Soya contains: apiol, that inflames specific organs allowing the cancer nucleus easy entry and causing malignancy; absorption blocking: trypsin (protein) phytates (iron, magensium etc); Is high in plant oestrogens (play havoc with thyroid and sex hormones). Soya is not a food for animal or human.

ThomasT, Vienna, Austria

Why is it up to developed countries to keep bailing out the 3rd world?

They need to stop producing so many children.
We need to stop paying the price for their recklessness.

Matthew, Derby, UK

I am gobsmacked by (L.A. ISUFI, Bergen County.N.J, United States)'s comment! I think he should be the last one to talk like this coming from a country which wants to sell its infertile GM seeds to these countries making them completely dependent to themselves so they could fill their belly more!!!!!

Guldal, Brighton,

To those calling for set aside to be scrapped - it is. Set aside is 0% this year and last.

Foo, Edinburgh,

Yes, people have the right to food, but they also must work to earn it. How much longer can E.U feed the needy of the world, especially those of Africa?. Does any one works in Africa any more?, Or they wait for gifts from Christian Europe to arrive on time as usual,like the rains of Serenngeti.

L.A. ISUFI, Bergen County.N.J, United States

Governments have not invested enough in agriculture? Ridiculous argument, as expected, from the UN. The biggest problem is food market dabbling by governments, and the EU is especially guilty of that. Open up markets, eliminate subsidies, and you'd go a long way to solving the problem.

Nick, Rotherham, UK

One recalls that an epidemic of CJD was to happen after the BSE crisis of 12 years ago. The government told us this, so it must be true. After all, a species specific prion must, of course, pass unceremoniously in cooked meats to homo sapiens. Goes without saying: another media furore to sell copy.

Dwight Vandryver, Scholar Green, Cheshire, UK

Ban Vegetarianism and Veganism! If they did their fair share of eating meat like the rest of us, there would be more grains and vegetables to go around and less livestock to feed!

Ludicrous? No more than feeding herbivores meat byproducts. How's about a ban on biofuels? Makes more sense.

Ali Hughes, Calgary, Canada

Graham at Havant: Answer the question, not use it as a forum to convert omnivore humans to your veggie or vegan ideas.

alan, benalmadena, spain

Remember when Mrs. Thatcher caved in to animal feed suppliers and allowed them to de-regulate their meat heat-treatment to save money.

It resulted in BSE and vCJD. Well, their lobby is at it again. Don't trust them.

Jack Briggs, Penistone, UK

Could someone tell me if UK and EU still operate the 'set aside' scheme whereby landowners and farmers are paid large amounts of money NOT to grow food crops on their land?

Paul, London , UK

Everyone should do their bits, stop wasting food & resume to normal diets. In the 60s & 70s I hardly see any fat people & now lots of overweight people. I certainly won't like to eat chicken that is fed with pig meat! Perhaps everyone needs to increase their vegetable consumption!

js, aberdeen, Scotland

My son Andrew (Andy) Black died aged just 24 on 16th December 2007 of vCJD. Join the campaign www.justiceforandy.com his avoidable death due to experts and government (using selective research) endorsing the safety of UK beef products Andrew paid the ultimate price at least 50 years of life/love

christine lord , Portsmouth , UK

Time to finally deal with that EU CAP cash cow (pardon the pun).

Andew, Abu Dhabi,

It has been well documented for decades that an over-reliance on meat as a source of protein for humans has environmental, health and economic consequences. Add to that humanitarian consequences. We can't keep just talking about these global problems and changing nothing. Vegetarianism is the answer

Gilly, berkhamsted, UK

I wonder just how far it is down this path to Soylent Green.... I'm a dedicated carnivore, but we ALL need to eat less meat, and factory-farmed meats and fish should be avoided. In short, consume less, but of a better, more natural quality.

Geoffrey Tudor, Sequim, WA, USA

You would think the most educated would consider lessons learnt for the past and have learnt form that.The fact that we have not had a problem with BSE to date is due to the banning of the practice of feeding our livestoke with animal protien.

Increase farming capacities, support good farmering

Ashley Gumbo, edinburgh, scotland

Is it morally correct to give people BSE? It's time to dump the EU gravy train riding autocrats, they obviously don't live in the real world.

Rob Bain, Derby,

I lived in the country and was not surprised when learned europeans eating carnivorous cows was not a good idea. But I´m surprised is the same people to believe eating a carnivorous chicken and pigs is one.

Mandatory vegetarianism (as long as I don´t live there) seems less bizarre to me.

pprado, S.Paulo, Brazil

Terry Hamblin, in the current situation millions around the world cannot eat less, as they barely survive as it is. Rich people can eat cheaper, poor people die.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

"Is it morally correct to feed people from cutures that do not seem able to control their populations", asks Geoff.

Countries able to directly manage population growth are sufficiently rich enough as not need worry about feeding their people, as they're too busy making money, not growing staples

Andew, Abu Dhabi,

Seem like a little common sense to me, though you will always get the moaners telling us it is wrong. truth is it is easy to have high morals on a full stomach.

D Case, Newquay,

Going against nature is a dangerous practice - the results are all around us, including BSE!

The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing again and expecting a different result!

It is not morally wrong to eat meat, but it is morally wrong to breed uncontrollably.

peterj, malvern, uk

It is not helpful to assume that all the land currently used for growing beef could just be turned over to growing grain. You can't grow grain on most of the pasture of the UK. The slopes are too steep, the ground too poor and the weather too wet. You can grow beef cattle and sheep on this land.

NR, Glasgow, UK

Hang on...how can it 'now' be dafe to lift a ban? Either the science is right or wrong...what does the passing of time have to do with anything? Are we to believe that the issue of CJD has somehow conveniently 'gone away' in practice? EIther someone is twisting the truth now or it was in 1996

James Cullup, Oxford,

The obvious, and ethically (never mind scientifically) less questionable adive would be to reduce meat consumption, rather then this nonsense.

A change of dietary habits -towards a more vegetarian style diet- would go a long way to save the planet's resources and feed the population.

Alan, Edinburgh,

People who can grow their own food rarely go hungry. Trying to link meat eating and world hunger is ridiculous. Stop the wars that prevent people from farming and give landless peasants parcels of land and teach them to farm efficiently. Oh, and don't talk crap about ethics when dining with Mugabe.

SarahN., London, UK

We are omnivores, our stomachs have specific enzymes which allow us to break down the protein in meats... Cows and chickens don't. Hence, they can't process it which is the reason we had the BSC outbreak to begin with. Professor Wall in my opinion is coming from a shakey scientific standing point.

George Saliagopoulos, Staines, U.K.

Getting rid of the requirement for bio fuel in petrol would do more to bring a semblance of order to the price of food, it is after all this single measure that has done the most damage to the stability of the food markets. People could learn to do without cars but it is difficult to do without food

FEF, Tewkesbury,

Absolute rubbish. Mr Patrick Wall obviously knows nothing about economics. As for the EU the easiest way to reduce food prices is to do away with CAP subsidies, while internationally production of Bio-fuels from food plantsshould be stopped. Question who has been lobbying for the removal of the ban.

Daniel Cramer, Welwyn, UK

What happened to grass?

Anyone who thinks that risking the food chain yet again is reasonable has no place in food safety...

Ian, Cardiff, UK

Is it morally correct to eat so much meat when millions of people are starving? That seems to be more of an issue here. I am not a vegetarian, but it is not justifiable, nor necessary, to eat meat more than 2 or three times a week.

Patrizia Ford, London, England

BSE appeared 1 theory goes due to a change in the processing of the animal feed to a lower temperature. We have centuries of feeding bone and fish meal to our farm animals. Oh and one reason not to go veggie is that meat taste so good!!

John, London,

Instead of asking the question “morally or ethically correct to feed grain to animals in the midst of a global food crisis” the question should be.
Is it morally or ethically correct that we should dedicate 50% of land to producing Bio fuels in the midst of a global food crisis.

Anthony dB, Ibiza,

30 years ago wheat sold for £120 per tonne, today it is selling for £150 per tonne.................. can someone please tell me where these prices have skyrocketed!!
Maybe we should look at the price of packaging, haulage etc and the cuts the supermarkets and beaurocrats are getting!!

charles, lincoln, england

1. The EU should scrap the idea of land being "set aside", i.e. farmers being paid NOT to produce

2. Developing world should look at POPULATION control

3. Farmers complaining of low prices should realise this is down to OVER-SUPPLY. If their was a shortage, prices would increase.

clive, Surrey,

Farmers are going out of business daily in England because they cannot get a fair price for their produce. We get less rent now for grass keep for cattle than we did 10 years ago! Much more food could be produced if middle men didn't take all the profit and leave producers to bear all the costs.

Eve, Frome,

Nick, Potters Bar, Herts - If we all ate organic, production would fall even farther from that required. Organic yield is on average 40% lower than non-organic.

The only solution is for Europe to adopt GM technology. The rest of the world has and there are no valid arguments against the use of GM

Foo, Edinburgh,

There seems something wrong with even conciding this idea, when we have the RSPB buying up 1,000s of acres of prime arable land in Norfok, to covert back to wet land, for the benefit of a few birds and butterfies

Jon Lewis, Ludlow, Shropshire

Professor Wall? Presumably working on behalf of Wall's sausages.
"Walls have ears"
Go veggie!

Terry Peers, Bridgwater, Somerset

Professor Wall said nothing about feeding animal proteins to cattle.
Pigs and poultry are omnivorous and so feeding them animal proteins derived from other species is quite natural.

Mike Harrison, Rathdowney, Ireland

In times of shortage prices rise. When prices rise people eat less. When people eat less prices fall. It's called the market.

Terry Hamblin, Bournemouth,

The European Union encourages, with our taxes, farmers to "set aside" huge swathes of perfectly productive land, in order to control the prices of basic foodstuffs. Perhaps we could grow more food? Too simple?????

Robby, Mons, Belgium

it is fundamnetally wrong to feed meat to herbivores and we have paid a proce with BSE and CJD. Returning to old practices will undemine the meat industry again. We avoided beef for years and are just returning to eating steak. I wouldn't support bad farming practice. Grow more grain.

I Reid, London,

Talking about short-term bail-outs misses the essential issue, which has been understood at least since Malthus, 200 years ago. As to ethics, if it is right for a human population to have freedom as to its size, surely it is right that it exercises that freedom at its own risk.

Paul, Lincoln, UK

Is it morally correct to feed people from cutures that do not seem able to control their populations or develop appropriate means of growing enough food to feed their populations.

The countries like Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania fall into that category.

Population is the problem not food.

Geoff M, London, England

There is no need for the pure agrigate diet or for a return to animal remains feeding.

A diet of 'waste' vegatable product suplimented with agrigate etc would be equally healthy and actually a more 'natural' diet for the animals.

If we weren't mass producing meat this wouldn't be an issue.

Phil, lechlade, Glos

Mr Wall was asked to comment on the scientific reasons for and against this. Why is he discussing the ethical stance?!

Phil, lechlade, Glos

Why not just quit meat altogether? Last year we grew enough grain and soya to meet the protein and energy needs of 10 billion people. The moral question begged is whether raising animals in the first place is a good idea seeing as it is a huge waste of land, water and other resources. Go veg!

Alistair, Brisbane, Australia

How is that New Zealand has one of if not the most efficient high output dairy industry in the world and we dont feed our cattle on grain? Before someone moans that we have the space its hardly like France is 'full' or Englands green and Pleasant land is loaded with too many cattle now is it.

Guy, London / NZ,

During the last war, waste food was collected and was fed to pigs.
No we have land fill problems of what to do with waste - a lot of it only just past its sell by date.
Feed it to pigs!

Colin

colin jackson, Leatherhead,

Milk cows need to be fed concentrated dry food known as cattle cake. Without this they don't produce much milk. This cake used to contain the meat & bone meal that caused the BSE problems. Even as an agricultural student in the 80s I thought this was a bad idea. My lecturers laughed off my fears...

eric, paris,

Surely the question is whether it is morally or ethically right to eat so much meat when the grain that is inefficiently used for animal feed could be shared with the starving.

Graham, Havant, UK

Cows for milk production are fed on grass and hay, for meat production on some grain. Why feed cows on animal biproducts? Cows are not natural meat eaters so why feed it to them?

Michael, Khon Kaen , Thailand

First, focus on reducing bio-fuel production before feeding animals to animals.
Improve food labelling to show how the food was produced, contains GM material, contains animal fed animal material, etc.
It should be up to the consumer to decide what they eat, not scientists or politicians.

Ray Harvey, Hitchin, uk

By all means lift the ban. But meat products would have to be appropriately labeled; who would buy a chicken that's been fed on pigs that's been fed on chickens?

Glad I'm a veggie.

Nullius, london, uk

How about letting them eat grass....(the cows, that is)??

Jerry, Wellington, NZ

We only buy organic meat, it means we buy less because of the price, but we feel the flavour is sufficient reward in itself.
As far as I know, there have been no cases of BSE in herds of animals that have been grass fed. Cows, sheep etc. are herbivores not omnivores, treat them as such!

Nick, Potters Bar, Herts

He's asking about morals and ethics? While sitting down with Robert Mugabe?

Tom Moncrieff, London , England

This is awful! The ban was put in place to remove the conditions that lead to a horrible disease- nv CJD. Removing the ban for economic/ political reasons (whatever the "ethical" dressing put upon them) has no scientific basis and will recreate the conditions that lead to the ban

Dr V Welch , Jerusalem, Israel

As it takes 16 lbs of grain to produce a single lb of beef I I wonder if anyone has the courage to advise people to eat less meat.

Jeremy, Cape Town, S Africa

"Professor Wall said that it was now safe to lift the ban. "

Ah, I see. We are all supposed to judge this 'Professor Wall'? Has he produced any evidence to back up this claim? Have the prions that cause CJD declared a moratorium on their own reproduction?

And yet our officials await his advice

Edwin, Bucharest,