Meat consumption has been linked to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, global obesity and cancer. The debate on whether animal products should be taxed like other harmful commodities like sugar, tobacco and carbon are starting to heat up.
The fast rise in global meat consumption around the world has environmental interest groups debating a "sin" tax on meat products.
Meat consumption around the world has grown more than five times between 1992 and 2016, but so has the population. According to the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative these are the linked side affects of the product. It has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, global obesity, rising rates of diabetes and cancer, soil degradation and deforestation. Many groups argue that meat should join products like tobacco, sugar and carbon, which are often taxed because they are harmful to people's health and the environment. There has been a number of country's that has shown interest in a "sin" tax on meat. Denmark, Sweden and Germany are the top countries considering legislation toward a meat tax.
Lauren Compere told CBC's B.C. Almanac host Michelle Eliot that such a tax is part of a group of incentives that could to address the problems associated with increased meat production. "Even marginally decreasing the consumption of meat increases health cost savings and also reduces environmental degradation," Compere stated.
There was a similar tax imposed in Mexico on sugar, it generated revenue that was used to install drinking fountains and accessible clean water in depressed and lower-income neighborhoods that were in dire need. By putting this tax in place it reduced the amount of sugar the residents were consuming because they were no longer drinking as much soda or juice because of the higher price on sugar.
Revenue generated by a meat tax could be spent on improving consumer education on nutrition, which could also help reduce meat consumption.
But Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen's Association in Kamloops, isn't convinced that the money from a meat tax would go toward changing the industry. He said that pointing the finger at one commodity is too narrow a view. Boon argues that the world's expanding population is creating more demand for food, including meat. "If we've got to produce more food for more humans, we're going to need more animals, more plants, more everything else to do it. To put a tax on a food product of any kind that is recognized in the Canadian Health Guide as an essential part of a balanced diet, then we need to really take a very close look at what we're doing," Boon stated. By the growing population more food is needed so more food is produced.
I agree with Boon in the idea that we can't just start taxing staple food sources in our everyday life. We could look for a way to change the way we produce the food so it is more Eco friendly but putting a tax on the staple sources of food across the world is the wrong thing to do. With meat prices already at an all time high if taxes were put on them meat would be unaffordable for many.
Dimoff, Anna. “Is it time to slap a 'sin' tax on meat?” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 7 Jan. 2018, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/meat-sin-tax-1.4472222.
Meat consumption around the world has grown more than five times between 1992 and 2016, but so has the population. According to the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative these are the linked side affects of the product. It has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, global obesity, rising rates of diabetes and cancer, soil degradation and deforestation. Many groups argue that meat should join products like tobacco, sugar and carbon, which are often taxed because they are harmful to people's health and the environment. There has been a number of country's that has shown interest in a "sin" tax on meat. Denmark, Sweden and Germany are the top countries considering legislation toward a meat tax.
Lauren Compere told CBC's B.C. Almanac host Michelle Eliot that such a tax is part of a group of incentives that could to address the problems associated with increased meat production. "Even marginally decreasing the consumption of meat increases health cost savings and also reduces environmental degradation," Compere stated.
There was a similar tax imposed in Mexico on sugar, it generated revenue that was used to install drinking fountains and accessible clean water in depressed and lower-income neighborhoods that were in dire need. By putting this tax in place it reduced the amount of sugar the residents were consuming because they were no longer drinking as much soda or juice because of the higher price on sugar.
Revenue generated by a meat tax could be spent on improving consumer education on nutrition, which could also help reduce meat consumption.
But Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen's Association in Kamloops, isn't convinced that the money from a meat tax would go toward changing the industry. He said that pointing the finger at one commodity is too narrow a view. Boon argues that the world's expanding population is creating more demand for food, including meat. "If we've got to produce more food for more humans, we're going to need more animals, more plants, more everything else to do it. To put a tax on a food product of any kind that is recognized in the Canadian Health Guide as an essential part of a balanced diet, then we need to really take a very close look at what we're doing," Boon stated. By the growing population more food is needed so more food is produced.
I agree with Boon in the idea that we can't just start taxing staple food sources in our everyday life. We could look for a way to change the way we produce the food so it is more Eco friendly but putting a tax on the staple sources of food across the world is the wrong thing to do. With meat prices already at an all time high if taxes were put on them meat would be unaffordable for many.
Dimoff, Anna. “Is it time to slap a 'sin' tax on meat?” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 7 Jan. 2018, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/meat-sin-tax-1.4472222.