How does the meat lobby influence EU policy?
Channel: FoodUnfolded
Date: 2023-12-18

Lobbying is legitimate, is legal, it has always been done. But are all lobbying practices fair? Together with the investigative journalism organisation Lighthouse Reports, we’ve just asked this question in relation to the Dublin Declaration.

The Dublin Declaration is a manifesto about the importance of meat production that was published last year and has been signed by more than 1000 scientists around the world. It was also one of the pieces of evidence used by meat lobbies to push back against legislation proposals about animal welfare and environmental issues. People representing meat lobbying efforts claim that it is “independent, nothing to do with the livestock industry.”

The Guardian and Unearthed  had already carried out an investigation on the authors’ backgrounds, revealing that they do indeed have affiliations with industry. But what about the one thousand signatories?

Together with Lighthouse Reports, we’ve analysed the backgrounds of all of the signatories. It turns out that 60% of them have affiliations with the meat industry and 30% of them have backgrounds other than relevant environmental or public health science. There is a 10% overlap between the two sets.

This is another example of our need to request more science, evidence, and transparency in lobbying practices and policy making. If you want to do something about it, share this video and write to your relevant MEPs to notice them about this research! 

European Parliament MEPs: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/full-list/all 

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Introduction
0:11 What is lobbying?
0:50 Lobbying casting doubt on science
1:30 European policies to limit intensive meat production
2:00 What is the Dublin Declaration?
3:11 Problems with the Dublin Declaration
4:01 Affiliations behind the Dublin Declaration
04:41 The truth behind meat lobby science

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Research: FoodUnfolded and Lighthouse Reports Teams
Writing: FoodUnfolded Team
Hosting: Silvia Lazzaris
Video Direction: Arturo Vicario
Video Editing: Elettro Santo
Motion Graphics: Eloise Adler 

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