On Monday, August 29, 2022 at 11:42:30 AM UTC, ltlee1 wrote:
a highly stressed, immune-suppressed, inbred host in the form of thousands of individual mink packed into small cages. It’s a virtual incubator, readied for infections and mutations."
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2022/08/01/jim-keen-mink-farms-are-perfect/
Is it just co-incidental that 21st century mink farms are prefect habitat for the COVID-19 virus? Or variants of COVID-19 virus has been perfectly adapted to the mink farm over an extended period of time?
"Three out of every four emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in animals and are in part caused by our reliance on animal agriculture—the farming of animals for food, clothing, and other purposes.1 These types of pathogens are zoonotic,
meaning that they form in animals and can be transmitted to humans. The majority of diseases that have caused epidemics or pandemics in recent years are zoonotic, including AIDS, avian flu, swine flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19.2 In light of
this, expert bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have long predicted that as long as humans continue to rely on animals for
food and profit, pandemics are inevitable.3
...
Using Animals for Profit Creates Hotspots for Zoonotic Diseases
By breeding and raising animals, we are creating hotspots for zoonotic diseases. Ninety percent of the world’s meat supply4 comes from factory farms, and that figure is 99% in the U.S.5 On these farms, cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals are bred
and raised by the thousands in cramped and unsanitary conditions, often surrounded by their own waste and deprived of fresh air and sunlight. These conditions cause animals extreme stress and anxiety and create the perfect breeding ground for pathogens.
Selective breeding and the common use of antibiotics also contribute to the disease risk. On today’s large-scale farms, animals are selectively bred for profitable traits (think larger breasts, faster egg production, etc.). This results in a loss of
genetic diversity among a population of animals. For viruses and bacteria, this is an ideal situation, as pathogens can quickly jump from individual to individual without meeting genetic variants that might slow them down.6 Within a matter of days, an
entire population could be infected. To make matters worse, because farmers frequently administer antibiotics to the animals in order to promote quick growth, many of them develop antibiotic resistance, making it even more difficult to treat or prevent
the spread of infection.7 Furthermore, consuming foods derived from antibiotic-resistant animals can have a devastating impact on human health. This lethal mix of zoonotic disease and antibiotic resistance has prompted expert groups to recognize animal
health as “the weakest link in our global health chain”—because once animals get sick, humans are usually quick to follow.8"
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