How animals are treated is a global problem. There is particular barbarity in East Asia with China being a major culprit, but Western-style factory ‘farms’ (as well as being cruel and sadistic) are every bit as dangerous as Asian ‘wet’ markets in cooking up lethal pathogens. Let’s not forget, it was the United States pig market that gave us the ‘Swine’ flu pandemic in 2009.
https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/information_h1n1_virus_qa.htm
That year Swine flu killed an estimated 12,469 Americans.
https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/estimates_2009_h1n1.htm
Unfortunately, this latest threat looks like it will be even more lethal.
People seem to thinks that it’s different here in the U.K…I’ve bad news, it’s not that much better.
“A major Bureau investigation has revealed the changing face of British farming. The number of intensive farms in the UK has risen by a quarter since 2011, with many so big they fit the definition of a US mega-farm.
[…]
Overall, the number of large intensive farms – pig and poultry – with an Environment Agency permit in the UK is currently 1,674 – an increase of 26% since 2011 when there were 1,332 facilities requiring a permit. The figures are as of July 2017 for Scotland, March 2017 for England, and Northern Ireland and January 2016 for Wales.
Some areas of the UK saw particularly sharp rises: in Northern Ireland the number of pig and poultry factory farms has increased by 68% from 154 in 2011 to 259 in 2017.
[…]
The Bureau’s investigation also established that many UK supermarkets and fast food chains buy from companies operating such US-style mega-farms, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, M&S, Morrisons, Asda, McDonalds and Nando’s.”
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/…/intensive-numbers-o…
There are at least 13 animal-to-human diseases that kill around 2.2 million people worldwide every year (2012 figures), primarily because of the conditions animals are kept in.
https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/21161
“IN BRIEF
* Antibiotics are used more heavily in farm animals than in people. This may be the largest source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
* Drug-resistance genes spread more widely and rapidly on farms than scientists ever thought, new discoveries show.
* The agriculture industry says fears are exaggerated, whereas researchers say companies are endangering public health.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/…/how-drug-resistant-ba…/
This problem is a growing vicious circle.
“Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 84 million tons in 1965 to more than 330 million tons in 2017. The IAASTD predicts that this trend will continue, especially because the growing urban middle classes in China and other emerging economies will adapt to the so-called western diet of people in North America and Europe with its taste for burgers and steaks.
On average, every person on Earth currently consumes 43.5 kilograms of meat per year. This figure includes babies and adults, meat eaters and vegetarians alike. In 2013, US citizens consumed 115 kilograms of meat and people in the UK 81 kilograms, while citizens in India only ate 3.7 kilos. In general, men eat more meat than women. In the EU, meat consumption has stagnated recently, with a growing number of people switching to vegetarian and vegan diets.
Moreover, beef has lost in popularity while the consumption of chicken has increased remarkably. The favourite meat of Europeans is pork. The Chinese also share this appetite for pork. Since 1965, per capita meat consumption in China has increased six-fold. Since the population almost doubled to 1.4 billion people over the same period, global demand for meat and animal feed has exploded.”
https://www.globalagriculture.org/…/meat-and-animal-feed.ht…
“Today, more and more people are eating animal products such as meat & dairy. Our new report, ‘Appetite for Destruction’, [2017] highlights the impact that animal feed production is having on species, habitats and our health.
The huge amount of land needed to produce protein-rich feeds such as soy is having devastating effects on species & their habitats, especially in vulnerable areas such as the Amazon, the Congo Basin & the Himalayas. In fact, our UK food supply alone is directly linked to 33 species extinctions at home and abroad.
On average, we consume between 64 and 88g of protein per day, which is well above the 45-55g recommended by nutritional guidelines. This means that in 2010, we needed an area the size of Yorkshire to produce enough soy to feed our livestock. If global demand grows as anticipated, we’d need to step up our feed production by 80%, which just isn’t sustainable.
With over 23 billion chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guinea fowl on the planet (more than three per person!), it’s not surprising that intensive farming has led to lower quality food. For example, you’d have to consume a whopping six chickens today to get the same amount of healthy omega-3 fatty acid found in just one chicken in the 1970s…”
https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/appetite-for-destruction
The environmental consequences involved with these industrial scale farming practices are massive.
“Cattle ranching is the largest driver of deforestation in every Amazon country, accounting for 80% of current deforestation rates.
Amazon Brazil is home to approximately 200 million head of cattle, and is the largest exporter in the world, supplying about one quarter of the global market. Low input cost and easy transportation in rural areas make ranching an attractive economic activity in the forest frontier; low yields and cheap land encourage expansion and deforestation.
Approximately 450,000 square kilometers of deforested Amazon in Brazil are now in cattle pasture. Cattle ranching and soy cultivation are often linked as soy replaces cattle pasture, pushing farmers farther into the Amazon.”
https://globalforestatlas.yale.edu/…/land-u…/cattle-ranching
Brazil and Argentina will grow 53% of the world’s soybeans, with a combined output of 180 million tonnes in 2019/20, estimated the USDA in its monthly WASDE report, most of which will be cattle feed.
https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/wasde0320.pdf
Brazil’s soybean crop was estimated at a record 126 million tonnes, up 1% from the February forecast and 9% larger than last year. More than 40% of the crop was harvested by late February and yields were 6% above normal, according to USDA’s World Agricultural Production report, stating; “Brazil is the longtime leader in soybean exports and will be the top grower in 2019/20 as well.”
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/production.pdf
And so the vicious circle continues…
