From the Sept/Oct '90 edition of
Agscene - journal of
Compassion in World Farming:
In an astonishing speech to the International Meat Trade Association
on the 1st May, Agriculture Minister John Gummer MP said "I consider
meat to be an essential part of the diet. The Bible tells us that we are
masters of the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field, and we very
properly eat them...If the Almighty had wanted us to have 3 stomachs
(like grass-eating cattle), I am sure He could have arranged it, but He
chose to make us omnivores instead". (But actually, Mr Gummer, cows
have 4 stomachs.) He went on to attack "those who encourage children
to become vegetarian on grounds which have nothing to do with truth and
everything to do with prejudice".
Well, we couldn't let him get away with that. So we wrote to
The Times which had broken the news and had our letter
published. We circulated a more detailed version of our letter to the
press in general, and were pleased to see it published in dozens of
local papers. We reprint it here:
"Has 'mad cow disease' spread to the Ministry of Agriculture already?
We understand that John Gummer MP, Minister of Agriculture, has declared
that 'the Almighty' has designed mankind to eat meat, that only meat
eaters are 'sensible' that vegetarians and the like are using food as a
'religion substitute' and are 'deeply undemocratic food faddists".
(Speech reported in The Times, May 5, 1990.)
"What ignorance! What insensitivity! Has Mr Gummer never read the
British Medical Association's 1986 Report on Diet, Nutrition and Health?
This declares: "Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart
disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders, and cancers and
gall stones".
"In spite of his apparently intimate knowledge of the designs of "the
Almighty", Mr Gummer has ignored Genesis 1.29 in which that same
Almighty tells man to eat "every herb bearing seed...and every tree, in
which is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed; to you it shall be for
meat".
"Worst of all, Mr Gummer has shown his total ignorance of the main
reason why people become vegetarian - because they can no longer
tolerate the thought of pregnant sows being chained to the floor, of the
35m broiler chickens a year dying in their crowded sheds before they
even reach slaughter weight at six weeks old, of thousands of farm
animals improperly stunned or not stunned at all and conscious of
choking to death in their own blood in our ramshackle slaughterhouses
every week. All these scenarios are tolerated by Mr Gummer's own
Ministry.
"Compassion in World Farming hopes that if Mr Gummer cannot be
sensitive to humans, he could at least be sensitive to the sufferings of
the farm animals for which he is ultimately responsible, and act boldly
to ban the cruelties of the factory farm and the slaughterhouse."
Back in the House of Commons, Labour's agricultural spokesman, Dr
David Clark MP, said Mr Gummer's remarks were insulting and claimed
"Most vegetarians are kind, Christian, intelligent people and Mr Gummer
demeans his office by bringing in his religious zeal".
Tony Benn MP, a staunch vegetarian, claimed the remarks were
disgraceful and the Speaker, Bernard Weatherill MP, another vegetarian,
admitted he had written to Mr Gummer "giving him a quotation from
Romans (C.XIV 19-21) which I think should put the matter in its proper
perspective".
Outside the House, respected food journalist Derek Cooper claimed Mr
Gummer was perhaps unwise "to drag God into his defence of animal
farming and animal slaughter and meat eating" and praised CIWF's
stand against factory farming. (Scotland on Sunday 13.5.90.)
Anne Halliday of the British Nutrition Foundation was quick to point
out "Meat is not an essential part of the human diet...If you take
baked beans and toast together, they are just as good as meat".
(Daily Express, 3.5.90)
May we suggest that someone gives Mr Gummer a present of "Food for a
Future" by Jon Wynne-Tyson (an Athene Trust trustee) - surely the
ultimate book giving all the scientific and philosophical arguments for
vegetarianism?.
