Earlier this year, an independent panel of experts has proposed some controversial advice for the updated set of recommendations of federal dietary guidelines: you can help the environment by eating less meat and more green.
But if House Republicans have a say in this, the recommendation may never reach the final form of the update. Two bills that are currently moving through the House Appropriations Committee specify that dietary guidelines should be restricted to referring to diet and nutrient intake.
By default, such a specification will ban the warning that red meat might contribute to climate change; therefore, the House Republicans are trying to protect and encourage its production.
According to Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has no business imposing such anti-meant policies, as its intended purpose was to improve American health by offering “science-based comments on the relation of diet and nutrition.”
He also added that it wouldn’t be fair to spend taxpayer funds to promote an anti-agriculture agenda and impose the climate-change ideology even on the American diet. This is the first time the American dietary committee has even considered addressing the impact that food cultivation has on the environment.
But it was about time, as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are generated by livestock. Therefore, environmentalists wanted to warn Americans about the carbon footprint they’re leaving by consuming so much meat, and what they can do about it.
Environmentalists have been encouraged in their history-making attempts, as the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has released a report earlier this year in line with their desires.
They mentioned it is healthier and less environmentally-damaging to follow a diet based on plant foods – vegetables, fruits, whole grains. They also recommended people keep their calorie-intake in check by consuming less animal-based foods.
But if the two bills on the requirement to stick to diet and nutrition in the American dietary guidelines will receive approval, environmentalists will be out of luck. With the support of the scientific community, some representatives, such as Democratic congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, are still trying to make their wish come true.
She gave an interview on Wednesday explaining that opponents of the green-eating recommendations argue that they want the dietary guidelines to be “science-based” but only when it fits their agenda. They shouldn’t get to pick which science facts they like and which they don’t.
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