To protect public health coordination at the human–animal–ecosystems interface is essential
“Controlling zoonotic pathogens at their animal source is the most effective and economic way of protecting people. Consequently, global strategies to prevent and control pathogens must be developed if we are to protect public health . These should be coordinated at the human animal ecosystems interface and applied at the national, regional and global levels, through the implementation of appropriate policies”
🔗 Source: Global health risks and tomorrow’s challenges
Economic Factory farming can’t be done without stress
“Poorly treated animals are stressed, and stressed animals are more likely to harbour new diseases because their immune systems are compromised. Stressed animals can't fight diseases well. When a pathogen challenges a healthy immune system, the body responds with inflammation to fight it. But when an animal is stressed, the hormone cortisol is released. This causes the normal inflammatory response to change into a more limited activation of white blood cells . And this allows new pathogens to survive and multiply”
🔗 Source: Coronavirus: live animals are stressed in wet markets, and stressed animals are more likely to carry diseases
What is true of live markets is also true of factory farming
The government had an advisory board FAWC (the Farm Animal Welfare Committee now renamed AWC which was an advisory body to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales on the welfare of farmed animals) stated that “Poor welfare can be a primary predisposition to ill health Poor environmental conditions, husbandry, housing or stockmanship, which can elicit physiological stress responses in animals, may affect health by altering the animals’ susceptibility to pathogens”
BUT Stress occurs in animals with farming irrespective of ‘bad’ practice
Consider a single example - Shipping Fever
“….various stressors increase the susceptibility to infection. Under stress conditions, pathogens like viruses or mycoplasma predispose the animals to secondarily bacterial infections, allowing opportunistic bacteria to become pathogenic. Increased risk of fatal bacterial respiratory infections following a primary viral infection has been observed in a wide variety of species (25). Viral–bacterial synergy has been established following human influenza epidemics and secondary bacterial respiratory infections leading to increased mortality. Stressors such as transportation have been associated with susceptibility to bovine respiratory diseases (BRD). The most intensively explored relationship of this kind has been that of exposure of calves to weaning and transportation and their subsequent susceptibility to shipping fever.”
🔗 Source: Stress and its impact on farm animals
The effect of intensification of production on animals in general
“the intensification of production has likely led to an increase in the occurrence of a wide range of diseases, such as coccidiosis salmonellosis, bacterial and viral respiratory tract diseases, cryptosporidiosis, and mastitis, together resulting in a high use of antibiotics Factors in intensive animal husbandry that affect the occurrence of infectious disease and its control include population density, animal movements, poor management and hygiene practices, and genetic constitutions that are one sided directed at economic parameters”
🔗 Source: Assessing and controlling health risks from animal husbandry
Animal disease = increased greenhouse gas emissions
Defra has also shown that diseased animals generate more Greenhouse Gases as this chart from a 2019 report shows
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