A group of international academics have criticised Ireland’s state farm advisory service Teagasc for its support of a declaration by scientists advocating for the “societal role” of meat.
The “Dublin Declaration” has been criticised as being “scientifically problematic” by academics from France, the US, the Czech Republic and Germany in an international journal called Environmental Science and Policy.
They said the Dublin Declaration “masks the environmentally harmful character of much of today’s animal production, and the pressing need for reductions in animal consumption in wealthy countries to allow for an ecologically sustainable food system.”
The academics analysed the “Dublin Declaration” in a paper called “The Dublin Declaration: Gain for the Meat Industry, Loss for Science”.
“Besides its disproportionate land and water use, today’s animal production also disproportionately contributes to climate change and the acidification and eutrophication of the environment,” they added.
The Dublin Declaration promoted animal farming and outlined “nutritional and health benefits” which it said were “lacking in diets globally”.
The declaration said: “Livestock systems must progress on the basis of the highest scientific standards. They are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry.”
The declaration was set up following a summit two years ago which was hosted by Teagasc.
Teagasc’s assistant director of research Declan Troy was one of the declaration’s authors.
However, it was criticised because some of the authors have links with the meat industry.
In the Dáil last year then Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan said: “Teagasc is lending its funding and credibility to a campaign that is undermining efforts to tackle climate change and take science seriously within the EU.”
She said Teagasc provided €39,000 of funding for the summit which led to the declaration.
In their analysis last month, the academics said that there was evidence that the Dublin Declaration has been used at “the highest levels of European policy making”
They said that in 2022 the then EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, gave the document a positive recommendation.
The document was also referenced in the European Parliament’s protein strategy.
Teagasc did not respond to requests for comment.
However, last year it told the Irish Examiner that it “routinely hosts international scientific conferences to bring together the latest science available on a particular topic, and to facilitate discussion around the science”.
