Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editorials

Reducing the carbon footprint of medical conferences

BMJ 2007; 334 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39125.468171.80 (Published 15 February 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;334:324

Rapid Response:

Let's Not Forget the Beef and Cheese Centered Dinners

An amazingly simple win-win opportunity stares us in the face: a
global switch to a plant-food based diet will solve the diseases of
overnutrition and put a big dent in global warming with one U-turn—since
the up-to now insatiable appetite for foodstuffs made from livestock
(cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens) are at the root of both disasters.

The 2006 United Nations report, Livestock’s Long Shadow
–Environmental Issues and Options, concludes, “Livestock have a
substantial impact on the world’s water, land and biodiversity resources
and contribute significantly to climate change.” —accounting for 18
percent of the greenhouse gasses.

The human health crisis is pandemic with more than 1.1 billion people
overweight and 312 million obese, 197 million have diabetes, and 1 billion
have hypertension.2 One final and fatal result of these three chronic
conditions is 18 million people die of heart disease annually.2 Mounting
levels of sickness march side by side with escalating environmental
catastrophes: Extremes of weather are intensifying with droughts and
severe flooding, many species of plants and animals are threatened with
extinction, diseases are spreading, and crops are failing. You would think
by now doctors worldwide would have launched serious measures to reverse
all this human suffering by attacking the primary cause—eating meat and
dairy products. An initial step of good faith would be to serve only vegan
meals when medical conferences are held; providing an excellent example
for others.

1)
http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm

2) Hossain P, Kawar B, El Nahas M. Obesity and diabetes in the
developing world--a growing challenge. N Engl J Med. 2007 Jan
18;356(3):213-5.

Competing interests:
Founder of the McDougall Program where patients are treated with low-fat vegan diet and exercise

Competing interests: No competing interests

17 February 2007
John McDougall, MD
physician
Santa Rosa, CA 95404