I'd worry exactly about how this shift might inadvertently overlook the ethical considerations, especially given the sheer volume of conscious beings involved.
I have not heard this but I can believe that's what people think, however it seems a bit weird to me, do these people think insect meat is not meat, like some people consider fish to be somehow vegetarian?
I wouldn't look too closely for a consistent ethical basis in vegetarianism and veganism, both of which require drawing an arbitrarily defined line between living things it's okay to kill and eat and living things that it isn't, and then treating that as axiomatic. I respect the motivation, but not the result - we all draw our own lines, but it takes an unreasonable amount of brass in a person to try to argue their line should be good enough for everyone.
Right wing propaganda then turns that into "they want to force you to eat bugs".
The silly 'But where do you get your protein?' was repeated so much that it inevitably lead to 'they will give us bugs'.
That seems to be a personal thing.
Not really. Animal agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation, biodiversity loss and droughts, and its other effects on the environment include significant greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and soil degradation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background extinction rates, and is increasing.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01448-4
Humans are driving one million species to extinction
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/brv.12974
More losers than winners: investigating Anthropocene defaunation through the diversity of population trends
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/13/almost-7...
Animal populations experience average decline of almost 70% since 1970, report reveals
https://www.jpost.com/environment-and-climate-change/article...
Mass extinction of Earth's wildlife is closer than we think - study
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1400253
Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/natur...
UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14449
How Compatible Are Western European Dietary Patterns to Climate Targets?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/07/insect-d...
Insect decline a threat to fruit crops and food security, scientists warn MPs
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00795-w
Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320356605_Agricultu...
Agriculture production as a major driver of the Earth system exceeding planetary boundaries
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/
Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/917471
Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary limits may be achievable
A global shift towards healthy and more plant-based diets, halving food loss and waste, and improving farming practices and technologies are required to feed 10 billion people sustainably by 2050, a new study finds.