Written by Elena Silverstein
Living and dead animals are often shoulder to shoulder in overcrowded factory farms and wet markets; a dream come true for a zoonotic virus (diseases transmitted from vertebrate animals to humans such as Covid-19). Placing these exploitative practises close to humans and feeding us the meat enables viruses to jump across species.
How many diseases are caused by animals?
Covid-19 is the latest of many deadly ‘zoonoses’ and is believed to have originated in a wet market. These outbreaks have occurred all over the world (e.g. swine flu was traced to a pig farm in the US). Rather than xenophobically blaming countries for the type of meat they eat, we should recognise that all meat is a pandemic risk and no animal needs to die for us to live. Three quarters of all new or emerging diseases come from animals, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Scientists predict a future outbreak of avian influenza from poultry farming that will cause far more deaths than Covid-19.
How does it affect us?
In 2017, the UK had nearly 800 US-style ‘mega’ factory farms, only 12 counties do not currently have intensive farms. The National Farmers’ Union stated that the uncertainty of Brexit is leading more farmers to become poultry farmers. It’s an extremely concerning thought that these outbreaks can emerge in any farm or market and cause so much suffering to humans, as we’ve seen. Then suddenly, we’re all trying to figure out how much toilet paper we need and desperately waiting for pubs to reopen. I’ll try to keep this doom and gloom from ruining your day but let’s take a closer look at the link between disease prevention and what’s within our personal control… our diet.
What are the causes and risks of animal agriculture?
Pandemics split into two types: viral (like Covid-19) and bacterial (most worryingly, antibiotic resistance). Factory farming causes both these types of pandemic. These farms are overcrowded, traumatic and unsanitary. When animals die from disease or from being trampled on, due to overcrowding, their bodies are often left for days which exposes the living animals to yet more diseases. Pigs can become so stressed in these farms that they eat each other (something they’d never do in the wild). Cannibalism was even used on purpose at UK factory farms where farmers fed dead cows to cattle which led to the outbreak of Mad Cow disease. The cruelty inflicted is unimaginable but focusing on human impact, factory farms are perfect environments for zoonoses since there are many almost genetically identical hosts for pathogens to infect. Livestock are selectively bred to grow faster (regularly through artificial insemination i.e. rape), making them vulnerable to new diseases. Livestock are fed 70-80% of all antibiotics produced, to prevent bacterial disease and increase their growth. This creates an even larger threat to human health: antibiotic resistance, which could kill more people than cancer by 2050. Illnesses we think to be of little concern would become serious life threatening matters.
What can we do?
All these major public health threats are caused by our demand for meat that is so high, factory farms have become necessary to supply it. Wet markets are a risk, but approximately 90% of British meat comes from factory farms. If we want to get rid of factory farms, we must all reduce or stop eating meat and other animal products so we can prevent more catastrophic pathogens from spreading in the near future.
There were 789 megafarms in the UK three years ago and this is increasing. The University of Edinburgh buy local or Red Tractor certified meat, but this isn’t enough. When I spoke to the farm supplying our free-range eggs, it turned out to be a US-style mega-egg farm in Newcastle with approximately 200,000 caged and free-range hens. The RSPCA’s free-range standards allocate 9 hens per square-meter… breeding grounds for disease even in ‘good’ conditions. To learn more about the state of British farming, there’s a new documentary called Hogwood, investigating these megafarms including free-range hens and the heedless reality of Red Tractor assurance.
It is a combination of exploiting and consuming animals that causes many of these viruses. The less meat we farm and consume, the less likely another devastating outbreak will occur. We have the power to prevent this happening again just by being a consumer, by choosing what we buy to do less harm to ourselves and animals.
Remember, when deciding what to eat for your next meal, many pandemics can be prevented if you choose not to buy animal products. Let’s not go back to business as usual!
Further Reading and Watching
Documentary
Hogwood Farms on Amazon prime, exposes British mega farms.
Videos
Earthling Ed on Coronavirus
Images of factory farms around the globe including UK
Articles
Antibiotic resistance in livestock (Our World in Data)
Hoads farm and Doctors’ opinion to go vegan to avoid future pandemics (Video available here)
Vox, meat and pandemics
BBC 2020 potential pandemic risk of swine influenza from pig farming in China
Animal cruelty in farms supplying major UK supermarkets:
Mental health of slaughterhouse workers:
Others:
Ag-gag laws in America (being adopted internationally)
One idea for holding factory farms to account
Dr Michael Greger’s book Epidemics: Science, Governance and Social Justice