Caring about Global Health Implies Committing to Qualified Moral Veganism

This article explores whether veganism is required to protect global health. I start from the theory that we should always aim to promote the greatest positive ‘Global Health Impact’ (‘GHI’). I then outline that diets that include animal products generally fail to optimise positive GHI. The first reason is that the consumption of animal products is frequently preceded by the human infliction of death upon the animals whose products are being consumed. The second reason is that animals frequently suffer significant pain in the process of being reared or caught for human consumption. My third concern is that the consumption of animal products frequently impacts negatively upon our physical health. I provide recent evidence to support these reasons before turning to a neglected fourth reason the consumption of animal products is frequently problematic: its impact on our mental health. While reasons one to three do not provide persuasive arguments against the consumption of animal products given that such consumption is possible without impacting negatively either upon nonhuman animals or upon our physical health, giving due consideration to the fourth reason is, in most situations, devastating for the human consumption of animal products. The conclusion is that caring about global health implies committing to qualified moral veganism.