The Meat Business - Devouring a Hungry Planet (various authors) (Review by Paul
Geoff Tansey & Joyce D'Silva (eds), Earthscan, 249pp, pbk, £12-99.
This collection of essays arose from the Spring 1998 conference An Agriculture for the New Millennium - Animal Welfare, Poverty and Globalisation organised by Compassion in World Farming. Though less snappy than The Meat Business, this would have been a more accurate title for the book, as by no means all of the contributions deal with animal farming, or even with agriculture itself. The impressive list of contributors include Geoffrey Cannon, Maneka Gandhi, Mark Gold, Patrick Holden, Tim Lang and John Vidal, as well as CIWF's own Joyce D'Silva, Philip Lymbery and Peter Stevenson. Most would like to see fundamental changes in the current intensive, high-input high-output agriculture practised in most parts of the world. The notable exception here is Dennis Avery, Director of the Center for Global Food Issues, whose absolute faith in the ability of hi-tech farming, including biotechnology, to both feed the world population and protect the environment is almost touching. Fortunately there is no shortage of dissenting voices here who roundly criticise the unsustainability of many modern farming techniques with their adverse effects on both animal welfare and the environment, and put forward a range of practical solutions. The Meat Business contains a wealth of information and is required reading for anyone with an interest in the welfare of people, animals and the environment, and the institutions such as the World Trade Organisation which conspire against them. Highly recommended.
Paul Appleby, January 2000
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Author: Paul Appleby
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