Research from the World Health Organization: “Reducing livestock herds would also reduce emissions of methane, which is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.”
The Physicians Committee is petitioning the Federal Trade
Commission, which regulates advertising, to stop the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association from placing deceptive “Beefing Up
Sustainability” advertisements that downplay the beef industry’s
impact on the climate crisis. The advertisement has appeared in The
Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
NCBA is a trade association that “works to advance the economic,
political and social interests of the U.S. cattle business.” It
receives money from the Beef Checkoff, which is overseen by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and is designed to stimulate beef sales
and consumption.
The advertisement incorrectly states, “Beef’s environmental
footprint may drive headlines, but the truth is, eliminating beef is
not a realistic or impactful solution for climate change.”
But the FTC petition cites research from the World Health
Organization that says, “Reducing livestock herds would also reduce
emissions of methane, which is the second largest contributor to
global warming after carbon dioxide.”
“NCBA’s advertisement is contrary to abundant scientific evidence
and deceptive on its face,” says the petition. “The Physicians
Committee therefore requests that FTC permanently prohibit NCBA from
disseminating, or causing the dissemination of, any advertisement
claiming that beef is an environmentally sustainable food.”
A study published in August in the journal Nature Food that
evaluated more than 5,800 foods and ranked them by their impact on
the environment found that beef has the largest carbon footprint.
According to one climate change calculator, eating 75 grams of
beef—a typical fast-food hamburger—daily for a year contributes
greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving a car 7,196
miles—that’s crossing the United States about 2.5 times. Eating 150
grams of beans—about a third of a can—daily for a year is equivalent
to driving a car 93 miles.
The Physicians Committee also wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture:
“When you began your second appointment as Secretary of Agriculture,
you committed to focusing on climate-friendly agricultural
practices,” wrote Susan Levin, MS, RD, CSSD, director of nutrition
education, in a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “We
ask that you replace these deceptive advertisements with helpful
notices that promote replacing animal products for plant-based diets
to improve both climate and human health.”
In the letter, Levin cites a report published in The Lancet in 2019
that states that “vegan and vegetarian diets were associated with
the greatest reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.”