Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
“Governments, local authorities and international agencies need
to take a greatly increased role in combating the role of factory-
farming . . . [which, combined with live-bird markets] provides
ideal conditions for the virus to spread and mutate into a more dan-
gerous form. . . .” The World Health Organization's flu expert in
Asia also blamed the emergence of killer viruses like H5N1 in part
on intensive animal agriculture and what he called the “[o]vercon-
sumption of animal products.” If H5N1 were to mutate into a form
easily transmissible from one person to the next, the results could
be catastrophic.
Dr. Michael Osterholm is the director of the U.S. Center for In-
fectious Disease Research and Policy and an associate director
within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “An influenza
pandemic of even moderate impact,” he wrote, “will result in the
biggest single human disaster ever—far greater than AIDS, 9/11,
all wars in the 20th century and the recent tsunami combined. It
has the potential to redirect world history as the Black Death redi-
rected European history in the 14th century.” For humanity's sake,
hopefully the direction world history will take is away from raising
billions of birds in intensive confinement to potentially lower the
risk of us ever being in this precarious situation ever again.
According to a spokesperson for the World Health Organization,
“The bottom line is that humans have to think about how they treat
their animals, how they farm them, and how they market them—
basically the whole relationship between the animal kingdom and
the human kingdom is coming under stress.” This recognition of
human culpability can offer hope. If our own actions have gotten
us into this mess, our future actions may help bring us out.
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