FOOD CRISIS: ITALIAN ONCOLOGIST AND EX MINISTER OF HEALTH CALLS FOR “LESS MEAT AND WATER CONSERVATION”

The lack of food and water is an immense problem that the world will have to confront in the near future, and which scientific experts are already being called upon to find solutions.

Italian oncologist, Umberto Veronesi, has decided to respond with the theme “Food & Water for Life” for the “Future of Science” international convention to be held from 24 to 27 September 2008 in Venice.

“Food, with all of its contradictions, is the protagonist” – explained Veronesi – “because today there are countries where too much food creates diseases (diabetes, obesity, heart disease, tumors) and countries where people die of hunger”. According to Veronesi this trend just continues to get worse, “because we all know that within the global economic regime, rich countries are getting richer while poor countries are getting poorer: it is the law of the free market”.

Veronesi, who has also covered the role of Italian Minister of Health, believes the greatest risk is that the western food model is being imposed on emerging countries like China and India, along with all of its defects like that of a surplus of protein consumption derived from animals. “For this reason” – continued Veronesi – “we have called to Venice the top experts to discuss the world food situation”.

The oncologist from Milan also stated that he believes in particular, “it will be necessary to decrease the consumption of meat and conserve water…
Today on the planet there are 6 billion humans and 3 billion farm animals that, in weight, are equivalent to 6 billion humans. In order to nourish them, enormous quantities of water and grain are necessary. I ask myself what will happen when the 2 billion people who are reaching a healthy state are added to the 1 billion people who already consume a lot of meat”. And Veronesi, who is a vegetarian, responds to his own question: “the idea of reducing meat consumption should not be frightening. One or two times a week should be an attainable goal, which would re-balance costs and facilitate health”.