soya, rape seed. And as global food output reduces, as is already happening with wheat, it will be diseased and dejected but profitable caged animals who take precedence and the very unprofitable, impoverished people who will go without.
Any doubts about this cynicism should be dispelled by the action of some pharmaceutical companies towards South Africa’s attempt to supply cheap generic drugs to its AIDS patients. They were fought all the way by the patent holders despite having one of the worst AIDS problems in the world, an epidemic which is devastating the country and causing unbelievable suffering. Even with the spotlight on them, the companies initially chose profitability over compassion.
They have flooded the wealthy Western markets with a dazzling array of medications to treat every real and imagined ailment but have almost entirely ignored the devastating diseases that ravage populations in the third world. There is no profit in poverty – and so it will be in the scramble to control diminishing food supplies. Feed for animals will increasingly take precedence over food for people.
Again meat is publicly let off the hook and Lenny Henry in his sparkly suit, development agencies and other wearers of red noses make no reference to it. Don’t mention the meat!
The scale of environmental decline is profound yet politicians have reduced it to ludicrous sound bites that pretend to offer action but are meaningless. ‘Polluter pays’ is a classic example.
This implies that there are two groups of people in Britain – those who pollute and those who don’t. Presumably, those who drive four trax and fly frequently are the polluters whilst the rest of us are non polluters.
We are all polluters on a massive scale but none more so than those who regard meat, fish and dairy products as central to their diet.
However, these products are, in many ways, no different to all the other products which result from a free
An area of land the size of five football pitches (10 hectares) will grow enough meat to feed two people, or maize to feed 10; or grain to feed 24; or soya to feed 61.
18 VIV A! DIET OF DIS A S TER
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