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Tax Meat Products, Reduce Meat Consumption and Global Warming, and Save Animals

I am all for taxing unhealthy things.  People tend to stop and think twice about purchasing alcohol, tobacco, and, of course, soda with all that high fructose corn syrup.  

Let’s see, it has been well documented that excessive alcohol consumption will lead to liver disease; tobacco causes lung and other respiratory diseases, and drinking a lot of soda and eating a lot of sweets contribute to obesity and diabetes.  

Many individuals have argued that government taxation of the above mentioned products is unfair, but our society is often taxed unfairly by individuals who consume unhealthy food products and who then require, later on in life, thousands of dollars in medical care to try and halt their conditions to live longer.  As if our health care system isn’t taxed enough already!

Peter Singer, an ethicist and professor of bioethics at Princeton University, published an op-ed piece in the New York Daily News and he has called for a 50% tax on all meat products.  Based upon sound scientific research , Professor Singer makes a strongbox case why a meat tax would be more effective at bettering public health and protecting the environment.  

Just think, the cost of cardiovascular disease which has been linked with high consumption of animal products, was $475.3 billion in 2009.  The health care losses related to smoking, in contrast, from 2000 to 2004 were $96 billion per year.  And interestingly enough, methane produced by farm animals is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas.  

Please sign the petition below urging your elected politicians to consider taxing meat products just like they do for other unhealthy products.  We would have a better chance of living a more healthy life, reducing global warming in the process, and most importantly, stopping the killing of innocent domesticated animals for only a moment of culinary satisfaction.

This petition was delivered to:
  • The President of the United States

    Bryan D. Freehling started this petition with a single signature, and now has 465 supporters. Start a petition today to change something you care about.