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Campaigners are warning that 2020 ‘could get worse’ after Chinese researchers identified a new strain of swine flu they say has the potential to ’cause the next pandemic’.
Animal protection organization Surge has released a video about the discovery titled How 2020 could be about to get a LOT worse, as part of its new ‘Not If, But When’ campaign.
‘Not If, But When’
The campaign explores the ‘connection between G4 EA H1N1 and pig farming – not only in regards to farms in China, but also its links to ancestral H1N1 strains found in farms around the world including Europe and North America’.
It also looks at how consuming animals is contributing to the emergence of the next zoonotic pandemic – and questions whether animal agriculture should continue to receive subsidies in light of this.
‘Absolutely absurd’
“The purpose of our ‘Not If, But When’ campaign is to highlight how, as long as we continue to farm animals, we will have issues with infectious zoonotic disease and pandemics, as was also highlighted by a recent UN report,” Ed Winters, co-director of Surge, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“It is absolutely absurd that we continue to allow industries that cause infectious diseases to continue, and not only that but we subsidize them to make the subsidies effective, in effect worsening the problem. If we continue down the road that we are currently on, then we will consistently be at the peril of the next pandemic.”
You can find out more about Surge’s ‘Not If, But When campaign here
