[LINK] Coronavirus: World leaders must urgently phase out factory farming to cut future pandemics risk, says report

[Kim Holburn]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-factory-farming-animal-diet-meat-plant-based-humane-society-b813899.html

> Countries’ leaders should speed up action to shift people’s diets towards more plant-based foods to reduce the risks of future 
> pandemics <https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/pandemics> breaking out, according to a new report by campaigners.
>
> Global intensive animal farming, in which thousands of animals are kept in close proximity, causing high stress levels, is the 
> perfect breeding ground for more novel viruses to emerge, says the white paper 
> <https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Animal-agriculture-viral-disease-and-pandemics-FINAL-4.pdf> by Humane 
> Society International.
>
> The document identifies five key “pandemic risks” created by factory farming <https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/factory-farming> 
> that it says create a “petri dish” for pathogens to erupt, mutate and spread:
>
>   * confining vast numbers of stressed animals indoors creates novel viral strains because their immune systems are weakened so
>     they succumb to viruses easily
>   * expanding farms into previously wild areas brings wild and domestic species together, allowing diseases to jump
>   * concentrating animal farms in an area increases the risk of pathogens spreading
>   * the global live animal trade, in which huge numbers of live animals are transported globally, allows viruses to travel
>   * agricultural fairs and auctions and live animal markets where the public get close to species from different places, let
>     viruses proliferate.
>
> UN experts have previously said that industrial animal farming has caused most new infectious diseases in humans in the past 
> decade – and risks starting new pandemics.
>


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Kim Holburn
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