Eating More Plants Could Prevent the Next Pandemic
Published by The Minnesota Reformer
Get vaccinated. Wear a mask. Eat plants?
Yes, eating more plants may be one of the most important actions we can take to protect ourselves from future pandemics.
The source of Covid-19 remains uncertain, but evidence suggests that the virus transferred to humans from a non-human animal. The CDC states that Covid “possibly came from an animal sold at a market.” Other sources have specifically cited wet markets or wildlife farms in Wuhan, China as the most likely origin of Covid’s cross-over to humans. Covid is one of many pandemics over the course of history that has been linked to a non-human source.
Most infectious diseases share a root cause: human consumption of animals. HIV originated in chimpanzees in Central Africa, and most likely passed to humans when hunters made contact with the blood of infected apes. Evidence points to North Carolina pig farms as the source of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak. Scientists have also traced the origins of the H5N1 bird flu to a chicken farm in China and SARS to a Chinese wild animal market. The list of viral outbreaks caused by close contact between humans and non-human animals is extensive.
