Infectious Microbes
A non-vegan world greatly exacerbates superbugs, causing massive amounts of needless suffering and death to humans as well as other animals
Last updated
A non-vegan world greatly exacerbates superbugs, causing massive amounts of needless suffering and death to humans as well as other animals
Last updated
Antimicrobials are tools against infectious microbes. Penicillin is an example of an antibiotic, which is a type of antimicrobial used to treat bacterial infections; whereas flu illnesses are treated by antivirals. The vast majority of the time these antimicrobials are highly effective and assist the immune system to eliminate the microbes. However, microbes naturally evolve, which over long periods of time results in some microbes becoming resistant to antimicrobials. In the worst case, microbes can become completely immune to several treatments - our tools can become useless. These microbes are colloquially known as superbugs. Over time, the population of superbugs continues to increase, making our antimicrobials less effective. This can, and does, result in people dying of untreatable infections. While evolution cannot be avoided, we can certainly choose to not speed up the evolution/creation of superbugs. This is why experts warn against unsanitary conditions and misusing antimicrobials. Unfortunately, animal agriculture is often the textbook example of unsanitary conditions, and despite all this knowledge on superbugs it is standard practice to give antibiotics to animals who are not sick. 80% of antibiotics in the US go to livestock. A projected 10 million people/year will die, from 2050 and on, due to untreatable superbugs caused in large part by animal agriculture's overuse of antibiotics. This is the same number of people who die from cancer as of 2020.
The link between infectious disease and animal agriculture is long and consistent. Time and time again we have created zoonotic diseases this way - diseases which can transfer from other animals to humans. A vegan world would therefore greatly reduce this. Zoonotic diseases caused by animal agriculture/hunting include: COVID-19, HIV, smallpox, tuberculosis, leprosy, Ebola, swine flu, bird flu, mad cow, and the "Spanish Flu". Many of these disease outbreaks have been, or are actively being, covered up by the animal agriculture industry. This has resulted in many more human deaths than otherwise would have occurred. [Page on industry cover-ups to come, however Mad Cow and COVID-19 are quick examples of this] Filthy, cramped factory farms are fantastic conditions for both breeding and spreading zoonotic disease. We advocate for social distancing among humans while doing the exact opposite with the root cause of these diseases. If we do not change these practices, we will have more COVID-19-like pandemics, and more often.
COVID-19 Likely originated in bats and spread to humans via consumption of animal products.
HIV Likely spread to humans via them eating/working with chimpanzee meat.
Smallpox, influenza, measles Likely came from animal agriculture. H1N1 Influenza A/The US's 1918-20 Flu Pandemic (Misnamed the Spanish Flu) Experts believe H1N1 Influenza A originated in animal agriculture, though they disagree on whether it was from farming pigs or birds. It "infected an estimated 500 million people and killed 50 to 100 million." Bird Flu Originated in breeding birds to eat their bodies and/or eggs and has since consistently spread to and in between humans, causing repeated outbreaks with no end in sight.
Swine Flu Transmits particularly in animal agriculture. Workers in this industry are shown to "contribute to the novel generation of viruses" and "accelerate the spread of pandemic viruses."
Mad Cow/vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) - Transfers from sick cattle to humans through eating their bodies. - Was detected in Florida in 2018 and in Brazil in 2021, causing Brazil's exports to be suspended - Has a 50-year incubation period, so people who ate infected beef as far back as the 80s may still die from it - Has a 100% death rate - Was warned about by experts, but industry pushed propaganda to ignore public health in favour of profits Ebola Thought to originate from fruit bats. "Factors like [...] interaction with wildlife (such as animal meat consumption) may have contributed to the spread of ebolaviruses to people." SARS Not caused by animal agriculture, but is zoonotic nonetheless. Likely transferred from horseshoe bats to humans. Zoonotic Tuberculosis Caused by close contact with cattle.
Leprosy Spread primarily between humans and armadillos, but also from medieval red squirrel fur trade. Malaria Not caused by animal agriculture, but is zoonotic nonetheless. Likely transferred to humans from gorillas. The Bubonic Plague Not caused by animal agriculture, but is zoonotic nonetheless. Caused by close contact with rats in unsanitary city-conditions.