Howard Lyman
Key Player
Pres., Voice for a Viable Future; fmr. exec.dir., Beyond Beef Campaign; fmr. pres., EarthSave; director, Organic Consumers Assn.; Nat.Council member, Farm Animal Reform Mvt.; dir., Center for Food Safety; adv.bd. member, Sea Shepherd Conservation Soc.A successful Montana cattle rancher for nearly four decades, Howard Lyman sold his farm in 1983 and became a professional lobbyist for the Montana Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union, promoting the passage of the National Organic Standards Act. Lyman went on to become one of the most prominent activists in the animal rights and environmental movements. He has served as president of Earthsave, executive director of Jeremy Rifkin’s Beyond Beef Campaign, president of the International Vegetarian Union, and program director for the Humane Society of the United States.
Lyman is best known for a 1996 appearance on “Oprah,” where he effectively launched a beef scare campaign by saying that mad cow disease would make AIDS “look like the common cold.” After a resulting lawsuit (filed by a group of Texas cattle ranchers) was decided in Lyman’s favor, he emerged as one of the anti-meat movement’s most visible and well-connected standard-bearers. Currently, Howard Lyman holds positions on the Organic Consumers Association’s policy board, Farm Animal Reform Movement’s national council, and the advisory boards of the Center for Food Safety and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.