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We've got it going on! "It" being the perfect conditions for the next zoonotic pandemic disaster.
The next global pandemic could come from the United States.
That's the sobering message of a report from Harvard Law School and New York University, examining how humans, livestock and wild animals interact here.
Many familiar – and terrifying – diseases originated in animals, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, pandemic flu and COVID-19. Some started in other countries, typically on the African or Asian continents. These so-called zoonotic diseases are often blamed on poor hygiene, lack of government oversight, or unsafe practices in those places.
While Americans often think 'it couldn't happen here,' regulations are so loose and interactions so frequent, researchers found, that a virus or another contagious bug could easily jump from animals to people in the U.S., sparking a deadly outbreak.
'Don't we see the writing on the wall?' [associate professor of law and director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute] Delcianna Winders asked. 'Scientists are telling us there's a looming threat of a zoonotic outbreak that could make COVID look like a cakewalk, and we're still just ignoring it, even after what we've gone through over the last couple of years.'"
Our source for this meme is USA Today
The next global pandemic could come from the United States.
That's the sobering message of a report from Harvard Law School and New York University, examining how humans, livestock and wild animals interact here.
Many familiar – and terrifying – diseases originated in animals, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, pandemic flu and COVID-19. Some started in other countries, typically on the African or Asian continents. These so-called zoonotic diseases are often blamed on poor hygiene, lack of government oversight, or unsafe practices in those places.
While Americans often think 'it couldn't happen here,' regulations are so loose and interactions so frequent, researchers found, that a virus or another contagious bug could easily jump from animals to people in the U.S., sparking a deadly outbreak.
'Don't we see the writing on the wall?' [associate professor of law and director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute] Delcianna Winders asked. 'Scientists are telling us there's a looming threat of a zoonotic outbreak that could make COVID look like a cakewalk, and we're still just ignoring it, even after what we've gone through over the last couple of years.'"
Our source for this meme is USA Today
Meme, Pandemic, Zoonotic, Disease, Animal Ag, Animal Agriculture, US, USA, Farmed Animal, Factory Farms, Regulations, Overcrowding