What is really behind food flaps
Houston Chronicle
June 02, 1999, 07:53 p.m.
By JIM BARLOW
Many European countries won't let U.S. farmers sell beef
to their consumers.
They say the additives American farmers use in cattle feed
are dangerous. The World Trade Organization, the referee
in trade disputes, says that's not true. Unless they relent,
this country has permission from the organization to impose
100 percent duties against a wide range of European
goods -- which would end sales of those products in the
United States.
In Great Britain, they are upset about American vegetable
producers using biotechnology to allow them to grow
vegetables cheaper and faster. The Brits, roused to action
by a strange alliance of Prince Charles and the tabloid
press, are alarmed even though they can find no science to
confirm their fears.
In both cases, agendas are hidden.
American cattlemen can deliver beef to Europe for 20
percent less than European farmers can produce.
In Great Britain, the looney left is stirring up the outrage
over biotechnology. Their agenda is called shared scarcity.
They believe we all should drastically cut back our living
standard -- including having everyone switch to a vegan
diet.
There is a choice out there.
Dennis T. Avery, who looks at food and agriculture issues
for the Hudson Institute -- an Indianapolis-based
free-market think tank -- says it's a simple one.
"We can't produce enough meat to feed tomorrow's 8.5
billion affluent people from today's farmland using today's
technology. And we will need 10 times as much wood to
house and educate them as we use today. In the next 20
years, the people of the world must either become
vegetarian and self-sacrificing -- or else embrace
biotechnology, factory farms and tree plantations."
Vegetarianism not mushrooming
The trouble is, vegetarianism just isn't all that popular.
In the United States, about 5 percent of the population is
vegetarian at any given moment. But most of them also
consume cheese and milk -- and dairy cattle would take
too much pasture land.
Only half of 1 percent of First World residents are vegans
-- that is, they also eschew meat and dairy products.
To balance world food supply without using scientific
farming, about half the world's consumers would have to
be vegans.
But even in places where vegetarianism is widespread, like
India, affluence is widening food choices.
India's economic growth has been running about 7 percent
annually, about triple its population growth of 1.8 percent.
The result is the Indian dairy industry has doubled
milk-processing capacity.
Three-fourths of the country's Hindus say they eat meat
when they can afford it, although not beef, which is
prohibited by their religion.
There's no question that modern farming methods can keep
up with the world's needs. We've done it before with the
Green Revolution of the 1950s and '60s. Lately we've seen
similar progress in improving yields from cattle and crops.
Whether we go forward with them is a social decision.
Blame population activists
This mindless opposition isn't confined to overseas. We've
seen decisions from U.S. regulators based on emotion, not
science.
North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural
Resources says the state has a water quality crisis because
its hog industry has gone from 2 million to 9 million animals.
The department finally admitted that water quality in the
state's rivers is better today than in 1970, when both the
hog and human populations were much lower.
Or look at the stance on pesticides by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA has published brochures that say pesticides cause
birth defects, nerve damage, cancer and other toxic effects
in laboratory animals. Sure they do, at dosages far beyond
what is on fruits and vegetables.
Never mind that the U.S. National Research Council says
no cancer deaths from pesticide residues have ever been
found, nor are there ever likely to be any.
A few years ago, a report from Tulane University claimed
that pesticides caused endocrine disruption in humans and
wildlife. The university was forced to withdraw the study
after its results couldn't be duplicated.
Behind all this are environmental activists who want drastic
controls to stop population growth.
They used to warn about how we would all be starving to
death. But when farmers proved them wrong, they found a
new enemy.
To voice comments, telephone 713-220-2000 and dial
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