Antimicrobial resistance could cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050. Here’s what can be done about it.
As the world recovers from COVID-19, and bird flu decimates wild and farmed birds, the link between food production and pandemic risk has never been clearer.
From zoonotic diseases (those transmitted between animals and humans, through direct or indirect contact) to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) our industrial food systems are creating a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria.
While encroachment into wild habitats is leading to some spillover events, with viruses spreading directly from animals to humans, many of the current viruses of concern, such as avian flu, are being exacerbated by factory farming and the close, cramped conditions that animals are kept in.
So how is our current food system increasing the likelihood of another pandemic? And what can be done to reduce the risk?
To find solutions to these problems, Compassion In World Farming recently hosted scientists, policymakers and delegates at a a two-day conference in London. The Extinction or Regeneration conference saw speakers discuss how current food systems can be changed to make farming and agriculture more sustainable, ethical and eco-friendly, while feeding a growing world.
I would honestly just outlaw antibiotics for use in livestock and similarly ban imported meat that used antibiotics. Farmers would be forced to change their methods to reduce the disease risk which would result in more humane practices and higher meat prices, both of which I would consider a good thing in the industrialized world.
No antibiotic use? No antibiotic resistance.
Would it be a massive shift for the industry? Absolutely. You’d have to phase it in over a decade or so, but it would still be a positive change.
The increased cost would also be helpful in getting people to understand the real social costs of eating meat, and would probably be a powerful push towards vegetarianism/veganism simply from a cost-effective grocery shopper point-of-view.
Of course in reality the farmers would lead a huge lobbying campaign specifically screaming about increasing meat prices and so the measure is never going to happen. Oh well.
