TV evangelist is half right: He says meatless burgers are evil, which of course they are, which in turn alters DNA

[Yoused]

… it’s a healthier life choice, proponents maintain, but it’s also a better choice for creating a positive environmental impact on our planet.

The Beyond Meat burger uses 99 percent less water, 93 percent less land and 90 percent less fossil fuel emissions; the Impossible Burger uses 87 percent less water, 96 percent less land, and 89 percent less fossil fuel emissions than a quarter pound of regular ground beef.

Sorry, no, those numbers are utter bullshit.

The claim about lower water usage is an out-and-out lie. The crops used to fake meat, especially corn and soy, are major water users. There is no way in hell that those numbers are even close.

The land used to run cattle is scrub desert and rangeland that is simply unsuitable for agriculture, so that argument is absolute nonsense.

Fossil fuels are heavily used across ag, so I would be surprised to find out that the figures could be massaged to yield that much (or even any) difference between meat and faux meat.

Which is in no way suggesting that the meat industry is just fine or that we should drive the alternatives off the face of the earth – there are obviously issues, probably huge ones, with meat production that seriously need to be addressed (antibiotic abuse is one of the biggest). But there are also issues with agriculture in general that need to be addressed (monoculture is very dangerous).

In the end, we cannot have sustainable food production without pairing it with sustainable consumption. And it is not clear that we can have either in a corporate-dominated, minimally-regulated free market environment. There are some things for which laissez faire capitalism is just not a good fit, and food production is a big one.

 

[AG_PhamD]

Well, technically what you eat could affect epigenetic factors- basically how genes express themselves.

If he wants to claim meatless meat alters DNA, wouldn’t that also mean eating vegetables alters DNA too? Someone apparently never took middle school biology to understand how DNA works.

As misguided and toxic as these radical Christian televangelists are, they are truly an endless source of humorous entertainment.

 

[DT]

Well, technically what you eat could affect epigenetic factors- basically how genes express themselves.

My genes express themselves through free form modern dance.

 

[lizkat]

My genes express themselves through free form modern dance.

Your genes all look like one or another artisan roast coffee bean by now, no? Every time I drop into a coffee thread there's another brew I haven't tried yet and the post is by you!

 

[Yoused]

Your genes all look like one or another artisan roast coffee bean by now, no?

DT's genes seem to espresso themselves?