The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has caused confusion, fear, economic uncertainty, widespread illness and death. For most of us, these are unprecedented times. This contagion even eclipses the SARS outbreak of 2003 or the recent Ebola outbreaks in West Africa. This topic dominates both mainstream and social media and has had a direct impact on each of the 7.7 billion human beings on this planet.
If you have spent anytime on social media in the last couple of weeks, it seems there is no other news. You may have also noticed conspiracy theories abound about COVID-19 from it being a ‘man-made bio-weapon’ to ‘Hollywood elites operating pedophile rings fearing impending arrest have helped to spread this virus to distract authorities’ to ‘5G wireless being the cause of COVID-19’ (we’re not making this stuff up!). Lunacy aside, what is happening is very much a teachable moment.
We have seen in the last 20 years a concerning spike in the frequency and lethality of localized, regional and global pathogens infecting and killing many people. All of these pathogens have started either from factory farmed animals or wild animals caught, traded and slaughtered for human consumption and commerce. When one considers the implication of animal agriculture on the climate, the diseases caused by excessive consumption of animal protein, fat and cholesterol and the far-reaching threats caused by pandemics, it would truly be negligent, even criminal, to continue to ignore all these warning signs as it relates to our treatment of non-human animals. In other words, we do these things at our own peril and all life on this planet. This is not hyperbole - this is a wake up call.
In 2008, Dr. Michael Greger, of Nutrition Facts, a physician, speaker, New York Times Best Selling author of How Not To Die and graduate of Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Tufts University School of Medicine, posted a video on “Pandemics: History & Prevention”. It is one of the most prophetic lectures in circulation. We would encourage anyone who finds this page to watch this video in its entirety. It is 1 hour and well worth the watch. Your life, literally, may depend on it.
Nigel Osborne is the Executive Dir. of Egg-Truth. Nigel has years of experience related to animal rights and on-line advocacy. Through Egg-Truth.com and it's social media channels, Nigel seeks to increase awareness among the public about global egg production, expose the conditions for the billions of hens condemned to laying every year, and reveal the true impact of egg consumption on human health.