Back to “normal”? No, thanks!
“We just want to go back to normal”. Most of us say it often, if not every day.
But what if I tell you that our “normal” wasn’t “normal” to begin with?’
Here, I mean our current food system.
For a long time, scientists have been concerned that multi-resistant bacteria will cause the next widespread epidemic. In fact, antibiotic resistance might end the age of medical progress, returning us to a time when minor infections and routine surgeries could be fatal.
Why is it important to talk about it now?
A UN report suggests an extra 10 million people may die by 2050 as a result of antibiotic resistance. Viral pandemics are likely to add to these figures, too. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis shows us that we are not ready to handle such scenarios in the future.
The likely origin of the Covid-19 was tracked back to a live animal market in Wuhan, China. As an immediate reaction to this information, many people (including certain politicians) start blaming China and demonstrating hate towards the Asian population. This is undoubtedly sad and alarming, but what is even more worrying is the lack of mentions that all of the recent major disease outbreaks have been caused by our tampering with animals and the natural world.
Approximately 75 percent of the newly emerging diseases are of zoonotic origin. What are zoonoses?
“A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans.
Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic, or may involve unconventional agents and can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water or the environment. They represent a major public health problem around the world due to our close relationship with animals in agriculture, as companions and in the natural environment.”
Having a cat or a dog as a pet is not the main source of the problem. However, intensified farming and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources certainly are, and so are “culinary traditions that include wildlife-meat consumption or trade of wild animals” — a direct quote from a scientific paper here. The reasons behind this unfortunate correlation between intensive animal agriculture or wild animal markets and the risk of zoonotic disease transmission are rather logically comperhensible:
- Intensification of Livestock Farming: when large numbers of species are kept in confined spaces (such as farms and markets), it basically creates a “perfect breeding environment” for viruses and other pathogens and makes the “spillover” to human and other animal species more likely. Also, this is why antibiotics are commonly used in livestock farming — a routine practice to prevent diseases caused by overcrowded and unsanitary feedlot conditions.
“Of all antibiotics sold in the United States, approximately 80% are sold for use in animal agriculture; about 70% of these are “medically important” (i.e., from classes important to human medicine).” In Europe, the numbers depicting sales of different veterinary antimicrobials for food-producing animal are also shocking: some 6,431.4 tonnes of active ingredients were sold in 31 EU countries in 2018. There is growing body of evidence on antibiotic resistance in humans being promoted by the widespread use of nontherapeutic antibiotics in animals. Resistant bacteria are transmitted to humans through direct contact with animals, by exposure to animal manure, through consumption of undercooked meat, and through contact with uncooked meat or surfaces meat has touched. (CDC)
2) Environmental Change: expansion of human settlements and agriculture on natural ecosystems leads to increase of ecotones (transition zones between adjacent ecological systems) — an environment that combines species from different habitats mix. This provides new opportunities for pathogen spillover, genetic diversification, and adaptation.
“Associations between disease emergence and ecotones have been suggested for several diseases, including yellow fever, Lyme disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Nipah virus encephalitis, influenza, rabies, cholera, leptospirosis, malaria, and human African trypanosomiasis. Most of these are zoonoses, and several involve both wildlife and livestock in their epidemiology.”
3) Deforestation & biodiversity loss: some farming practices result in deforestation of large areas, and this in turn provides a livestock-wildlife interface and therefore, the potential risk for pathogen spillover from wildlife to livestock. Reduced biodiversity is yet another factor that promotes transmission by increasing the number of competent hosts for a pathogen.
In natural ecosystems, coevolution of host and pathogens tends to favor low pathogenicity microorganisms.
In intensive systems, genetic selection and management of livestock creates frequent contact opportunities, high animal numbers, and low genetic diversity, providing opportunities for “wild” microorganisms to invade and amplify or for existing pathogens to evolve to new and more pathogenic forms.
Just think about it…
Spanish flu came from poultry, swine flu from pigs, avian flu from birds … We’ve also seen SARS-CoV (civets), MERS-CoV (camels), and HKU1 (mice).
The emergence of HIV is believed to have arisen from hunting a type of chimpanzee in central African forests, and outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever have been associated with hunting in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.
The inconvenient truth is that factory farms put a strain on animal health, which means we treat them with antibiotics and small doses end up in your meal. Hunting for wild animals carries a substantial risk for cross-species transmission. Destroying natural habitats at this rapid pace puts our own health at risk.
This pandemic showed us how connected we are — between ourselves and with nature. What one person does affects another. The same applies to the food choices we make, and now this is more clear than ever before. I don’t know when this pandemic will end, or how many lives will be lost. But one thing I am certain about — lentils and tofu will not spark a viral pandemic anytime soon.
I truly hope that some of us will start questioning ourselves — while staying at home — about what can we do to help this situation. Taking some time to reflect on what we eat, limiting the meat we put in our supermarket trolley and transitioning to a more plant based diet will help us shift towards a safer future.
Primatologist and climate activist Jane Goodall put it best:
“We have come to a turning point in our relationship with the natural world,” she warned, saying there was only a small window of opportunity to make drastic changes before facing disaster. “One of the lessons learnt from this crisis is that we must change our ways. Scientists warn that to avoid future crises, we must drastically change our diets and move to plant-rich foods.
For the sake of the animals, planet and the health of our children.”
