GLP podcast and video: Eating meat = cannibalism? Glyphosate safety reaffirmed (again); The science-free campaign against aspartame

Is meat-eating analogous to human sacrifice? One Washington Post contributor says yes, but how strong is her case? Another expert panel has reaffirmed the safety of the weedkiller glyphosate. Is the long-running debate over the chemical nearing its end? Activists and lawyers are targeting the sweetener aspartame as a supposed cause of cancer. Is there any science backing up their claim?

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Video:

Join host Dr. Liza Dunn and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 227 of Science Facts and Fallacies as they break down these latest news stories:

• Viewpoint: With meat alternatives flourishing, ‘people might eventually look back on meat-eating much the way we view cannibalism and human sacrifice’

As synthetic alternatives to animal foods become more widely available, some proponents say the world will begin to look at meat eating as akin to universally deplored behaviors like human sacrifice. Although novel products like lab-grown burgers have some promise, many questions remain about their suitability to completely replace animals as a source of nutrients. For instance, is it truly sustainable to mass produce these products as part of an effort to end animal agriculture? And more fundamentally, is it actually unethical to eat animals? If so, why?

• Safety of herbicide glyphosate reaffirmed by European Food Safety Authority, rejecting activist claims

Another massive evidence review conducted by experts in Europe has reaffirmed that glyphosate poses minimal risk to human health and can be safely used by farmers. The report was followed by leaked news that the European Union will reauthorize the weedkiller for another 15 years, signaling its rejection of activist claims that glyphosate poses a cancer risk to humans. How much longer will the world continue to fight over the settled science behind this herbicide?

• Aspartame spins the $25 billion Wheel of Mis-Fortune: How the environmental activist—tort lawyer money machine manipulates journalists, misleads policymakers and scares the public

In a campaign that bears a striking resemblance to the crusade against glyphosate, tort lawyers and activist groups now assert that the artificial sweetener aspartame is carcinogenic. As with their earlier claims about the weedkiller, their case against aspartame rests on a report from the controversial International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Is this widely studied sweetener a grave concern to public health, as some organic food proponents claim? Let’s take a closer look at the evidence.

Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter @camjenglish