Industrial Farming Of Livestock A Ticking Pathogen Bomb, Scientists Say

The way livestock is raised in industrial-scale farming not only skews biodiversity, it also creates a pathogen bomb for potential disease outbreaks, experts say.

“Cheap chicken, cheap cow, it’s the creation of a pathogen factory … [it] looks like an efficient system, but the costs of failure – and the risk – is high,” said Richard Kock, a professor of wildlife health and emerging diseases at the University of London’s Royal Veterinary College. “It sits there as a time bomb.”

Pathogens can get into livestock farms in a number of ways, including via feed or water contaminated with viruses from bat or bird droppings or humans coughing and sneezing.

But in large-scale, high-density farms, the viruses can spread quickly through the ranks of cows, pigs, or poultry, with ample opportunity to mutate, recombine and otherwise “practise their ability to invade cells”, including those of humans, Kock said.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3087055/industrial-farming-livestock-ticking-pathogen-bomb-scientists



After African swine fever and the coronavirus, Chinese authorities plan to plug holes to control diseases in animals, but experts say it’s a global problem.

Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3087055/indu..

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