Next Pandemic Could Come From Farms

YouTube : Vox

https://www.vox.com/videos/2020/8/18/21374061/factory-farming-meat-coronavirus-pandemic

The next pandemic could come from factory farms

In the past half-century, the global production of meat has undergone a seismic shift. While meat was once mostly raised on small farms, today almost all the meat we eat comes from industrialized “factory” farms, known as “concentrated animal feeding operations,” or CAFOs. More than 90 percent of the world’s meat supply comes from CAFOs. And in the US, that figure is closer to 99 percent.

Animals in CAFOs are often packed closely together, which makes the facilities efficient and, for many, ethically dubious. There are also environmental concerns around these industrial farms. But infectious disease experts worry about CAFOs for a different reason: They’re an ideal environment for virus and bacteria mutations that human immune systems have never seen. In other words, they’re a highly likely source for the next pandemic.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/22/21228158/coronavirus-pandemic-risk-factory-farming-meat

“If you actually want to create global pandemics, then build factory farms.”

Some experts have hypothesized that the novel coronavirus made the jump from animals to humans in China’s wet markets, just like SARS before it. Unsurprisingly, many people are furious that the markets, which were closed in the immediate wake of the outbreak in China, have already reopened. It’s easy to point the finger at these “foreign” places and blame them for generating pandemics. But doing that ignores one crucial fact: The way people eat all around the world — including in the US — is a major risk factor for pandemics, too.

That’s because we eat a ton of meat, and the vast majority of it comes from factory farms. In these huge industrialized facilities that supply more than 90 percent of meat globally — and around 99 percent of America’s meat — animals are tightly packed together and live under harsh and unsanitary conditions.

“When we overcrowd animals by the thousands, in cramped football-field-size sheds, to lie beak to beak or snout to snout, and there’s stress crippling their immune systems, and there’s ammonia from the decomposing waste burning their lungs, and there’s a lack of fresh air and sunlight — put all these factors together and you have a perfect-storm environment for the emergence and spread of disease,“ said Michael Greger, the author of Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching.

To make matters worse, selection for specific genes in farmed animals (for desirable traits like large chicken breasts) has made these animals almost genetically identical. That means that a virus can easily spread from animal to animal without encountering any genetic variants that might stop it in its tracks. As it rips through a flock or herd, the virus can grow even more virulent.

Greger puts it bluntly: “If you actually want to create global pandemics, then build factory farms.”

For years, expert bodies like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been warning that most emerging infectious diseases come from animals and that our industrialized farming practices are ratcheting up the risk. “Livestock health is the weakest link in our global health chain,” noted the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in a 2013 report.

Vox piece on how humans make a pandemic like COVID-19 more likely:

YouTube : Vox

@vivify said
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/22/21228158/coronavirus-pandemic-risk-factory-farming-meat

“If you actually want to create global pandemics, then build factory farms.”

Some experts have hypothesized that the novel coronavirus made the jump from animals to humans in China’s wet markets, just like SARS before it. Unsurprisingly, many people are furious tha ...[text shortened]... chain,” noted the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in a 2013 report.

@mghrn55 said
I saw a statistic a while back that stated that the average American eats 9oz of beef per day.

If China even approaches the US on a per capita basis in that level of consumption, there would not be enough farmland on earth to feed the all the cattle needed to provide China with that level of consumption.

On another note, it has been noted that the average American male is 5ft 9in in height, weighs 196lbs and has an average waist line of 40in.

Next pandemic could come from the planet core.

@eladar said
Next pandemic could come from the planet core.

@mghrn55 said
I saw a statistic a while back that stated that the average American eats 9oz of beef per day.

If China even approaches the US on a per capita basis in that level of consumption, there would not be enough farmland on earth to feed the all the cattle needed to provide China with that level of consumption.

On another note, it has been noted that the average American male is 5ft 9in in height, weighs 196lbs and has an average waist line of 40in.

@eladar said
Next pandemic could come from the planet core.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

@vivify said
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

China is ranked 108th on this list on GDP per capita

https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2017/09/02/china-is-still-a-poor-country/#6ba8bc5f4eef

"China Is Still A 'Poor' Country"

I do acknowledge they aren't as poor as their Indian neighbors and have been on a steady growth period for the last few decades that shows no sign of slowing down.

@vivify said
From the article:

"Farms, known as “concentrated animal feeding operations,” or CAFOs. More than 90 percent of the world’s meat supply comes from CAFOs. And in the US, that figure is closer to 99 percent."

It's quite possible the next pandemic could come from the U.S.