The Econmist - USA (2021-10-30)

28 The Economist October 30th 2021
Letters

The human cost of green food

The Technology Quarterly on

the future of food (October

2nd) showcased technologies

that produce cleaner and

greener food more humanely,

such as lab­grown meat. How­

ever, one major group of stake­

holders was missing from your

analysis: livestock farmers. At

the subsistence level and on an

industrial scale, livestock

farmers around the world

generate $1.3trn a year in

output and support the liveli­

hoods and food security of

1.3bn people. Out of these, the

500m pastoralists, whose

main source of income,

culture and entire life revolves

around livestock, are partic­

ularly vulnerable to these new

technologies.

Food’s future is in the

hands of regulators and

consumers and so is the fate of

millions of livestock farmers.

Growing meat in a lab may be

disastrous for them. Engaging

farmers in these new food

futures is vital.

harpinder sandhu

Professor of economics

Federation University 

Australia 

Ballarat, Australia

There is a widely held concept

that plant­based food produces

fewer greenhouse­gas emis­

sions and causes less animal

suffering than grass­fed beef.

This is misguided. Belcampo

Farms in California, for

example, churns out carbon

negative beef, with research to

back it up. A growing number

of ranchers worldwide operate

under similar regenerative

principles. 

Reducing animal suffering

by switching to meat sub­

stitutes is also debatable. Plant

and crop farmers employ all

manner of poisons, traps and

deterrents against encroaching

wildlife, which has an impact

on surrounding ecosystems

and watersheds. During

harvest, field animals such as

rodents, rabbits, fawns and

nesting birds reliably meet a

gruesome end in harvesting

machinery.

david dosanjh

Vancouver

I questionwhetherthemoral­

ityofraisinganimalsforfood

issettled.Wereit notforthe

foodindustry,howmany

chickens,cowsorpigswould

therebeintheworld:thou­

sands,none?Withouta food

industry,theywouldnotexist.

Dyingina slaughterhousemay

belesspainfulthanbeingtorn

apartbypredatorsora slow

deathbyhungerordisease,

whichishowwildanimalsdie.

pedroserrador

Toronto

Frenchfrieswerenottheonly

thingthathelpedEuropeadopt

thepotato(“Workingupan

appetite”,October2nd).Fred­

ericktheGreattriedtoorder

Prussianstocultivatepotatoes

buttonoavail;peoplesaid

theyweresobadthatnoteven

dogswouldeatthem.Cleverly,

hechangedtackanddeclared

thepotatotobea royalvegeta­

ble,grownonlyinplotsguard­

edbysoldiers.Soonenough

peasantsstartedstealingthe

potatoesandgrowingthem.A

usefullessoninmarketingfor

thosetryingtochangeeating

habitsintheWestandper­

suadepeopletoeatinsects.

richardmilburn

EnvironmentalSecurity

ResearchGroup

King'sCollegeLondon

Top Glove

With regard to the “The urge to

protect” in your special report

on trade (October 9th), Top

Glove would like to update The

Economistabout its ongoing

efforts and successes in

improving its environmental,

social and good governance

practices, including the reso­

lution of the Withhold Release

Order issued by the United

States Customs and Border

Protection agency. 

The cbpissued Top Glove

with one wroon July 15th

2020. Subsequently, as part of
the cbpprocess, the order was
replaced with a Finding on
March 29th 2021. However,
after the cbphad thoroughly
reviewed the evidence that Top
Glove had addressed all
indicators of forced labour at
its Malaysian facilities, the cbp
modified the Finding on

September10th,andimmedi­

atelyallowedtheimportation

ofthecompany’sdisposable

glovesmadeatitsfactoriesin

MalaysiatoAmerica.

nurjehanmohamed

Seniorconsultant

mnair

PetalingJaya,Malaysia

Malarialbednetswork

AlexNichollsrightlywarns

againstfocusingonoutputs

ratherthanonoutcomesin

philanthropicprogrammes

(Letters,October16th).Buthis

example,thatantimalarial

bed­netschemes“failed”,is

incorrect.Contrarytosome

reporting,fewbednetsget

usedforfishing.A four­coun­

trystudyofover25,000bed

netsfoundlessthan1%were

beingmisused.A comprehen­

siveanalysisbyCochrane,an

independentnetworkof

researchers,of 23 medical

trialsencompassingnearly

300,000peopleshowedthat

bednetsreduceddeathsbya

third.A studyatOxford

concludedthattheyaverted

around663mcasesofmalaria

inAfricabetween 2000 and

2015.Theseimportantout­

comes,bycharitiesandothers,

shouldbeapplauded.

carolinefiennes

Director

GivingEvidence

London

professorpaulgarner

LiverpoolSchoolofTropical

Medicine

Poland and the eu

Charlemagne’s toxic rhetoric

on Poland was based on the

false assumption that a Polish

court ruled that the “country’s

constitution trumped funda­

mental parts of eulaw”, such

as “ever closer union” (October

16th). The Polish Constitution­

al Tribunal did not terminate

the controlled provisions of

the treaty; they are not dero­

gated from the Polish legal

system. The judgment uses the

formula “in so far”, which

means that only certain in­

terpretations of the treaty

provisions are incompatible

with the Polish constitution.

The judgment of the

Constitutional Tribunal does

not question the idea of the

principle of the primacy of eu

law, within the limits of con­

ferral (Article 5 of the treaty),

nor does it result in its blanket

entitlement to question it by

other authorities. The court is

well versed and competent in

reviewing eulaw. It adjudged

Poland’s accession treaty in

2005 and the Lisbon treaty in

2010. Similar institutions exist
in other member states.
Poland will remain in the
euas a dedicated promoter of
the open single market, free
trade, industrial policy, en­
largement policy, the Eastern
Partnership, border control
and an adequate budgetary
response to a post­covid Eu­
rope. Turn your attention to
other European capitals if you
are looking for a gap between
pro­eudeclarations and deeds.
konrad szymanski
Minister for European Union
affairs
Warsaw

Liberals can turn conservative

Your graphic detail algorithm

on interstate political migra­

tion in America (October 16th)

ignores the distinct possibility

that latte­loving liberals will

become gas­guzzling gun

lovers when faced with fron­

tier reality in Alaska, Montana

and other red states. 

david martin

Miami

Responding to email

Bartleby’s column on how to

write a great out­of­office reply

(October 9th) brought to mind

my favourite out­of­office

message: “You’re receiving this

automated response because I

am out of the office on vaca­

tion. Had I been in the office,

you likely would have received

no response at all.” 

rahul bafna

New York

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