A group of animal activists
in England is calling for a tax on meat as a measure to reduce greenhouse gases
and to improve diets.
The Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR)
Initiative says meat consumption has increased five-fold since 1992 and has
contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, global obesity, rising rates of
diabetes and cancer, soil degradation and deforestation.
The British activist group says meat should be treated like
tobacco, sugar and carbon, which are often taxed because they are
harmful to people's health and the environment.
"We've seen an increasing trend toward intervention, especially in
Europe, this idea of looking at sin taxes," said Lauren Compere, managing
director at Boston Common Asset Management, an environmentally-minded
investment group.
She said Denmark, Sweden and Germany are considering legislation to tax
meat.
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," she said.
A similar tax imposed on
sugar in Mexico generated revenue that was used to
install drinking fountains and accessible clean water in depressed and
lower-income neighbourhoods, Compere said.
That, in turn, reduced the amount of sugar these residents consumed
because they were no longer drinking as much soda or juice.
Revenue generated by a meat tax could be spent on improving consumer
education on nutrition and plant-based diets, which could also help reduce meat
consumption, Compere said.
