Semi-vegetarianism - good for animals, good for the environment and good for humans

Abstract

ABSTRACT The world's population is burgeoning having increased from four billion in 1975 to 7.4 billion at the beginning of 2016. Thus, we need more food and this places more pressure on the environment. Coincident with this change, rates of obesity and of adverse mental health conditions are increasing in most developed countries and also in some developing countries thus burdening health systems. Furthermore, in the time that the world's population has doubled, the consumption of meat has tripled. Large population studies associate high meat consumption with deleterious health and reduced longevity so much so that the World Health Organization has labelled meat a carcinogen. Modern meat production depends on intensive animal production and the feeding of crops to animals, commonly known as “factory farming” or, more formally, “Industrial Farm Animal Production” (IFAP). This industry produces such a high proportion of the animals we eat that any reduction in meat eating will likely see less IFAP. The dom...