SASKATOON – Paying $12 for a beef patty might seem a bit pricey, but that’s the way it’ll be if the Humane Society of the U.S. has its way.
While some beef producers might jump for joy at the thought of beef selling for that much, the aim of the Eating With Conscience campaign is to kill beef consumption and cripple beef producers.
“We’re not going to turn everyone into vegans (people who eat no animal products whatsoever) and we’re not trying to do that,” said Howard Lyman, the campaign director.
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But anti-meat, especially anti-beef, sentiment “is a train that has left the station. In my opinion, it is unstoppable.”
Rainforest destroyed
The Eating With Conscience campaign says beef production causes rainforest depletion and eating beef can cause many types of disease.
And it says government subsidies support the U.S. beef industry, reducing the true cost of a burger that should cost about $12 to produce, to about $1.
Cut subsidies
The American humane society is urging the government to cut what it considers feed grain subsidies, subsidized electricity rates, irrigation investment and subsidized public grazing.
“Once meat reflects its true cost, and whether it’s the cost of reclaiming the rainforest or the true cost of producing it, we’re going to see the consumption of beef drop astronomically,” Lyman predicted.
He said his optimism is justified by what has happened to English beef consumption in the recent hysteria about mad cow disease. He said British beef consumption dropped by 25 percent in only a few weeks. The British government in mid December put the consumption decrease at 10 percent.
