New report finds intensive animal farming is the ‘single most risky human behaviour’ for pandemics
Zoonotic diseases, those transmitted from animals to humans (COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola), are responsible for 2.5 billion cases of illness and 2.7 million deaths worldwide.
VEGAN FOOD & LIVING: ProVeg International has released a major new report, the Food & Pandemics Report, which identifies the ‘eating and farming of animals as the single most risky human behaviour in relation to pandemics’.The report comes after leading doctors called on the UK public to stop eating meat if we are to avoid future global health disasters…
The Food & Pandemics Report uncovers the link between our dietary choices and the global food system, citing them as key drivers of zoonoses (diseases such as COVID-19, which are transmitted from non-human animals to humans) in three clear and mutually reinforcing ways… According to the report, a worrying 75% of all emerging infectious diseases, which include SARS, MERS, Ebola, rabies, and certain forms of influenza are zoonotic in nature. Zoonotic diseases are responsible for an estimated 2.5 billion cases of illness and 2.7 million deaths worldwide, every year making this a cause for concern…
Lead author of the report and International Director of ProVeg International, Jens Tuider, said that farming animals so intensively in poor conditions was a ‘recipe for disaster’. Speaking about the link between previous pandemics and animal farming, Tuider said: “The recipe for disaster is surprisingly simple: one animal, one mutation, one human, and a single point of contact… Factory farms are perfect breeding grounds for future pandemics”…
The hard-hitting report has drawn support from leading medical professionals as well as from inside the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).In a statement sent to Vegan Food & Living, Dr Musonda Mumba, Chief of the Terrestrial Ecosystems Unit of the UNEP, said: “The ProVeg report clearly demonstrates the connection between industrial animal production and the increased risk of pandemics. Never before have so many opportunities existed for pathogens to jump from wild and domestic animals to people”. SOURCE…
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