Hello FAST members! I am bringing you the 2024 results of our project "Reducing Anemia with Plant-Based Iron." Once again, the results are excellent. We are starting work with new schools in 2025. Project description and results: Anemia is a common disease in Peru, especially among children and women of reproductive age. Iron deficiency anemia is characterized by a lack of iron in the blood, which causes a reduction in the number of red blood cells and, therefore, a decrease in the body's ability to transport oxygen from the lungs to the various organs and tissues. In Peru, anemia is primarily due to a diet deficient in iron-rich foods and a lack of access to quality health services, which leads to infections that inhibit the absorption of this nutrient. Many people, especially in very low-income rural areas, do not have access to iron-rich foods or lack knowledge on the subject. Furthermore, access to quality health services is limited, making the diagnosis and treatment of anemia difficult. According to the Peruvian Ministry of Health, 49% of children under 5 years of age living in rural areas suffer from anemia. In urban areas, the percentage is 37%. Furthermore, 57% of women of reproductive age also suffer from this disease. To address the problem of anemia, ARBA has created a program called "Reducing Anemia with Plant-Based Iron." Through in-person and virtual workshops, it teaches parents where to obtain iron from plant-based foods and helps prevent anemia in their children. Through partnerships with schools, our team, with the consent of parents and teachers, takes blood samples from children between 4 and 12 years of age in two stages (before and after parent training). The results of these analyses are revealing and show a clear and severe iron deficiency in many children. In the two years that ARBA has been carrying out this intervention in schools, incredible results have been obtained, demonstrating that anemia can be overcome with proper nutriti

Hey Everyone,  Posting this to share some notes from CattleCon 2025. The notes cover the talks from the event on sustainability, healthy diets and key policy issues for the industry. Hopefully they should be interesting to anyone working on those areas. Some Context: CattleCon is the annual meeting of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the event includes presentations from NCBA staff, educational talks, a trade show and meetings of Beef Checkoff committees.  The NCBA is a marketing organisation and trade association founded in 1898. Its mission is: “To serve the cattle and beef industry by improving the business climate, growing beef demand, and increasing the world’s access to U.S. beef.”  According to 990s the NCBA's annual budget is around $55 million with the majority of its revenue coming from the Beef Checkoff. The notes are here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/8ENZ5T6KZ4#2onjMymrt6jN  If you have any questions about the report please get in touch. 

Hello FAST!  I am glad to inform that the cruise line company Viking Line has decided to adopt the European Chicken Commitment (ECC). This decision follows a long dialogue with Project 1882 and encompasses all of the company's operations in Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. This makes Viking Line the latest cruise line company to commit to the ECC following discussions with Project 1882. They join Finnlines, Stena Line, and Destination Gotland in this initiative. Project 1882 is now focusing on the remaining ferry companies in the Baltic Sea, such as Tallink Silja and TT-Line. Approximately 6 million people travel with Viking Line each year.  Read more here: Viking Line says no to Frankenchickens | Project 1882

"Part one of our challenge is to solve the technical alignment problem, and that’s what everybody focuses on, but part two is: to whose values do you align the system once you’re capable of doing that, and that may turn out to be an even harder problem", Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO (Link).  In this post, I argue that: 1. "To whose values do you align the system" is a critically neglected space I termed “Moral Alignment.” Only a few organizations work for non-humans in this field, with a total budget of 4-5 million USD (not accounting for academic work). The scale of this space couldn’t be any bigger - the intersection between the most revolutionary technology ever and all sentient beings. While tractability remains uncertain, there is some promising positive evidence (See “The Tractability Open Question” section). 2. Given the first point, our movement must attract more resources, talent, and funding to address it. The goal is to value align AI with caring about all sentient beings: humans, animals, and potential future digital minds. In other words, I argue we should invest much more in promoting a sentient-centric AI. The problem What is Moral Alignment? AI alignment focuses on ensuring AI systems act according to human intentions, emphasizing controllability and corrigibility (adaptability to changing human preferences). However, traditional alignment often ignores the ethical implications for all sentient beings. Moral Alignment, as part of the broader AI alignment and AI safety spaces, is a field focused on the values we aim to instill in AI. I argue that our goal should be to ensure AI is a positive force for all sentient beings. Currently, as far as I know, no overarching organization, terms, or community unifies Moral Alignment (MA) as a field with a clear umbrella identity. While specific groups focus individually on animals, humans, or digital minds, such as AI for Animals, which does excellent community-building work around AI and animal welfare while

More information:  https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/04/dolfinarium-is-making-clownsof-animals-in-shows-agency-claims/ More (in dutch): https://www.dolfinariumvrij.nl/maar-liefst-20-overtredingen-van-de-vergunning/  At 20 points the Dolphinarium in Harderwijk is in breach of the law. They have to stop or change their shows under pressure from paying fines.  We, dutch animal rights organisation Bite BAck, got a lot of media attention today.  All the big media and newspapers had an article about. We got a lot of interviews too.  A lot of companies already stopped with offering discount tickets for the Dolphinarium. We think this news will add more companies to the list.  www.biteback.nl https://www.biteback.nl