The Dublin Declaration: nearly a thousand scientists against vegan zealots

Livestock systems must progress on the basis of the highest scientific standards. They are too precious to society to become victims of simplification, reductionism or bigotry. These systems must continue to be integrated into society and have broad acceptance by society. For this, scientists are invited to provide reliable evidence of the nutritional and health benefits of animal products, environmental sustainability, socio-cultural and economic values, as well as solutions for the many necessary improvements of animal husbandry. This statement aims to give a voice to the many scientists around the world who are diligently, honestly and successfully researching various disciplines in order to achieve a balanced vision of the future of agriculture and animal husbandry.

Today's food systems face an unprecedented double challenge. On the one hand, there is the request to increase the availability of foods of animal origin (meat, dairy products, eggs) to help meet the inadequately covered nutritional needs of about three billion people, which contributes to stunting, to wasting, anemia and other forms of malnutrition. At the same time, some animal production methods and systems present challenges to biodiversity, climate change and nutrient flows, as well as animal health and welfare within a broad One Health approach. With strong population growth, concentrated largely among socio-economically vulnerable and urban areas of the world that depend heavily on animals for livelihoods, supply and sustainability challenges grow exponentially and evidence-based solutions become more ever more urgent.

Animal-based foods provide a variety of essential nutrients and other health-promoting compounds, many of which are deficient in diets globally, even among higher-income populations. People with good economic resources can follow adequate diets by limiting meat, dairy products and eggs. However, this approach should not be recommended for the general population, especially those with high needs, such as children and adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, women of reproductive age, the elderly and the chronically ill. The highest standard of bio-evolutionary, anthropological, physiological and epidemiological evidence underline that regular consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs, as part of a balanced diet, is beneficial to humans.

Farm animals are invaluable in maintaining a circular material flow in agriculture by recycling in various ways the large amounts of inedible biomass that are generated as by-products during the production of food for the human diet. Livestock animals are optimally positioned to convert these materials in the natural cycle and simultaneously produce high quality feed. Ruminants in particular are also able to exploit marginal lands that are not suitable for the direct production of human food. Furthermore, well-managed livestock systems that apply agro-ecological principles can generate many other benefits, including carbon sequestration, improved soil health, biodiversity, riverbank protection and the provision of important ecosystem services. While the livestock sector faces several major challenges from natural resource utilization and climate change that require action, simplified solutions such as drastic reductions in animal numbers could actually lead to large-scale environmental problems .

For millennia, animal husbandry has provided mankind with food, clothing, energy, manure, employment and income, as well as goods, guarantees, insurance and social status. Foods of animal origin are the most readily available source of high quality protein and several essential nutrients for the global consumer. Animal ownership is also the most frequent form of private ownership of property in the world and forms the basis of financial capital in rural communities. In some of these, livestock is one of the few assets that women can own, and it is a starting point towards gender equality. Advances in animal science and related technologies are currently improving the performance of livestock systems along all of the above dimensions, such as health, environment and socio-economics, faster than at any point in history.

Human civilization has been built on animal husbandry since the beginning of the Bronze Age more than 5,000 years ago, to become the foundation of food security for today's societies. Animal husbandry is the millennia-proven method of creating healthy food and secure livelihoods, a wisdom deeply rooted in cultural values ​​everywhere. Sustainable farming will also provide solutions to the further current challenge of staying within the safe operating zone of planet Earth's borders, the only one we have.

For scientific evidence, refer to the recordings of the October 19/20, 2022 “International Summit on the Societal Role of Meat” presentation and the Special Issue of Animal Frontiers .