A Swedish scientist speaking at Stockholm summit last week offered an unusual possible tactic in combating global climate change: eating human flesh.
Stockholm School of Economics professor and researcher Magnus Soderlund reportedly said he believes eating human meat, derived from dead bodies, might be able to help save the human race if only a world society were to “awaken the idea.”
Soderlund’s argument for human cannibalism was front and centre during a panel talk called “Can You Imagine Eating Human Flesh?” at the Gastro Summit, reports the Epoch Times. “Conservative” taboos against cannibalism, he said, can change over time if people simply tried eating human flesh.
Some of the talking points at the seminar included whether humans were too selfish to “live sustainably” and if cannibalism is the solution to food sustainability in the future.
When asked during an interview after his talk if he personally would try human flesh, Soderlund said he was open to the idea.
“I feel somewhat hesitant but to not appear overly conservative … I’d have to say … I’d be open to at least taste it,” he told Sweden’s TV4.
He suggested more plausible options such as eating pets and insects.
Before human meat becomes the next cuisine trend, however, history shows there are potential health risks to cannibalism.
A tribe in Papua New Guinea practised eating their dead as an alternative to allowing them to be consumed by worms, according to the Standard. The cultural practice led to an epidemic of a disease called Kuru, also known as laughing death.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, the disease is caused by an infectious protein found in contaminated human brain tissue. The practice of cannibalism among the people of New Guinea came to an end in 1960- New York Post
