Last year has seen an unparalleled health and economic crisis, exacerbated inequities, surge in preventable disease and violence, and a host of other preventable problems. 

Winter 2022

Speciesism – the exploitation of one species by another is the underlying cause of the (SARS) Covid-19 zoonotic pandemic which disrupted efforts to control other preventable diseases: malaria, polio, measles, cholera, has triggered the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, and has exacerbated worldwide inequities.

“Health does not begin in a hospital or clinic.  It begins in our homes and communities, with the food we eat and the water we drink, the air we breathe, in our schools and our workplaces,” according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General.

“We cannot – we must not – go back to the same exploitative patterns of production and consumption, the same disregard for the planet that sustains all life, and the same divisive politics that fueled this pandemic.” According to Dr Rüdiger Krech, WHO Director for Health Promotion.  

These exploitative patterns focus primarily on exploitation of the defenseless animal species by the human supremacist species and have caused immense suffering to the former and a host of problems for the later including zoonotic pandemics and others including the following:

Non-Communicable Disease, NCDs, include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and others, currently cause seven out of every ten deaths around the world.  All of these have been linked to the meat and dairy based diet, part of the species exploitation that caused the current zoonotic pandemic.  A plant-based, no meat and dairy, diet can eliminate almost all NCDs.

“Noncommunicable diseases take a terrible health and economic toll, especially on countries that can least afford it” says WHO Global Ambassador for NCDs and Injuries Michael R. Bloomberg.

Last year, marked the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of insulin.  It has been scientifically proven that individuals with type two diabetes can reduce or eliminate the need for insulin and the accompanying costs by following a plant-based, meat and dairy free lifestyle.  Type one diabetes has been linked to infants being fed cow’s milk rather than human breast milk.

Malnutrition in all its forms has been exacerbated by COVID-19, climate change, and unsustainable use of scarce resources.  In marginalized communities, child malnutrition and food insecurity is rising. Last year, 149 million children had stunted growth due to poor diets, and other issues.  Forty-five percent of children under 5 years of age that die, have undernutrition as the underlying cause of death.

“Malnutrition in all its forms is one of the world’s leading causes of death and illness,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Today, one third of all people around the world are affected by at least one form of malnutrition. Over 40% of all men and women, approximately 2.2 billion people are currently overweight or obese. The unhealthy fat, cholesterol, hormone, antibiotic, and disease ladened meat and dairy based diet is linked to at least 8 million deaths per year.  The current trend projects that one in two people will be malnourished by 2025, and an estimated 40 million children will suffer from obesity or overweight in the next decade.

Eliminating government subsidies on meat and dairy in the high-income nations will substantially improve human health and save lives worldwide.  Politically induced subsidies are a major driver of unhealthy food choice.  Subsidies promote deadly non-communicable disease by making unhealthy food choice artificially affordable.  Worldwide, they force low- income nations into poverty and starvation by keeping world produce prices artificially skewed.

“The pandemic has brought us to a fork in the road.  Behind us lies the path of business as usual – the path that led us to this crisis.  Before us lies a new path: the path that leads to healthier, more resilient, and more sustainable societies.”

We all need to rethink our relationship to each other – of all incomes and species – to our shared scarce resources, to the treatment of flora and vegetation, to the planet, and everything on it.

‘One Health for all on the Planet’ was announced by The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats, and promote sustainable development. 

One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems, and recognizes the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and inter-dependent.

The approach works to promote well-being for all.  It addresses threats to health and ecosystems, the need for clean water, energy, air, safe and nutritious food, sustainable development, and reduction of pollution and climate change.  One Health, links humans, animals, and the environment, addresses the full spectrum of disease control, and seeks to improve and promote health and sustainability. 

It is our hope that 2022 will see planet Earth move closer to a just, equitable, and sustainable future for all inhabitants of all species.

Vegan International’s United Nations participation in 2021 included:

United Nations Food Summit.  Vegan International submitting a one-minute video through the UN Non-Governmental Organization Faith and Food Coalition organized by the Center For Earth Ethics which became part of the UN Food Summit.

World Health Organization Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).  Vegan International responded to their invitation for experts to apply to participate.

United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Climate Education Global Teaching Insights program.  Vegan International Adult Education program submitted a one-minute video through the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

The Vegan International Education Program consists of adult education classes which teach the consequences of food choice for human health and wellbeing of the planet.  This includes the relationship between an individual’s food choice and health, global warming, pollution, deforestation, rising waters, species extinction, and misuse of scarce resources, and other issues.

Vegan International wishes all a happy, healthy, just, equitable and enlightened 2022!