One Root Cause of Pandemics Few People Think About
The article in Scientific American first talked about the global pandemic happening around us as of current, the coronavirus, stating that many people blame China for their wildlife markets, which caused the outbreak of this virus. Few Americans are thinking about how we do the same thing, in factory farms, confining many animals to small spaces. This global pandemic is one of many we have had in the last century, including the 1918 flu pandemic, 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak, and the 1997 H5N1 bird flu outbreak. The swine flu and bird flu both came from factory farming, resulting in an outbreak of disease within these farms. The writer then describes many ways we could curb the use of factory farms, including more plant-based protein, hybrid proteins, and even growing animal meat from stem cells of animals, relying less on the killing of said animal.
I think the writer brings up a valid point, and realizing the severity of our farm system is the first step in creating a more environmentally-friendly and safer public. The factory farms here and abroad need to be changed in order for pandemics and outbreaks to decrease, and the steps we are taking as a country are not enough. I think relying less on animal protein is a great idea, but the trouble comes from people not wanting to change their diets. There is no simple, one-answer solution to this problem, but, as the writer said, if we can shut down our society for multiple weeks, we can also change our diets.
I think the writer brings up a valid point, and realizing the severity of our farm system is the first step in creating a more environmentally-friendly and safer public. The factory farms here and abroad need to be changed in order for pandemics and outbreaks to decrease, and the steps we are taking as a country are not enough. I think relying less on animal protein is a great idea, but the trouble comes from people not wanting to change their diets. There is no simple, one-answer solution to this problem, but, as the writer said, if we can shut down our society for multiple weeks, we can also change our diets.
I think this is a very interesting and eye opening article and this is something that I have not though about before. I will say though that I think modern day factories and way animals are held these days is a much higher grade health standard than these wildlife markets in China. I think that is why the corona virus is blown up the way that it is and media also plays a big role in what happens and how things are viewed.
ReplyDeleteThe writer has a good point, but there are many other factors than just the way they farm and sell their animals. It originated in China, which is a highly populated country which caused it to spread quickly because it is an airborne illness. Also what Tristan said, the Chinese markets have a much lower standard to our country, which allows disease and illness to spread more often and quicker.
ReplyDeleteI believe this article does a good job at bringing up this perspective, that many people tend to disregard. People think that by these factory farms using antibiotics in the feed they're giving to these animals, that we as consumers are safe, however this is becoming further and further from the truth as animals are becoming resistant to such antibiotics just as pests are becoming resistant to pesticides. This can prove to be very dangerous, if we are to keep blaming others for what is happening in our own farms, and not developing new ways to combat these sicknesses that these animals are susceptible to being in such close proximity to one another.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is very interesting because it brings up a topic that nobody wants to talk about because they don't want to change their ways. The producers don't care how they are treating the animals and what they have to do because all they care about is making a profit. Even though everyone wants to put the blame on China for the diseases and pandemics but we run our factory farms the same way. The United States along with countries worldwide need to take action and change the way they are running their factory farms that are both environmentally friendly and is safe for the people.
ReplyDeleteThe article does a very good job bringing up ideas and making us realize and think about what we could be doing wrong as a country. The way that factory farms are run may lead to diseases and such, but I agree with previous comments. The way they are run today is much better than they were run years ago. And comparing the US to China isn't extremely accurate because China in a very populated country and are in lower conditions than we are.
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