"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel Prize 1921

The underlying science behind the 'Less Meat = Less Heat' hearing organised by Edward McMillan-Scott MEP on December is based on the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation's 400-page 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow

Here are some more brought together by Edward McMillan-Scott's Brussels staff

• Livestock consume 77m tonnes of protein yet only supply 58m tonnes.
• A pound of potatoes takes 99.6% less water to produce than a pound of beef, and 97% less than a pound of chicken.
• If you gave up beef, you'd save over 300,000 gallons a year, a lot more than you could save by never showering.
• Nearly half of the total amount of water used annually in the U.S. goes to grow feed and provide drinking water for cattle and livestock.
• In the US, 33% of all raw material consumption is used solely in the production of meat, egg, and dairy products.
• The annual beef consumption of an average American family of four requires more than 260 gallons of fuel. The result is 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, or about as much as the average car over a six month period.
• According to some estimates, supplying the entire world with a western, meat-centered diet would deplete the planet's oil reserves within ten years.
• Cattle produce nearly 1 billion tons of organic waste each year. The average beef cow produces more than 47 pounds of manure every 24 hours.
• 85% of topsoil loss in the US is the result of livestock production, with each pound of steak resulting in 35 pounds of eroded US topsoil.
• 260 million acres of US forests have been cleared for cropland to produce grain for livestock. From 1960-1985, 40% of the Central American rainforests were destroyed to create gazing land for cattle.
• According to the US General Accounting Office, more plant species in the United States have been eliminated or threatened by livestock grazing than by any other cause.
• A Greenpeace report called "Eating Up the Amazon" from the year 2006 indicate that, were destroyed in the 2004/05 season cultivation on one million hectares of rainforest to make it into arable land for animal feed.
• Every year in the UK we feed our livestock enough food to feed 250,000,000 people while in the world 30,000,000 people die of starvation
• Every 3 seconds a child dies of starvation somewhere in the world
• Pressure on land due to meat farming leads to soil erosion 6billion tons/year in the USA• 25% of Central America's forests have been destroyed for cattle grazing since 1960
• An inch of topsoil takes 200-1000 years to develop - yet in the USA they have lost around 1/3 of their prime topsoil in 200 years (around 7 inches) due to animal farming
• The 1,300 million cattle in the world emit 60 million tons of methane per year
• 25 gallons of water to produce 1lb of wheat & 2500 gallons to produce 1lb of meat
• If the full ecological cost of meat was passed onto the consumer - the price would be quadrupled (at least)
• The water used to produce 10 lbs of steak is equivalent to the average consumption of water for an entire household for an entire year
• 1lb of beef takes 1 gallon of petrol to produce
• The EC spends 100,000,000's to subsidise animal production resulting in lakes of unwanted milk & mountains of unwanted meat & butter. This money could be better spent encouraging organic fruit, vegetable & grain production
• 70% of all grain is fed to animals
• Eating vast quantities of animal flesh, eggs, milk & butter is a luxury that most of the planet can not afford
• Between 1950 & 1985 grain production in Europe & the USA increased massively but 2/3 was fed to animals
• Vegetarians have a 20% lower rate of mortality from all causes
• Vegetarians have a 50% reduced risk of dying of diabetes
• Vegetarians have a 40% reduced level of cancer than the general population thought to be because they have a higher intake of vitamins A,C & E
• Vegetarians have 24% reduced risk of getting heart disease & Vegans a 57% reduction (heart disease is the biggest killer in the UK accounting for 50% of deaths)
• Vegans & vegetarians have lower blood pressure & cholesterol levels - high levels are associated with heart disease, strokes & kidney failure 

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Before his speech in Brussels on December 3, Sir Paul McCartney is greeted by European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek, whose daughter is a vegetarian, and Edward McMillan-Scott MEP (r) who eats no meat

Meat and Sustainable Farming

Edward McMillan-Scott says the key point in this debate is not, as is often hyped up in the media, everybody becoming vegetarian. It is about protecting the environment (and our health) by looking towards sustainable farming methods.

If we continue to consume as we have been in recent years we will cause irreversable damage to our planet. However the agricultural industry is essential to protect our environment. The terrain in Yorkshire (r) is particularly suitable to grazing livestock and many farmers there already use sustainable methods. These farmers should be seen as a benchmark and their model should be used to to promote these methods.

Writing in the Yorkshire Post on November 27 he said "I have seen the efforts to "green" Europe's agriculture in recent years at first hand. My constituency has exemplary sustainable livestock production in the Yorkshire Dales and Moors, where upland production of beef and lamb, unchanged for centuries, should earn a premium price.

"It is now common to see fish and fish products labelled as to their sustainability. The same should apply to meat. The vicar in one of the poorest parts of my constituency – Dewsbury – said last year that some of his parishioners can no longer afford to eat meat.

"I recognise that and I am not suggesting that higher meat prices – which are inevitable – should place it beyond their reach, but that they should consider a healthier and cheaper alternative diet.

"This is now the recommendation for all of us from the NHS, the German environment agency, the Swedish government (at present in the chair of the EU) and numerous other bodies."

When the Germany's Federal Environment Agency recommended eating less meat to counter GHG, they suggested we return to pre-war norms when meat was not consumed in such vast quantites.

Likewise Britain's National Health Service also pledged to to removed meat from menu's to counter climate change.

This initiative was strongly advocated by the Swedish government  when they issed a report by the National Food Administration which urged all 27 member states to reduce their meat consumption because of its impact on the environment.