Number of people living vegan and vegetarian has doubled since the start of the pandemic
PETA: “Corona has brought animal exploitation into focus as the cause of the crisis”
On 19 May 2021, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) presented the results of the Nutrition Report 2021 .
According to the report, since the start of the pandemic, both the number of people following a vegan diet and the number living vegetarian have each doubled. In total, around ten million Germans have eliminated meat or all animal-derived products from their plates.
PETA sees the main reason for this massive increase in the coronavirus crisis: society is increasingly recognising that the animal-exploiting industry is closely linked to the emergence and spread of dangerous pathogens such as coronavirus. The World Health Organization has also been warning for years that rising consumption of animal-derived products increases the risk of pandemics. The animal rights organisation is now calling on policymakers to stop all subsidies for livestock farming and to usher in the transition to organic vegan agriculture.
Animal barns, markets selling dead or live animals, and slaughterhouses are veritable breeding grounds for potentially deadly pathogens. More and more people are understanding this connection and adopting a plant-based diet. “Now, however, politicians must also act and impose significantly higher taxes on animal-derived products. At the same time, subsidies must be redirected into plant production in order to enable the transition to organic vegan agriculture.”
Bettina Eick, PETA’s specialist advisor on nutrition
While at the beginning of 2020 five percent of the German population was eating vegetarian and one percent vegan, this year already ten percent have adopted a vegetarian diet and two percent a purely plant-based one.In PETA's view, a higher tax on meat, milk, and eggs would further encourage Germans to reconsider their consumption habits. At the same time, this measure would help farmers transition to bio-vegan agriculture. This would make a significant contribution to environmental and climate protection, reduce the risk of future pandemics, and also relieve the burden on the healthcare system, since meat and dairy are demonstrably known to promote “lifestyle diseases”.
Consumption of animal products one of the main causes of zoonoses
Three out of four of all newly emerging pathogens have been transmitted from animals to humans — that is, they are zoonoses. As far back as 2004, the WHO identified rising demand for animal products as one of the main causes of their emergence. COVID-19, avian influenza H5N1, the SARS pandemic, MERS-CoV, the deadly Ebola fever, countless victims of multidrug-resistant pathogens, and even AIDS — they all share one common denominator: the exploitation of animals. Every individual purchasing decision can contribute to an increased risk of epidemics and pandemics.
Problem also known to German policymakers
The Scientific Advisory Board on Agricultural Policy of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture already wrote in a 2015 report: “Animal foods fundamentally carry risks for human health. Potential health impacts arise on the one hand from zoonotic pathogens present in livestock populations that can reach consumers via various routes, and on the other hand from various chemical contaminants from animal husbandry as well as the development of resistance to medicines.“
