If you remain concerned about food safety and preventing the next pandemic, and want to protect yourself and your family’s health, don’t wait for the government and Big Ag to decide what’s best for you. Stop eating meat. Stop eating dairy. Stop eating eggs. Reducing demand for animal products will reduce the stress on farming systems that have led to such appalling, inhumane conditions where zoonotic diseases like H5N1 can flourish and evolve into ever-worsening public health threats.
The next pandemic, the H5N1 bird flu virus, has officially jumped to
mammals, including humans—a Michigan dairy worker and a Texas
farmer—and to cows. The virus has been confirmed in 80 dairy herds
in 10 states since March. Dairy cows in five states have died or
been slaughtered by farmers.
Perhaps even more concerning, it’s jumped to cow’s milk and meat:
the tissue of a dairy cow who was sent to slaughter tested positive
for traces of the bird flu virus, the USDA announced.
Historically, three out of four global pandemics have come from
using, exploiting, encroaching on and/or eating nonhuman animals.
Notable ones include Ebola, SARS, Swine flu (H1N1), the previous
avian influenza strain (H5N2) and AIDS.
Why is this the case? For one, concentrated animal feed operations
(CAFOs), also known as factory farms, are breeding grounds for
diseases and worrisome mutations. These models of efficiency cram
tens of thousands of animals in confined spaces; the more density,
the more profit for farmers meeting the consumer’s desire for animal
bodies and secretions.
These animals live in squalor, filth and waste. They live among the
dead bodies of their companions. They are fed the cheapest diets
possible. They are denied veterinary care. Farming operations, like
any business, must maintain productivity, and that means cutting
corners wherever they can.
More than 10 billion animals are consumed each year in the United
States alone, not counting trillions of fishes. We simply do not
have the land and resources on so-called small or family farms to
support such gluttonous consumption of flesh and secretions.
Viruses are opportunistic, spreading and morphing to take advantage
of any potential host, which now includes cows. In one study, 20
percent of supermarket dairy products tested positive for bird flu.
You and your children are possibly drinking milk that has been
infected.
Authorities tell us not to worry—pasteurizing kills off bird flu.
Avoid raw milk, and you’ll be fine. Please continue to consume eggs
and dairy and beef. It’s totally safe. Until it’s not.
Bear in mind we’re trusting a federal government that is in the
pocket of Big Ag to protect the public from diseases caused by Big
Ag. The government provides more than $50 billion a year in
subsidies to animal agriculture, and is literally mandated to
protect corporate ag interests.
Farms and farmers have not been asked to test animals until just
recently, because it’s easier, and more profitable, to cull (kill)
entire herds or flocks and have the government subsidize the
financial cost. In 2023, the USDA paid poultry farmers more than
half a billion dollars for the turkeys, chickens and egg-laying hens
who were killed after the flu strain, H5N1, was detected on their
farms. For example, Jennie-O Turkey Store received more than $88
million and Tyson Foods was paid close to $30 million.
More than 82 million farmed birds have been culled since February
2022. By compensating farmers handsomely for their losses, with no
strings attached, the federal government is encouraging poultry
growers to continue the practices that create the risk of contagion,
increasing the need for future culling and reimbursement.
If the government is correct and it’s not very serious yet, it sure
seems to be heading in that direction. It’s entirely possible Donald
Trump will lead the team managing this next pandemic. (The last
pandemic during his leadership did not go so well.)
Until then, if you remain concerned about food safety and preventing
the next pandemic, and want to protect yourself and your family’s
health, don’t wait for the government and Big Ag to decide what’s
best for you. You can take action now: stop eating meat. Stop eating
dairy. Stop eating eggs. If we significantly reduce demand for
animal products, we can reduce the stress on farming systems that
have led to such appalling, inhumane conditions where zoonotic
diseases like H5N1 can flourish and evolve into ever-worsening
public health threats.
Of course, going vegan won’t guarantee you won’t catch this or any
flu, but you might find you’ll sleep better at night knowing you
aren’t personally enabling the next pandemic.