No meat, no flu
The bird flu now spreading across Asia is bringing death to millions of chickens and threatening the health of people. It is devastating, but sickeningly predictable.
The influenzas that sweep our globe every year almost always originate in chickens, ducks and pigs living in great numbers close to people in southern China. Pigs catch a flu virus from birds, then transmit a mutated form to the people who raise them for slaughter.
The crowded, inhumane conditions these animals live in, crammed together with barely enough space to turn around, are responsible for the outbreaks that annually kill tens of thousands people.
The best solution, for health and humane reasons, is to stop using animals as food. A vegetarian diet would also help to prevent other meat-related diseases, including heart
disease, diabetes and certain cancers.
At the very least, we must stop crowding animals into the filthy disease reservoirs known as factory farms.
Jason Baker
Asia representative, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Hong Kong
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