World veterinary body to probe meat-climate change links

The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health plans to study the effects of meat output on climate change, Reuters reports.

Director-General Bernard Vallat appears to be treading carefully. "It's a question that needs to be studied with a lot of distance," he said at a press conference. "We want to make a modest and independent contribution."

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has found that the livestock sector is a major contributor of greenhouse gases due to methane emissions and forest clearing to create new pastures. Livestock accounts for 18 percent of global emissions, FAO estimated in 2006.