Industrial animal agriculture- a source for pandemics

chanakyakripa

We are all hoping thatthe current Covid-19 crisis will subside in a few months: that treatments,tests and supplies will become available and the rigid social distance may bediminishing. This may happen, but the threat of a new pandemic - and aneven more deadly one - is present now. We must recognize and address theroot of this threat. We must reform the industry that is putting us atrisk in the name of profit: industrial animal agriculture.

The WHO said that the first human case ofSARS-Cov-2 probably came from a bat, through an unidentified animalintermediary that was handled by humans. A probable scenario for thistransmission was the “wet market” in China, where several species of animalshave contact with each other and with the humans that kill them. We werewarned about bats carrying the next SARS pandemic in 2013.

We have also been warned of the risk thatoutbreaks of avian influenza in poultry flocks around the world have for thenext human pandemic. Among the most worrisome of avian influenza is H7N9,a pathogen with a 40% fatality rate. The vast number of animals huddledtogether, stressed in captivity on U.S. industrial farms, presents ampleopportunities for pathogens to practice direct spread from animal to animal,and indirectly through flies, rodents, fertilizers and workers moving betweenone barn and another. . It is even possible for aerosolized pathogens tospread between granaries miles away through the air.

It would be expected that an industry thatpresents such an enormous potential to threaten public health would takeresponsibility for food security seriously. But it doesn't, and it seemsto be doing everything to demonstrate it. Privatizing safety inspections forthe purpose of speeding up slaughterhouses has been a joint objective of themeat industry and the Department of Agriculture for decades, despite the riskthis poses to food security. Even with greater speed on the slaughter linemaking the process more difficult for animals and workers, and creating morecarcasses to be inspected in less time, the industry insists on this in thename of profit. Surprisingly, the Department of Agriculture is nowapproving faster slaughter lines.

Earlier this month, a fast slaughter lineauthorization was granted to Foster Farms, which has a history of producingsalmonella-contaminated chicken, associated with outbreaks in 29 states. Sincelast Friday, the Food Safety Inspection Service is no longer issuing permits,because they are proposing an increase to all establishments. The fastslaughter lines are the reason why workers in slaughterhouses are unable todistance themselves socially at work, making even more dangerous one of themost harmful and poorly paid jobs in the country. The minimum that weshould require from industry and the department is that fast slaughter linesare limited to allow safe distances between workers and complete safetyinspections of animal carcasses.

If a smaller, slower meat industry were theresult of this pandemic, it would not be a crisis, it would be progress. Salesof meat alternatives increased by 200% during the pandemic. This will onlyincrease as more people realize that meat is not essential. Animal-bornediseases like Covid-19 are expected to drive a 17% growth in the plant-basedmeat market between now and 2021.

Finally, we must modernize our food system bydismantling animal agriculture and switching to clean meat and plant-based meatalternatives. But in the short term, meat production is going nowhere, andthe meat industry has demonstrated that it has no intention of actingresponsibly when it comes to animals, workers or public health. We shouldhear the alerts this time. We need adequate supervision now.

SOURCE: https://www.cartamaior.com.br/?/Editoria/Mae-Terra/Para-evitar-a-proxima-pandemia-precisamos-de-uma-supervisao-expressiva-do-agronegocio-animal/3/47470