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The "Lethal Gifts of Livestock"
Currently unavailable
The "Lethal Gifts of Livestock"
ratings:
Length:
45 minutes
Released:
Jul 15, 2009
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Being animals ourselves, it makes sense that we share many of the same diseases as our non-human cousins. We aren’t – after all – plants. We aren’t at risk for catching aphids or sooty mold or downy mildew. In fact, many of the major killer pandemics we’ve been plagued with were acquired from non-human animals. Here are just a few: we got tuberculosis from cattle, influenza from pigs and birds, whooping cough from pigs and dogs, smallpox from cattle, and of course cowpox from cows. Even HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is believed to have been first transmitted to humans through the butchering and consumption of infected chimpanzees. it is our very consumption of animals and their products that has bestowed upon us what Guns, Germs, and Steel author Jared Diamond calls the “lethal gifts of livestock.” Our abuse of nature comes full-circle and at a heavy price for both the consumer and the consumed.
Released:
Jul 15, 2009
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Response to: "If you were on a desert island and were starving, I bet you'd eat meat then; I eat only meat from humanely raised animals"; and other statements based on hypothetical scenarios and myths.: Our excuses for eating animals have more to do with how we want to perceive ourselves and less to do with what is actually true. by Food for Thought: The Joys and Benefits of Living Vegan