Pandemic in America: A report by Harvard Law School and New York University has claimed that the next global pandemic may start from America. Even though Americans think that this is not possible in America, researchers found that the rules in America are so loose that a virus can easily spread from animals to humans. Its consequences can prove fatal.
Ann Linder, one of the report’s lead authors, said, “There’s really a false sense of security and the belief that zoonotic diseases can’t spread in the US, but really I think we’re more vulnerable in many ways than we’ve ever been.”
virus will spread rapidly
The report talks about several issues of potential risks, in which commercial farms are at the top. Here lakhs of animals come in close contact with each other and their handlers. Because of this, any infection from wild animals can easily come in them. Some animals are imported after health checkup.
After this fur trade in which mink and other animals are bred. According to Linder, due to globalization, the rest of the natural boundaries of seas, mountains and disease have ended. He said that animals and the cause of disease are being mixed in different continents. It is growing very fast.
Import of animals is easy
Ann Linder said that about 220 million live wild animals are imported into the US every year for different purposes, adding that if someone wants to bring a dog or cat into the country, they have to go through a process, but if they want to bring 100 wild mammals from South America, they can do so with very easy rules.
In response to the study, Ashley Peterson, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the National Chicken Council, said, “According to the CDC, the possibility of bird flu spreading to humans in the US is extremely rare.
Deliciana Winders, associate professor of law and director of the Institute for Animal Law and Policy at the Vermont Law and Graduate School in Royalton, said that workers on pig and poultry farms are especially vulnerable because there aren’t good regulations in place to protect them.
There is no rule for rearing animals in the fields. There is limited regulation on slaughter houses, but it is grossly inadequate. It is getting worse. At the moment, the federal government is deregulating slaughter instead of increasing oversight.”
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