3 ms·

> If only there were a way to prevent zoonotic diseases originating from our animal agriculture ... This seems impossible, other than having them not exist.

by nomel 3y ago

myshpa 3y ago
You're onto something ;)
- surgical_fire 3y ago
  Pigs are delicious though.
  - myshpa 3y ago
    Yep ... there's always something that makes us do those things that our descendants will view with contempt.
- nradov 3y ago
  No thanks, I'll take my chances with the flu.
  - civilitty 3y ago
    At least it will come bacon wrapped [1]. [1] Totally worth it.
    - myshpa 3y ago
      We've been lucky so far (covid, hiv, BSE, avian flu, swine fewer, ebola, zika, bubonic plague). Next time it could easily be something highly contagious with long asymptomatic period, high lethality, wide host range and rapid mutation rate, and without existing treatments or vaccines. [0] [0] That would be fun ;)
colechristensen 3y ago
I have a feeling hygiene and reducing concentration of animal production would have a significant effect. Turns out when you have thousands of animals living their entire lives in a packed building makes it pretty easy for disease to spread. And when you have humans that regularly visit those buildings...
- myshpa 3y ago
  > reducing concentration of animal production would have a significant effect Yep, not gonna happen. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/25/chinas-26-storey-pig-skyscraper-ready-to-produce-1-million-pigs-a-year https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/25/chinas-2... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-swinefever-muyuanfoods-change-s-idUSKBN28H0MU https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-swinefever-muyuanfo... 85,000 at one time, 1,000,000 every year. Second facility is being built. > a feeling hygiene ... would have a significant effect > when you have humans that regularly visit those buildings I think that at the necessary scale it's not possible. Disease transmission risk would still persist due to transportation and slaughter processes. Some diseases could spread via undercooked milk or meat, and then circulate undetected within humans for a long time. Even if we constructed near-sterile facilities, a significant number of operations worldwide would still be conducted unsafely. Avian influenza for example is spreading rapidly, allegedly even to wild mammals in South America, cross-contaminating our large domestic bird stocks and mutating there nobody-knows-how.
flangola7 3y ago
Yes, and? Massive factory farms are not a law of physics. Their existence is entirely at our discretion.

> If only there were a way to prevent zoonotic diseases originating from our animal agriculture ... This seems impossible, other than having them not exist.

by nomel 3y ago

> If only there were a way to prevent zoonotic diseases originating from our animal agriculture ... This seems impossible, other than having them not exist.

myshpa 3y ago

You're onto something ;)

surgical_fire 3y ago
Pigs are delicious though.
- myshpa 3y ago
  Yep ... there's always something that makes us do those things that our descendants will view with contempt.
nradov 3y ago
No thanks, I'll take my chances with the flu.
- civilitty 3y ago
  At least it will come bacon wrapped [1]. [1] Totally worth it.
  - myshpa 3y ago
    We've been lucky so far (covid, hiv, BSE, avian flu, swine fewer, ebola, zika, bubonic plague). Next time it could easily be something highly contagious with long asymptomatic period, high lethality, wide host range and rapid mutation rate, and without existing treatments or vaccines. [0] [0] That would be fun ;)

colechristensen 3y ago

I have a feeling hygiene and reducing concentration of animal production would have a significant effect. Turns out when you have thousands of animals living their entire lives in a packed building makes it pretty easy for disease to spread. And when you have humans that regularly visit those buildings...

myshpa 3y ago
> reducing concentration of animal production would have a significant effect Yep, not gonna happen. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/25/chinas-26-storey-pig-skyscraper-ready-to-produce-1-million-pigs-a-year https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/25/chinas-2... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-swinefever-muyuanfoods-change-s-idUSKBN28H0MU https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-swinefever-muyuanfo... 85,000 at one time, 1,000,000 every year. Second facility is being built. > a feeling hygiene ... would have a significant effect > when you have humans that regularly visit those buildings I think that at the necessary scale it's not possible. Disease transmission risk would still persist due to transportation and slaughter processes. Some diseases could spread via undercooked milk or meat, and then circulate undetected within humans for a long time. Even if we constructed near-sterile facilities, a significant number of operations worldwide would still be conducted unsafely. Avian influenza for example is spreading rapidly, allegedly even to wild mammals in South America, cross-contaminating our large domestic bird stocks and mutating there nobody-knows-how.

flangola7 3y ago

Yes, and? Massive factory farms are not a law of physics. Their existence is entirely at our discretion.