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Breeding genetically identical animals, many of whom have compromised immune systems can—and has—given rise to virulent diseases. Add to this the fact that virgin forests are being felled to make way for factory-farmed animal feed, and it becomes clear that factory farms are a major culprit of pandemics.
Caged Hen - Image
Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Zoonotic diseases became something of a buzzword in 2020, as the novel
coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc throughout the world. While the precise
origins of the virus may never be known, the connections to zoonotic
diseases and animal agriculture began to crystalize within the public
lexicon, especially as the pandemic unfolded in U.S. meatpacking plants,
leading to panic about meat shortages.
The coronavirus pandemic is not the first zoonotic disease to have
originated due to humanity’s appetite for animal products. Factory farms—in
which virtually all of the U.S.’s farmed animals live—are considered by
experts as being breeding grounds for zoonotic diseases, having fostered
pandemics that have killed thousands of people. It may only be a matter of
time before these ticking time bombs deliver another pandemic to the world.
What Are Zoonotic Diseases
Zoonotic diseases are those that originate in animal hosts and are then
passed onto human beings. Pandemics can occur when a disease is able to
mutate and pass from person to person, as is the case with COVID-19. There
are many examples of diseases which can be transmitted zoonotically. Some of
the more well-known include malaria, bird flu, hepatitis E, malaria, and Q
fever.
Zoonotic transmission can occur anytime humans come into contact with
animals, whether as farmers, consumers, or at a petting zoo. Zoonotic
diseases can be passed from pets to people, such as toxoplasmosis which is
passed from housecats through contact with feces. Others, such as
tuberculosis (TB), can be passed from animals held captive in zoos, such as
elephants. Animals who are immunologically suppressed, which can be caused
by factors including stress, are more likely to be carriers of greater
levels of disease, thereby increasing the chances of transmission. It is for
this reason that factory farms and zoonotic diseases can result in explosive
disease outbreaks since factory farms are arguably the most stressful
environments for animals.
What Factors Are Increasing Zoonotic Emergence?
The COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have originated in a pangolin, who may
have then passed the disease onto a bat, and finally to humans. Zoonotic
transmission from wild animals is a big factor in zoonosis emergence.
Bringing land under industrial use is a significant factor for emergent
zoonoses, particularly when these lands are rich in biodiversity. Nearly
one-third of all newly discovered diseases can trace their origins to
activities such as illegal logging, mining, and clearing land for
agriculture and cattle ranching. It is estimated that tens of millions of
hectares of forests and wildlands are being brought under industrial
exploitation every year, exposing people to plants and animals potentially
carrying new diseases.
Notably, one of the biggest drivers of land clearing in the Amazon is tied
to animal agriculture, thanks to clearing land for cattle ranching and for
mono-crops like soy and corn which feed animals in factory farms. And given
the increasing globalization of affordable travel, the ability for these
diseases to spread fear, and fast, becomes all the greater.
How Factory Farming Breeds Deadly Viruses and Epidemics
Factory farms bring together several key factors that combine to make ideal
birthing grounds for deadly viruses and pandemics. Generations of selective
breeding that favor the preferences of human palettes and profit margins,
such as chickens growing larger breasts or cows producing more milk, have
rendered farm animals nearly genetically identical. Under normal
circumstances, a virus must mutate to accommodate genetic variations in
individuals, which wind up acting like speedbumps in its ability to
proliferate between hosts. With thousands of animals who are genetically
identical, however, viruses can spread without difficulty, becoming more
virulent in the process.
Another way intensive farming increases the risk of zoonotic diseases comes
down to the way animals are treated. In the United States, approximately 99
percent of farmed animals live on factory farms, which means that anyone
eating animal products in the U.S. will be consuming products from factory
farms whether they realize it or not. Factory farms manage to keep animals
healthy and alive long enough to grow sufficiently large or produce enough
secretions that corporations are able to turn a profit. However, animals’
ability to survive in factory farms should not be attributed to sufficient
welfare regarding their treatment or surroundings.
Animals survive in spite of the conditions at factory farms. Egg-laying hens
are often kept in battery cages with barely enough room to stretch out their
wings. Female bigs are kept in gestation crates for much of their lives,
without even enough space to turn around. Without space to roam, forced to
live in their own excrement and within extremely unnatural conditions, and
the long, often harrowing trips from factories to slaughterhouses cause
chronic stress which can lead to suppressed immune systems. And suppressed
immune systems open the floodgates towards disease.
Antibiotic Resistance and Infections
Animals are physically able to endure life on factory farms thanks largely
to a constant deluge of antibiotics, which in most cases are applied
liberally throughout an animal’s lifetime. Antibiotics may stave off
infections, but there is a heavy price to pay.
When disease-causing bacteria are exposed to a drug so often, they are given
the opportunity to evolve defenses against it. The result is bacterial
strains that are much more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to eradicate
within bodies. Over time, drugs become less effective, while people and
animals become more susceptible to life-threatening infections.
The World Health Organization has long called this resistance “an
increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action
across all government sectors and society.” In 2019, the Center for Disease
Control proclaimed that the age of drug resistance is already here.
Factory Farming And Human Health
As bad as factory farming is for animal health, industrial farming practices
also pose significant risks to human well-being in addition to the grave
risks of future pandemics. As the name suggests, the goal of CAFOs is to
house as many animals as possible in very close quarters. Mid-sized broiler
chicken farms can house around 125,000 individuals.
The staggering number of animals produces an enormous volume of waste, which
is generally difficult and costly to manage properly. Many farms have
inadequate treatment plans in place. Open-air waste lagoons of hog farms,
for example, can contaminate the air and groundwater for miles around,
especially when waste is aerosolized over croplands to act as fertilizer.
People in communities with factory farms in their midst frequently suffer
from conditions such as asthma, high blood pressure, depression, and likely
cancer. The fact that factory farms are often placed in close proximity to
lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color makes factory farming an
example of environmental racism.
Animal death is an integral component of factory farming; on average, 25
million broiler chickens are killed every single day in U.S.
slaughterhouses. Meatpacking plants—where corpses are dismembered, drained
of blood, and processed—are another integral aspect of the factory farming
system. Killing animals and processing carcasses are considered the most
dangerous forms of employment in the United States. It is not unusual for
meatpackers to lose limbs of their own on the job. The workforce of factory
farms tends to be people of color, with about 38 percent of those employed
at meatpacking facilities being born outside the U.S. In other words, people
left with few options, thanks to systemic injustices, are driven into this
perilous work.
Factory farming also affects human mental health. Workers in slaughterhouses
can suffer post-traumatic stress disorder and are generally given inadequate
recognition or resources to deal with these difficult conditions. One study
also drew connections between slaughterhouse workers and increased crime
rates, demonstrating factory farming’s negative impact on family and
community health.
How To Reduce Pandemic Risk
When it comes to factory farms, there is really only one effective solution
to reduce the risk of a pandemic: to abolish these facilities altogether.
Michael Greger, the author of Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, pointed
out in a Vox interview that farmed animals would benefit from social
distancing, just like people do. Greger argues for de-intensifying farms,
which would mean getting rid of gestation crates, battery cages, vast indoor
sheds—essentially, all of the defining features of factory farms.
Ending animal agriculture altogether would go a long way towards eliminating
zoonotic pandemic risk, as well as the risks posed by climate change and
other impacts on human health. While the world is still a long way from
entirely adopting a plant-based diet, this way of eating is becoming more
popular in high-income countries like the United States. Since the U.S. is
responsible for dreaming up the factory farm in the first place and has long
been a global leader in per-capita meat consumption, the country, and
particularly higher-income individuals who have access to plant-based
options, bear an outsized responsibility to make the shift.
Conclusion
It isn’t an exaggeration to say that factory farms are ideal incubators for
zoonotic disease pandemics. Breeding genetically identical animals, many of
whom have compromised immune systems can—and has—given rise to virulent
diseases. Add to this the fact that virgin forests are being felled to make
way for factory-farmed animal feed, and it becomes clear that factory farms
are a major culprit of pandemics.
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