Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1477424
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 AUGUST 2022 NEWS SUPPORTLINE 1777 MATTHEW VELLA 200 metric tonnes of manure daily is not simply cowsh**, says one of Malta's foremost vegan campaigners. "The cost is the climate," Darryl Grima, the VeggyMalta founder, says as he prepares for his organisation's annual meat-free campaign 'Go Meat Free For a Week'. As a critic of the dairy and meat industry, Grima highlighted a MaltaToday story showing that daily production of cow and pig manure in Malta reaching peaks of 250 tonnes, requiring its sep- aration from liquids to be reused as solids in agriculture. Grima, a member of the 'End The Slaughter-Age' Campaign, argues that all animal-based food industries – meat, fish, dairy, eggs – have a devastating impact on the environment. He adds that Malta's "shocking" manure issue hides the impact that the meat and dairy industry have on the climate. "The local milk and meat in- dustry are major contributors to climate change," Grima said, who challenges the notion that animal milk is healthy. "The 200 metric tonnes of slurry waste every day is just a small part of the climate impact the industry generates: the main source of methane is ac- tually coming out from the con- stant belching of cows, as a result of enteric fermentation in their intestinal tract." The meat industry, for example – and cows, in particular – gen- erates more than 15% of green- house gases, globally. Grima insists that it is impor- tant that people make the con- nection between the extreme heat, rising temperatures, the fires across Europe and the glass of milk they drink. "Don't support this 'shitty' business," Grima said, who cam- paigns for plant-based milk as the healthy option, which can be pro- duced from coconut, pea, soya, rice, oat, almond, cashew, hazel- nut, tiger-nut, hemp, potato and more. "Apart from being choles- terol-free, all plant based milks have a lower climate impact that animal milks." Dairy war Veganism in Malta has grown in recent years, and with it, a greater awareness of the effect of meat and dairy on human health and the climate. But critics are met with force by the animal rearing industry. When Malta's animal welfare commissioner, Alison Bezzina, marked World Milk Day with a social media post challenging the need for human consumption of milk, farming activists called the statement an insult to dairy farmers. Bezzina's post took a sharp tone on the production of milk, which scientifically cannot be produced by cows unless they have just given birth. The separation of calves from the mother ensures the cow keeps producing milk, a process informed by the mater- nal instinct, but the young are fed formula. "[Cows] are forcefully and artificially impregnated every year to keep them producing milk… even when separated from their calves, they will continue to produce milk, for months. But this is taken away and sold to consumers. This cycle is repeated every year and only ends with the cow's slaughter," Bezzina said, who hashtagged her post with #crueltyfree and #plantbased. All humans can digest milk in infancy. But the ability to do so as an adult developed fairly recent- ly, likely in the past 6,000 years. A handful of mutations allows adults to produce the enzyme lactase, which can break down the milk sugar lactose. While animal rights activists applauded the post, Borg's reac- tion prompted a slew of critical comments. "It is a pity for the country that for such a scientific matter as animal welfare we have a Commissioner who has no idea of any aspects of the subject mat- ter," MCAST's deputy director for agriculture studies Malcolm Borg, also founder of the Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi. "This issue is sensationalized so easily that logic, rationale or simple research is bypassed. And the Commissioner thinks that she's doing the animals a favour by further adding fuel to the fire. Vegans think they are called for this battle to fight the livestock evil," Borg said. Borg also called Bezzina's ap- pointment a sop to animal lovers, saying she was not informed as to the difference between animal welfare and animal rights. Manure problem hides impact of dairy on climate, says vegan activist