When the harmful side effects of the sleeping pill thalidomide became known in 1961, and quite a number of children were born with deformities, the medication was taken off the market.
When it became known that dioxins, such as the so-called Seveso poison, for example, and that TCDD is one of the most dangerous environmental poisons of all because of its dangerous effects on health, a worldwide ban on dioxins was passed at the “Stockholm Convention” in 2001.
When it became known that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are poisonous and cause cancer, the chemical chlorine compounds – which up until the 1980s were primarily used in transformers and condensers, as hydraulic fluids, as well as softeners in lacquers, in thickening agents, insulating materials and plastics –were banned worldwide.
Since it is known that the liver of children and youth can only partially break down alcohol, and that brain development can be strongly impaired by alcohol, under paragraph 9 of the law protecting young people, it is forbidden to serve alcohol to youths under 16 unaccompanied by an adult.
Since it has been determined that one third of all cancer illnesses in industrial countries can be traced back to the use of tobacco, the German government banned advertising of tobacco products in newspapers, magazines, in Internet and at sport events.
Recent studies at various universities confirm that eating meat raises the risk of becoming ill with cancer, heart and circulatory diseases, diabetes, gout and rheumatism. In 2003, a study by the Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg concluded that vegetarians have a much lower mortality risk.
With the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2006 and 2007, it became known that the production of livestock produces 18% of the CO2 contributing to the greenhouse effect. This means that eating meat has a larger share in the climate change than all means of transportation worldwide.
So, isn’t it high time for the governments of this world to think about a worldwide ban on meat?
