It's easy for those of us in the Western world to shake our heads at the live wildlife markets in China that appear to be the source of the coronavirus pandemic now paralyzing the world. Easy, that is, because such a practice is so literally very foreign to people. (In their defense, at least, China has banned such markets.)
But what is more difficult is to be honest with ourselves about what sorts of pandemics we might be brewing through own risky animal-use practices. And though the new coronavirus, crippling as it is, might have a somewhat merciful case fatality rate (proportion of the infected who die) of less than 1 percent, we understand that this catastrophe may be merely a dress rehearsal for a much more serious pandemic which may take a more gruesome toll--similar to the 1918 global flu pandemic, that originated in Kansas and killed at least 50 million people. Read more about Cat care here When that day comes, it is very likely that this type of virus will also have its source in humanity's apparently insatiable urge to eat animals, whether wild or domestic. The conditions in which we frequently farm critters today--crowding tens of thousands of animals wing-to-wing or snout-to-snout--function as"amplifiers" for viral pandemics. Truly, the H1N1 swine flu outbreak of 2009 seems to have originated in a pig confinement operation in North Carolina. And though the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in 1997 markedly originated in Chinese poultry farms (case fatality rate 60 percent), a similar bird influenza in the U.S. only five years ago directed American poultry farmers to kill tens of millions of the creatures to contain the outbreak, which thankfully never made the leap to the human population. Similarly, these aren't yet affecting human health. But you can only play viral Russian roulette for such a long time, which explains why public health experts worried about zoonotic diseases have for years been ringing the alarm about the industrial farming of animals.Michael Greger, writer of Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, calls mill farming a"perfect storm environment" for infectious diseases. In factin 2007 an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health was published on the topic, worrying that our mass-raising and lots of animals for food could be the genesis of the upcoming large worldwide outbreak. Given the connection between industrial animal agriculture and pandemic threat, the American Public Health Association journal editorial observed:"It's curious, therefore, that changing the way humans treat animals--many basically, ceasing to consume them , at least, radically limiting the amount of those who are eaten--is mostly off the radar because a significant preventive measure." In 2007 this type of prescription might have appeared off the radar because it would have seemed just too unrealistic. These days, however, technological progress has made it easier to envision taking the general public health specialists' advice more seriously. Yes, we people might crave meat, but our concept of"meat" is now becoming a lot more diverse than in the past. Whereas"protein" was once synonymous with a hunk of flesh out of a once-living creature's entire body, today many Americans are embracing a kind of protein diversity which celebrates meat from a variety of sources. There is the achievement of plant-based meat alternatives, by way of instance, which are currently a favorite part of fast food chains' menus throughout the country. Many forward-thinking meat businesses have even published their very own fermented meat choice offerings, also. Other smart meat organizations are starting to blend plant proteins into their animal proteins, offering hybrid products which are better for the entire world and general public health. And then there is the"cultivated meat" area, in which start-ups, often endorsed by leading meat companies, are growing real creature meat from animal cells instead of from animal slaughter. This type of meat isn't yet available on the market, but many people--including this writer--'ve enjoyed it, and also the federal government is preparing a pathway to commercialization. Diversifying our methods of beef production would not only provide us a chance to cut back pandemic threat by cutting down the number of live animals we must raise for food, but it also could help mitigate many other dangers as well. As we hunker down and weather the corona storm today hitting the planet, let's take a number of our time to contemplate that we've got the power to decrease the chance of the next pandemic. Yes, we ought to curb wildlife markets, but let us not stop there. When we have the will to close down our entire society for months on end, surely we have the will to slightly change our diets.
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March 2020
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