Animal Market: Are livestocks linked to new diseases?

Posted previously on Youth Politician on June 2021.

The whole world is at the mercy of contagious diseases and predicted by agribusiness. Increased concentration and intensification of animal production, globalized trade of animals and their products, and rapidly changing animal health systems, climate dynamics, and greater urbanization are raising the risk of animal health threats.

Three million deaths in the world, crowded hospitals, lockdowns, falling markets, closed borders, all of this happening right now ‘thanks’ to the new SARS-CoV- virus, which causes COVID-19. But, actually few know the possible origin of the coronavirus and how humanity could avoid new diseases.

According to a recent study, there is a 96.2% ratio between coronavirus and a bat. Scientists around the world are about to release a report on the exact origin of the coronavirus, in which the main theory that it is a bat virus, which turned into a variant that later infected humans. 

It means that the hypothesis for the appearance of the disease – that the new virus has passed from bats to men through an intermediate host – is linked to the way humanity relates to the environment.

Human actions on Earth have serious consequences right now – not just in the distant future. Such actions aren’t restricted to deforestation or pollution, on the contrary, the animal treatment in livestock’s is an example of how damage to the environment leads to the occurrence of new diseases.

Animal husbandry has been an indispensable source of income for rural communities around the world. According to a World Livestock by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), it is stated that:

“The world population has grown exponentially, from about 4 billion in 1975 to more than 7 billion to-day. By 2050, this number is expected to increase to about 9.6 billion (UN, 2012). Since May 2007, there have been more urban than rural people, and progressive urbanization will increase the number of megacities (with at least 10 million residents) in the future. The world economy has also been growing dramatically over recent decades, with a twentyfold increase in global gross domestic product (GDP) between 1970 and 2012 (World Bank, 2012). The world economy is projected to nearly quadruple by 2050, leading to a very significant increase in the demand for energy and natural resources.”  (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2012).”

In short, the increase in population consequently results in an increase in urbanization, requiring a growth in food production. For this reason, agriculture started to produce “supply of cereals as staples to providing an increased protein-rich diet based on livestock and fishery products”, according to the report.

However, there is a concern that increased demand for feed grains will raise the price of cereals to the poor, as well as possible health complications due to the increasing incidence of diseases passing from animals to humans.

The risk of animal contamination for humans can vary due to the infrastructure of the place where cattle, pigs and chickens are raised, and because of the different livestock types. It is commonly seen that, in developing countries, this production system has major flaws and neglects the maintenance of hygiene and Biosecurity.

Over 70% of new diseases of humans have animal origin, with the potential of becoming local and major public health threats, for example, Covid-19 in a pandemic level and other previous epidemics in many countries. It’s known that supporting efforts to reduce risks of threats to animals and human lives are critical for the environment.

Large-scale intensive production implies the agglomeration of animals of the same species. Strengthening biosafety and health protection guidelines generally prevent the emergence of contagious diseases, such as H1N1 and Covid-19, but, “major outbreaks occur occasionally when a pathogen performs a virulence jump, escapes the vaccine used, acquires resistance to antibiotics, or travels along the food chain ”, it adds. 

However, it is necessary to consider that the livestock sector brings the livelihood of thousands and thousands of people around the world. According to Worldwide Livestock , raising livestock for consumption contributes “approximately percent of the global value of agricultural output and supports the livelihoods and food security of almost a . billion people”.

To reverse and prevent future pandemics, it isn’t enough to just plant trees or waste less water, bigger actions have a significant and possibly changing importance. Global disease intelligence and early warning are key to inform decisions, actions, and timely communication between agencies and sectors responsible for human health, animal health, wildlife and food safety. This is the best way to prevent, detect and respond in time to animal and public health, starting now.

Chen, Benjamin; Garcia, David; Caldas, Amy; Andrade, Beatriz; Nicholas, Kayla ; Dhesi, Kiman; Costa, Luciana; Huemer, Sarah; Shekhawat, Vaidaansh; Veloz, Andre. Youth Economist Compilation: For the youth by the youths (pp. 32-33). Kindle Edition.