The Coronavirus, Antibiotic Resistence & Animal agriculture

At the time of writing, the world is in panic mode concerning the Coronavirus. Yet, 3,000 people have died from the coronavirus (mostly elderly people and those who have underlying health problems). Yet, last year 700,000 people died from drug-resistant diseases.

The United Nations report NO TIME TO WAIT: SECURING THE FUTURE FROM DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS April 2019 estimates that by 2050, antibiotics will be so ineffective that we will see in the region of  10 million people dying every year from standard infections. Trips to the dentist, minor surgeries, any bacterial infection will present a major health risk because antibiotics won’t work.

The main cause is animal agriculture – over 80% of antibiotics in the U.S. are given to billions of livestock just to keep them free of disease long enough for them to be fattened and slaughtered. But, this means the bacteria are becoming resistant and the antibiotics less and less effective. Diseases are already being spread from incarcerated animals. The coronavirus itself was reportedly spread from eating contaminated exotic animals in China.

If you don’t want to see a world in which antibiotics are useless against common infections, go Plant-based!