The campaign to promote veganism by exposing the destructive reality of the animal agriculture industry.
AGRICULTUREANIMALSENVIRONMENTFOODHEALTH

UN report says up to 850,000 animal viruses could be caught by humans, unless we protect nature

0

According to the UN report, 1.7 million currently undiscovered viruses are thought to exist in mammal and avian hosts. Of these, 540,000-850,000 could infect humans.

KATIE WOOLASTON: Human damage to biodiversity is leading us into a pandemic era. The virus that causes COVID-19, for example, is linked to similar viruses in bats, which may have been passed to humans via pangolins or another species. Environmental destruction such as land clearing, deforestation, climate change, intense agriculture and the wildlife trade is putting humans into closer contact with wildlife. Animals carry microbes that can be transferred to people during these encounters.

A major report recently released says up to 850,000 undiscovered viruses which could be transferred to humans are thought to exist in mammal and avian hosts. The report, by The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), says to avoid future pandemics, humans must urgently transform our relationship with the environment… The report says, on average, five new diseases are transferred from animals to humans every year – all with pandemic potential. In the past century, these have included:

  • the Ebola virus (from fruit bats),
  • AIDS (from chimpazees)
  • Lyme disease (from ticks)
  • the Hendra virus (which first erupted at a Brisbane racing stable in 1994).

The report says an estimated 1.7 million currently undiscovered viruses are thought to exist in mammal and avian hosts. Of these, 540,000-850,000 could infect humans…

It says pandemics and other emerging zoonoses (diseases that have jumped from animals to humans) likely cause more than US$1 trillion in economic damages annually. As of July 2020, the cost of COVID-19 was estimated at US $8-16 trillion globally. The costs of preventing the next pandemic are likely to be 100 times less than that… The IPBES report identifies potential ways forward, including policies to reduce wildlife trade and the risks associated with it… increased biosecurity measures and enhanced enforcement around illegal trade. SOURCE…

RELATED VIDEO:


RELATED POSTS:

  1. U.N. Predicts Rise In Diseases That Jump From Animals To Humans Due To Habitat Loss
  2. Scientists: Next pandemic is already coming unless humans change how we interact with animals
  3. A Pandemic-Free Future Means No Industrial Animal Agriculture
  4. REPORT: The connection between animal agriculture, viral zoonoses, and global pandemics
  5. New report finds intensive animal farming is the ‘single most risky human behaviour’ for pandemics
You might also like More from author