Anti-Plant Based Meats
- Fear:
See Appeal to Number of Ingredients/Compounds
The intent here is twofold: 1. Invoke fear by listing the scary sounding chemical compounds that make up the Beyond Burger and 2. Invoke fear by implying more ingredients is worse for your health.
Regarding 1: We could do the exact same thing with the other two products. Beef is composed of chemical compounds derived from plants and chemically processed by a cow’s digestive system. For some reason, if the chemical processing of plant compounds takes place within the digestive system an organism it isn’t scary but if chemical processes take place outside of an organism digestive system, it’s scary (see: naturalistic fallacy). What actually matters is the effects of those compounds on our health in the quantities we will likely consume. That some compounds are derived in a lab and others in a digestive system or that some have long names and others short names don’t tell us whether they are healthful or not.
Regarding 2: The number of ingredients or chemical compounds that constitute a final product don’t tell about its healthfulness. I create a product from a single natural compound or ingredient that is toxic (e.g., list of toxic plants). Similarly, I can make a delicious paella from 21 ingredients (each of which is made up of hundreds of chemical compounds). Don’t be fooled by this “appeal to number of ingredients/chemical compounds.”
The Propaganda Playbook 