Cut back on eating baked beans to reduce 'smelly emissions': Minister's bizarre tip in battle to tackle climate change
Labour peer Viscount Simon raises fears about impact of flatulence
Brits eat more baked beans than any other country, he claims
Questions whether 'smelly emissions' are included in official calculations
Climate change minister Lady Verma says we must ‘moderate behaviour’
By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
Published: 09:00 EST, 9 April 2014 | Updated: 11:17 EST, 9 April 2014
People should eat fewer baked beans to reduce flatulence which can contribute to global warming, a minister suggested today.
Fears were raised about the impact of ‘smelly emissions’ caused by Brits eating more beans than any other country in the world.
Climate change minister Lady Verma said it was an ‘important’ issue and urged the public to ‘moderate our behaviour’.
People should eat baked beans less often to reduce the impact on the environment, the House of Lords heard
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People should eat baked beans less often to reduce the impact on the environment, the House of Lords heard
Concerns have previously been raised about the effect of methane emissions from cows on global warming.
But in the House of Lords today a Labour peer raised questions about the impact of human diet on emmisions.
Viscount Simon, 73, a Labour peer who has been a member of the House of Lords for more than 20 years, voiced his fears about the ‘smelly emissions’.
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Lord Simon said: ‘In a programme some months ago on the BBC it was stated that this country has the largest production of baked beans and the largest consumption of baked beans in the world.’
He asked Lady Verma: ‘Could you say whether this affects the calculation of global warming by the Government as a result of the smelly emission resulting therefrom?’
Lady Verma described his question as ‘so different’ but she appeared to suggest that people should think twice about over-indulging in baked beans or any food which causes flatulence.
She added: ‘You do actually raise a very important point, which is we do need to moderate our behaviour.'
Viscount Simon, a hereditary Labour peer, said he was concerned about 'smelly emissions'
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Viscount Simon, a hereditary Labour peer, said he was concerned about 'smelly emissions'
A study last December suggested the total value of baked beans sold in the previous year had fallen by £20.8 million to £339.3 million in the UK.
Lord Simon's grandfather Sir John Simon, a Liberal, was given a peerage in 1940 after serving as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor.
A study this week recommended eating baked beans every day, to help significantly reduce cholesterol and lower the risk of heart diseases.
Wind and bloating were among the side effects of those eating the daily portion, although this subsided after a while, said lead researcher Dr John Sievenpiper from St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto.
Last month a survey found that tins of baked beans were the most popular item that Brits took with them when going on foreign holidays.
Climate change minister Baroness Verma said people must moderate their behaviour
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Climate change minister Baroness Verma said people must moderate their behaviour
Baked beans was the most popular item at 37 per cent, followed by chocolate (35 per cent), Bacon (32 per cent), sweets (24 per cent), and condiments (20 per cent).
The exchange over the impact of beans on global warming came as a senior Tory peer called on the government to stop trying to prevent climate change altogether.
George Osborne’s father-in-law Lord Howell of Guildford, a former Foreign Office minister, said a change in direction of energy policy was ‘overdue’.
The Tory peer said in the House of Lords: ‘Now may be time to consider switching our colossal expenditure in attempting mitigation to adaptation to what is widely believed by many of us to come in the way of more extreme weather.
‘It seems that our current mitigation efforts seem to be producing no vast improvement in carbon emissions - in fact an increase in our carbon footprint - burning more coal, increased fuel poverty, driving investment away from this country to elsewhere where power is cheaper, raising the prospect of blackouts and general environmental damage.’
At question time in the Lords he asked energy minister Baroness Verma: ‘Isn't it becoming very obvious that some change of direction in our climate and energy policy is overdue if we are to achieve our green goals?’
Lady Verma said the Government's policy was about ‘both adaptation and mitigation’.
Labour peer Baroness Worthington said: ‘On discovering a flood in a bathroom you would not make your priority turning your house into a swimming pool, you would turn the tap off.
‘That is precisely what we need to do and I think it is regrettable that we have some prominent members of the other side (Conservatives) who do not seem to accept it.’
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