Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching

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In contrast, outside in the open air, influenza viruses quickly dehydrate and die, or are rapidly killed by the UV rays in sunlight. Just as this industrial model has been linked to mad cow disease, deadly strains of E. coli in cattle and multi-drug resistant Salmonella in eggs, the big recent shift in the ecology of avian influenza has been the intensification of the global poultry sector.

Preemptive Strikes

In October 2005, the United Nations specifically called on governments around the world to address factory farming’s involvement in the spread of avian flu: “Governments, local authorities and international agencies need to take a greatly increased role in combating the role of factory farming, commerce in live poultry and wildlife markets which provide ideal conditions for the virus to spread and mutate into a more dangerous form.”

Some governments are heeding that call. The 27 countries of the European Union, for example, are phasing out the small, wire “battery” cages for egg-laying hens that still are used in about 95 percent of egg production in the United States. Europeans also are working toward decreasing the stocking density of broiler chickens. “In the agricultural sector, greater account needs to be taken of the implications of intensive animal husbandry practices,” said Markos Kyprianou, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection. “Public health policy needs to have a much greater role to ensure human health protection. Policies need to encourage a shift away from intensive rearing … at an international level.”

In the United States, consumer pressure has moved corporations to preempt government action. Recently, such major buyers of animal products as Burger King, Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr. and Wolfgang Puck have announced policies with improved animal welfare standards. This year the largest pork producer in the world, Smithfield Foods, announced a phase-out of the use of gestation crates — small stalls for pregnant pigs — and the leading U.S. veal producer pledged to eliminate veal crates, calling them “inhumane and archaic.” These steps reflect what could become a sea change in public opinion on industrial animal agriculture in the United States, and these improvements can have positive consequences for human health.

Viral Mutability

The way we treat animals has global public health implications. Most new infectious diseases in recent decades have emerged from animals, and not without human intervention. Whether it’s the African bushmeat trade implicated in the AIDS epidemic, tropical deforestation linked to Ebola, live animal markets and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), or cannibalistic feeding practices and mad cow disease, our exploitation of the natural world is coming home to roost.

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