For centuries, we have plagued humankind with deadly airborne viruses that trace back to the exploitation of animals for meat. Is this the Law of Unintended Consequences in play?
“I woke up feeling like I’d smoked 60 cigarettes in the last hour” says
Mikey Smith, Mirror’s political correspondent, who is currently at home in
quarantine with the suspected and dreaded coronavirus.
Coronavirus is a highly contagious, deadly respiratory virus that is now a
global pandemic. Those who have contracted the virus liken the severe
respiratory symptoms to that of heavy smoking. Every single human being’s
life on this planet is at risk of contracting the deadly virus just by
walking out your front door, and sharing airspace with the rest of the
world.
This poses some interesting legal questions: What’s our fundamental right to
clean air, as the world walks around in masks? What’s our fundamental right
to life, as the death toll increases? What’s our fundamental right to
liberty, as we are forced into quarantine? Can we demand clean air laws or
meat-free laws, like we have smoke-free laws? Do vegans and vegetarians,
which make up about 10% of our global population, have legal rights under
the Clean Air Act or Environmental Protection Act? Are personal civil
liberties undermined so long as “wet markets” (aka local slaughterhouses)
and diseased factory farms remain open?
In these times, we are all consciously aware of unsanitary conditions. We
are wearing masks and gloves and wiping everything down with Clorox. We are
isolating ourselves from others and germs. As capital markets shut down,
global live animal meat markets and slaughterhouses remain open to ensure no
food shortages. But do we realize that in our quest for survival we are
feeding and funding the very industry that is known to give birth to these
deadly airborne viral pandemics?
Slaughterhouses are cesspools for feces, blood, guts, disease, urine. What
else is there? As slaughterhouses remain open, what other health risks are
there? Is it worth taking any more chances?
History has shown us time and time again that slaughterhouses and “wet
markets” are unsanitary cesspools for bacteria to incubate and mutate into
deadly human viruses. For centuries, we have plagued humankind with deadly
airborne viruses that trace back to the exploitation of animals for meat. Is
this the Law of Unintended Consequences in play?
Just consider this:
What’s the common denominator? When you make an industry over the
exploitation and killing of animals for meat, there is no way to keep bodily
fluids, blood, guts, and diseased conditions sanitary. We slaughter three
billion animals a day and more than one trillion animals a year for meat.
The industry and conditions required to raise this quantity of animals to
slaughter for food is unsanitary, inhumane, diseased, and perhaps the
greatest weapon of mass destruction. The death toll for us and them is
unprecedented.
History is repeating itself. When we make an industry out of exploiting and
killing animals for food, highly contagious, deadly viral global pandemics
that kill all of us are born. Yet, we are still feeding the industry demand.
Meat is flying off the shelves in stores as we stock up on food to survive
this global pandemic. A vaccine to end this global crisis, once found, is
only a band-aid. The solution lies in a permanent legal ban on all global
live meat markets, and to end the industry of factory farming.
Humanity should not build an industry that survives on the systematic mass
murder of other beings. Humanity should be humane and focus on the sanitary
humane treatment of animals. We are abusing Mother Nature and ruining our
natural habitat. This is about our humanity to nature, to people, to
animals, and to the world. What is our true human nature? Is killing our
planet to raise and kill a trillion animals a year what human nature wishes
to do to Mother Nature? Do we realize that live meat markets and
slaughterhouses are hotbeds for many of the global viral pandemics that have
plagued mankind?
Lots of questions can be posed:
In the interest of public health and safety in the U.S. and Internationally,
will the CDC do its job to control and prevent disease and food borne
pathogens by ordering the closure of all live meat markets and address
factory farm / factory slaughterhouse conditions? Do we have rights as
victims to the virus? Can we hold the EPA, live meat markets and
slaughterhouses legally accountable for infringing on our clean air rights?
Can we have meat-free laws like we have tobacco smoke-free laws? Why should
my lungs suffer because you want to smoke? Likewise, why should my lungs
fail because you want to feed an industry that kills the planet and its
inhabitants? Do we have legal rights as vegans and vegetarians who are
affected by the viral air pollution born in live meat markets and
slaughterhouses?
How can you be part of the solution? You can choose to eat clean and be
clean. As a species we need to return to a plant based diet. By decreasing
our meat consumption, we end the demand for factory farming, live wildlife
meat markets, and factory slaughterhouses. Thereby, we eliminate the
cesspools that give birth to deadly viral pandemics that kill humans.
Does our survival depend on veganism going viral? BeVeg International, a law
firm for vegan certification, is on a campaign to make veganism viral. BeVeg
licenses use of its vegan symbol to companies and products with ethical
business practices that do not partake in the exploitation of animals.
“Companies that care about food safety and the survival of our species,
which is dependent on the survival of all species, are taking this downtime
in quarantine to get paperwork together to make their vegan claims official
by certifying vegan with BeVeg,” says Carissa Kranz, Esq. founder and CEO of
BeVeg global vegan certification firm.
Our survival as a species depends on sanitary food, beverages, and products
that are not contaminated with diseased meat and fecal matter. Our survival
as a planet depends on us ending the inevitable diseased viral conditions
that exist and always will exist so long as we make slaughterhouses a big
industry. As consumers, you can take this time to demand honest ethical
labeling. Keep supply chains accountable to humane vegan standards, without
exploitation of animals.
Carissa earned her law degree from U.C. Berkeley School of Law, where she served as an Editor of Law Review and was awarded the “Best Oral Advocate” moot court award. Carissa also earned her Masters in Journalism from Medill at Northwestern University. Before founding her own law firm, Carissa was a prosecutor, Greenberg Traurig litigator, and a law clerk for the California Supreme Court. Most recently, Carissa was a co-host with Jane Velez-Mitchell on the new Amazon Prime cooking show New Day New Chef, which will be available on public television stations around the country.
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