Ashley Fruno, Associate Director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia.
The loss of jobs in Ipswich, and in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants which are closing down around Australia, is a symptom that should not be ignored – people are turning away from meat
A poll released last year by Roy Morgan Research revealed that between 2012 and 2016, the number of Australian adults who are eating all or almost all vegetarian rose to over two million (11.2 per cent of the population).
The jobs of the future will not be in filthy, dehumanising work slicing up terrified animals, but in new technology that grows clean, hygienic meat in the lab. The world’s richest man, Bill Gates, and fellow billionaire Richard Branson have joined other business giants in putting their money where our mouths will be. They have noticed that consumers are demanding protein that’s less reliant on feed, land and water. Branson wrote this week that, in the future, “we will no longer need to kill any animals and that all meat will either be clean or plant-based, taste the same and also be much healthier for everyone.”
The way meat is produced today creates major problems for the environment, human health and of course the billions of animals kept in appalling conditions and slaughtered in terror and agony. The meat of the future, for those who choose to eat meat, will be cruelty-free.
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