The World Health Organization, or WHO, claims that the avian flu has infected 565 people and killed 331 since 2003. The virus has also caused the death of 400 million domestic poultry, causing approximately $20 billion worth of economic losses. H5N1 is still present in at least six countries, such as Indonesia, India & Bangladesh, and has recently reappeared in countries like Nepal, Mongolia & Romania. While most people believe the problem lies with only wild birds, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth stated that, "Wild birds may introduce the virus, but peoples' actions in poultry production and marketing spread it."
So which is more important: the health and wellbeing of nearly 7 billion people, or a thriving poultry market? Yes they are not completely all or nothing trade-offs of one another, but I do wonder if the new fear will slow production, or if our economic crisis will prove to be more important to people. Hopefully people choose health over the economy, but after all desperate times call for desperate measures. Personally I can live without a chicken sandwich for a month or two...
4 comments:
I feel that those who directly benefit from the poultry market will be too driven by their profits to slow production, thereby risking the spread of the virus. Honestly I believe the health and wellbeing of nearly 7 billion is more important than a thriving poultry market, as I hope others do too, but given the mortality rate from this virus (331 out of several billion humans - a miniscule percentage) and the development of future vaccines whose "defenses" the H5N1 virus will hopefully not be able to "bypass", I don't think it's necessary for the poultry market to make drastic changes to its methods of production and marketing any time soon.
This is another example of the corrupt nature of the food & agriculture industry. Recently I watched Food Inc. which displayed many disturbing images of abused animals that are forced to live in their feces. It said examples like this such as the avian flu show the destructive nature of treating livestock with different antibiotics for the benefits of companies such as Monsanto and Tyson.
I believe it more important to save the 7 billion people then having the poultry market but there is no way anyone can really stop the poultry market anytime soon. I believe the the poultry market should make drastic change because we have seen multiple viruses and diseases coming from poultry markets so i believe something should be done so we can save more people from H5N1 and other viruses.
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