By Alan Schneiberg
SUGAR HILL, Ga. | Beware! We are in danger of a new epidemic. But the danger is not now China, it is the United States.
Schneiberg
A major study by the New York University Environmental and Animal Protection and Harvard University is reporting that in the United States lack of government regulations and oversight of animal commerce is creating a significant risk of another major pandemic.
This well-documented study (170 pages and 1,204 footnotes) starts with the fact that during the second half of the 20th century ,the United States was the source of viruses that killed more Americans than World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined. Yet the United States will spend 1,650 times more for defense than on pandemic preparedness.
The United States has a massive and complex animal industry. For example, there are more exotic pets imported than there are dogs and cats. Most animal markets go unnoticed in an opaque supply chain. This system is largely unregulated. Yet the potential of animal-human interaction creates the real danger of another world wide pandemic.
This study looks at a complex consumer market of animal commerce. This includes pet trade, hunting, fishing, trapping, food production including big game farming, fur farming, industrial animal agriculture, livestock auctions, live animal markets, aquaculture, specialized farming including such things as bat guano harvesting, fox urine production, and backyard poultry production. The study also examines the entertainment and research industry that includes livestock fairs, petting zoos, animal racing, and animals in research.
This largely unregulated industry creates a significant risk of a zoonotic disease in the United States. There is a growing concern among scientists that the next pandemic may be far worse than what we have just experienced.
However, the report concludes that the risk can be minimized if we prioritize prevention like we reacted to 9/11. We have actually reacted to many zoonotic pathogens that endangered us from external sources. Such pathogens as anthrax, Ebola, and Marburg are the focus of a 2003 law called the BioWatch protecting us against bioterrorism.
No such program protects us from animal to human transmission of disease within America. Yes we have state and federal food inspections and labeling laws yet overall the industry is far more complex and dangerous for our meager efforts to protect against another pandemic.
I am scared! This significant study has not yet been widely reported in the press. Unfortunately government action is not possible in this conspiracy driven political environment. Our citizens are tired of pandemic restrictions.
Yet we are facing a pandemic of enormous proportions without the willingness to protect ourselves.
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