What's the true cost of eating meat?

The Guardian.com (May 7, 2018); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Don't preach about diet. Meat is meat. When the animals run out, why differentiate?

As concerns over the huge impact on the environment, human health, and animal welfare grow, what future is there for the meat industry? asks Bibi van der Zee.

What are the economics of slaughtered meat?

Slaughtered, industrial meat is "poison"

Food and farming is one of the biggest economic sectors in the world.

We outgrew the 14th century, when as much as 76% of the population worked in agriculture -- but farming still employs more than 26% of all workers globally.

And that does not include the people who work along the meat supply chain: the slaughterers, packagers, retailers, and bloody chefs.

In 2016, the world’s meat production was estimated at 317 million metric tons [which translates into too many killed animals to count], and that is expected to continue to grow.

I'm not sick. I kill and eat animals. So what?

Figures for the value of the global meat industry vary wildly from $90 billion to as much as $741bn.

Although the number of people directly employed by farming is currently less than 2% in the UK, the food chain now includes the agribusiness companies, the retailers, and the entertainment sector.

According to the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, in 2014 the food and drink manufacturing sector contributed £27bn to the economy and employed 3.8 million people.

Killing animals ruins the environment.

It's difficult to separate out the contribution meat production makes to this -- particularly globally. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization states that livestock is about 40% of the global value of agricultural output and supports the livelihoods and food security of almost a 1.3 billion people.

What about animal welfare?

Growing cows in Brazilian Amazon because who needs to breathe? (Rodrigo Baleaia)

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In Britain we’ve been regulating animal welfare since the slightly unfortunately named “Humanity Dick” (real name Richard Martin) got the Cruel and Improper treatment of cattle bill passed in 1822.
 
But the idea of animal welfare and animal rights remains a hugely controversial one. In 1975 philosopher Peter Singer argued in Animal Liberation that the boundary between humans and animals is completely arbitrary.

Although campaign groups such as the RSPCA (founded in the 19th century) had long been trying to improve animal welfare, Singer’s book arguably kicked off the modern animal rights movement.
 
The result of much campaigning and pressure has been a number of regulations. In 1998 the European commission passed a directive which stated that all animals kept for farming purposes must reflect the “five freedoms”:

1. freedom from hunger and thirst;
2. discomfort;
3. pain;
4. injury and disease;
5. fear and distress, and freedom to express normal behavior.

40th year anniversary ed.

In 2009 the Lisbon Treaty recognized animals as sentient beings. In 2012 an international group of scientists met at Cambridge University to sign (in the presences of Stephen Hawking) the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which declares:

“[T]he weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”

Globally OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health, has a number of standards. More