A Covid-Style Pandemic Could Easily Start In The US From Meat Supply: Report

The next global pandemic could start in the United States, claims a report from Harvard Law School and New York University. Although Americans think it “couldn’t happen here,” regulations are so lax that a virus could easily spread from animals to people and cause a deadly outbreak, the researchers found.

“There really is this false sense of security and unfounded belief that zoonotic disease is something that happens elsewhere. In fact, I think we are more vulnerable than ever in many ways,” said Ann Linder, one of the report’s lead authors. The report also highlighted several areas of vulnerability, including commercial farms where millions of cattle come into close contact with each other and their keepers. Other areas of potential transmission could be the wildlife trade where animals are imported with few health controls and the fur trade where mink and other animals are farmed.

“Through globalization, we have erased seas and mountains and other natural disease boundaries,” said Ann Linder, adding: “We are mixing animals and pathogens on different continents and circulating at an ever-increasing and breakneck pace.”

About 220 million live wild animals are imported into the US each year for pets and other purposes, Ann Linder said, explaining that if someone wants to bring a dog or cat into the country, there is a process, “but if I’m a wildlife importer and I want to bring 100 wild mammals from South America, I can do it with very little regulation of any kind.”

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 probability of spreading an avian disease to a human in the United States is extremely rare.”

Workers on hog and poultry farms are particularly vulnerable due to a lack of regulations protecting them, said Delcianna Winders, associate professor of law and director of the Institute for Animal Law and Policy at the Vermont Graduate and Law College in Royalton.

“There are practically no regulations on raising animals on farms. There is limited regulation of the slaughterhouse, but it is grossly inadequate and it is getting worse. Right now, the federal government is deregulating the slaughter, instead of increasing oversight,” said Delcianna Winders.