Meat Taxes will reduce Health Care Costs and Deaths for Humans

Studies have shown that about over two million deaths could be prevented yearly and a total of about £216bn could be saved in terms of yearly health costs by 2020. These deaths according to the research, would occur mainly because of the consumption of red and processed meats.

The researchers studied the efforts of 149 regions of the world to encourage meat consumers to make healthy choices by taxation of food items. This was related with the rate at which these taxes affected the amount of meat consumed.

Processed meats from sources such as lamb, pigs, and cattle are classified by the World Health Organization as carcinogenic, and as ‘probably carcinogenic in unprocessed forms’ as they have been ‘linked to coronary heart diseases, stroke and type 2 diabetes.’

Oxford University researchers have remarked that ‘many high and middle-income countries exceed the recommended red and processed meat levels. This poses a serious risk on ‘the health of consumers, the health care system and the economy of the nations.’

Dr. Marco Springmann’s study has shown that the prices for red meats would need to be jacked up by 20% and processed meats would need to be about 50% more expensive to account for the monetary cost to health that these meats could pose.

The study furthermore revealed that if appropriate health taxes were brought in by the government of countries, the purchase and eating of processed meat would drop by about 16% worldwide and consumers would turn to unprocessed and red meat. This, if implemented, could save thousands of life and health care costs.

It would also have positive influences on the economy as the treasury would benefit immensely from the funds from the sack. The ozone layer would also smile as studies have shown that reduction in the consumption of beef reduces global greenhouse gas emissions and that individuals who consume more red meat than processed products tend to live longer.