.org/
>
> Cell +91 8755105391
> _______________________________________________
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