- Chris MacDonald is a Toronto-based ethicist, professor, speaker and consultant.
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Category Archives: ethics
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
Wildlife Farming in Vietnam
This is an interesting bit about value conflict. In particular, it’s about the dangers of focusing on “natural” foods, when those “natural” foods are either endangered or en route to being so. Here’s the story, by Rachel Nuwer, for Science: … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, ethics, health claims, marketing, meat, organic, public policy, values, wildlife
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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
Children, Food, and Indoctrination
A few weeks back, this video of a precocious kid talking about the ethics of food made the rounds. I wasn’t sure what to say about it. I guess it’s finally time. I don’t like to pick on kids, but … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, agriculture, children, consumerism, ethics, factory farms, farmers, genetic modification, health claims, industrial, kids, local, marketing, meat, organic, values
4 Comments
Cloning and “Proportionate” Regulatory Response to Risk
Regulation, it perhaps goes without saying, is a tricky business. It necessarily involves a small number of politicians, bureaucrats, and technical advisors devising and implementing rules on a staggering range of activities and products and services. The number of issues … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, cloning, ethics, health, meat, nanotechnology, public policy, regulation
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Food Unites Us, and Tears us Apart
As my American friends prepare for Thanksgiving, it’s interesting to note the dual cultural tendencies of food to unite us and to divide us. This past Sunday, over at my Business Ethics Blog, I posted what has turned out to … Continue reading
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
Are Self-Righteous Foodies Self-Defeating?
Here’s a lovely, thoughtful piece from NYT food blogger Peter Meehan: Grass Fed | A Few Beefs The piece consists of 3 anecdotes. In each, Meehan — himself a serious foodie — is either subjected to, or sees someone else … Continue reading
The Controversial Pom & Pistachio Magnates
Here’s an excellent piece on California philanthropists/fruit magnates Lynda and Stewart Resnick. By Susan Berfield, writing for Bloomberg Businessweek: A Pistachio Farmer, Pom Wonderful, and the FTC On an unexpectedly rainy October day in Los Angeles, Stewart Resnick looks out … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, ethics, farmers, FDA, health claims, regulation
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A (Uniquely?) Ethical Dairy Farm
When it comes to marketing food these days, few buzzwords seem to carry more weight than that simple 6-letter word, “ethics.” See this story, from the BBC: A new ethical farm opens at Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishnas at Bhaktivedanta Manor … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, animal welfare, ethics, factory farms, religion
3 Comments
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