- Chris MacDonald is a Toronto-based ethicist, professor, speaker and consultant.
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Category Archives: animal rights
Ethics of the World’s First Synthetic Burger
So, the world’s first synthetic burger has been cultured, minced, fried and consumed. (Mark Post, the scientist who conceived of and grew the synthetic burger, had announced a year and a half ago his near-term intention to produce and test … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, biotechnology, ethics, factory farms, meat, natural, science
4 Comments
Ethics of Eating Meat
A recent Toronto Star piece on the ethics of eating meat quotes me, briefly, on the topic of lab-grown meat (something I’ve blogged about before). The main point of the article, however, is to make an attempt to marshall a … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, choice, health, kids, meat, nutrition
3 Comments
The Complex Politics of Food Ethics
Here’s a useful short piece by James McWilliams, writing for The Atlantic: Meat: What Big Agriculture and the Ethical Butcher Have in Common I’ve repeatedly argued that supporting alternatives to the industrial production of animal products serves the ultimate interest … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, meat, values
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Canada Geese for NYC Homeless: Yes
This is such an obviously-good idea that I’m not sure why it’s even news. Activist says feeding homeless with geese ‘ethical’ A Virginia-based locavore activist says New York City is doing the “ethical thing” by sending its culled Canada Geese … Continue reading
Posted in activism, animal rights, animal welfare, sustainability, wildlife
1 Comment
Breast Milk Ice Cream?
From the BBC: Breast milk ice cream goes on sale in Covent Garden A restaurant in London’s Covent Garden is serving a new range of ice cream, made with breast milk. The dessert, called Baby Gaga, is churned with donations … Continue reading
Posted in animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, milk, natural
1 Comment
Horse Meat (again)
Two days ago I blogged about Horse Meat Ethics. I discussed the fact that eating horse is considered taboo (in many places), and that slaughtering horses is illegal in the U.S., despite the fact that a) horse is widely eaten … Continue reading
Posted in activism, agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, meat, values
1 Comment
Horse Meat Ethics
In case you didn’t know, slaughtering horses for human consumption is legal in Canada (where I live), but illegal in the U.S. That’s not to say that eating horses is common in Canada. Far from it. But it is apparently … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, ethics, law, meat
9 Comments
PETA and Fur in Canada
This one isn’t strictly about food, but the relevance is pretty clear. The question: in a nation (i.e., Canada) built, once upon a time, on the fur trade, can a politician wrap his family in fur and win a public … Continue reading
Posted in activism, animal rights, animal welfare, ethics
1 Comment
Waste Not, Want Not: Nutria as Ethical Fur (and Meat?)
This story isn’t about food, really, but it could have been. It’s about the use of fur from the toothy beast known as the nutria (a.k.a. swamp rat) in the world of fashion, and the attempt to market its pelt … Continue reading
Posted in animal rights, ecosystems, ethics, meat, vegetarianism
4 Comments
Beer as Taxidermy
I guess if you’re going to push your luck in terms of social objections to your product, you might as well push hard. In particular, if you’re going to produce a beer (typically a low-alcohol beverage) with 55% alcohol, you … Continue reading
Posted in alcohol, animal rights, ethics, marketing
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