Livestock in the Food Debate - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 511

need of increasing efficiency in feed conversion of farm animals and poultry has led
to highly specialized breeding companies providing commercial farmers with the
best-performing stock. These animals are the result of complex breeding programs
based on crossing different pure-line breeds, artificially created on the basis of the
natural genetic pool of the many domesticated herbivores and birds. More than 7,000
domestic breeds of animals and birds have been developed by farmers and pastoralists
in diverse environments in the 8,000 years since the first livestock species were domes-
ticated. These breeds now represent the unique gene combinations and heritage for
the future of humanity (FAO 2007a, b). All animal and crop genetic resources for food
production are the result of human intervention: They have been consciously selected
and improved by pastoralists and farmers since the origins of agriculture. They have
co-evolved with economies, cultures, and societies, passed down from one generation
to the next through knowledge networks and social learning. Loss of the unique features
and genetic diversity of domestic animals are a factor of importance when considering
how to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits deriving from them, and in tailoring
future policy and regulatory measures.
Super Flues and Mad Cows
Similar to humans, farm animals are subject to diseases that are picked up from their
fellows and/or their wild cousins (e.g., Foot and Mouth Disease) or from the physical
environment (e.g., Anthrax, a soil-borne disease). Over 60% of human diseases have a
biological reservoir in the wild. Normally, diseases are species-specific and rarely cross
species barriers. Because of the long evolutionary association between people and ani-
mals, microorganisms and parasites have evolved to take advantage of this proximity to
jump from one species to another. Such diseases that are transmitted between humans
and animals are called zoonoses.
The complex interactions that take place between wild and domestic animals,
parasites (external: ticks, mosquitoes, tsetse flies; internal: worms and protozoa),
micro-organisms and humans cause a wide range of diseases that, through complex
mechanisms of transmission, end up in domestic animals (e.g., the fearsome Rabies and
the tricky Toxoplasmosis, a scare for all pregnant cat-loving women).
Zoonotic diseases sicken 2.4 billion people, kill many of them and affect 1 in 7 live-
stock each year. Transmissions between farm animals and humans are generally
through direct contact or food. Leptospirosis is one of the greatest threats, followed by
rabies. Cysticercosis is transmitted to humans through contaminated pork, Brucellosis
through milk (Grace 2012). This special group of diseases is often controllable through
simple hygienic and food-safety measures, or by vaccination of animals or people. Only
in very special cases do airborne zoonosis , like SARS and Bird/Swine flus, due to random
mutations of their genetic makeup, manage to cross the species line and spread among
humans, independently from the presence of animals.