Many of us, with an increased understanding that meat production is bad for the environment and could lead to pandemics like the zoonotic disease we are experiencing now, have thought about vegetarianism and veganism seriously.
The world health organisation Europe statement from 2018 states that 60% of all human diseases originated from animals. Farming animals, especially in the now popularised factory farms, is a dangerous way to farm as diseases can spread easily from animal to animal and may infect farm workers, people who package the meat or consumers of it. Compassion in world farming claim that in the UK 73% of farms are factory farms and we can see a trend of viruses spreading to humans from animals that we consume.
H1N1 or the swine flu that originated in Mexico was a pandemic that was declared in 2009 and as the name might suggest it spread from pigs to human. Some reports at the time suggest that intensive farming of pigs was a large contributing factor to the rapid spread of the virus after ten years of it being dormant and spreading exclusively through animals.
Though it is unclear what exactly caused the first transmission of covid-19, as of writing this article, it is clear it is a zoonotic disease and since the last zoonotic pandemic there has been little talk of changing our farming practices to prevent another deadly pandemic. One way for you to, personally, attempt a small change to your life like limit your meat intake to once a week.
Maya F, a seventeen year old from London is a vegan and told me about the benefits of a diet that cuts out meat entirely. She enthusiastically states that veganism ‘makes you try a lot of new thing’ and that she cooks more and it ‘makes you think more about what goes into your food’. She also says that she is ‘enjoying food without hurting the environment or animals’ and that is a real up-side to a diet that limits or has no food that originates from animals.
Though a vegan diet can have interesting foods and meals Iron - defiant anaemia and other ilnessesare an increased risk to veganism.Iron - defiant anaemia is caused by a lack of red meat but is something that can be helped by the consumption of iron tablets if you choose to go vegan or vegetarian. You should consult with your local doctor if your diet is soemthing that could affect your health.
