https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-factory-farming-animal-diet-meat-plant-based-humane-society-b813899.html
Countries’ leaders should speed up action to shift people’s diets towards more plant-based foods to reduce the risks of future
pandemics <https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/pandemics> breaking out, according to a new report by campaigners.
Global intensive animal farming, in which thousands of animals are kept in close proximity, causing high stress levels, is the
perfect breeding ground for more novel viruses to emerge, says the white paper
<https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Animal-agriculture-viral-disease-and-pandemics-FINAL-4.pdf> by Humane
Society International.
The document identifies five key “pandemic risks” created by factory farming <https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/factory-farming>
that it says create a “petri dish” for pathogens to erupt, mutate and spread:
* confining vast numbers of stressed animals indoors creates novel viral
strains because their immune systems are weakened so
they succumb to viruses easily
* expanding farms into previously wild areas brings wild and domestic species
together, allowing diseases to jump
* concentrating animal farms in an area increases the risk of pathogens
spreading
* the global live animal trade, in which huge numbers of live animals are
transported globally, allows viruses to travel
* agricultural fairs and auctions and live animal markets where the public
get close to species from different places, let
viruses proliferate.
UN experts have previously said that industrial animal farming has caused most new infectious diseases in humans in the past
decade – and risks starting new pandemics.
--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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