New Report Reveals Alarming Rise in Bird Flu in Mammals

The reckless use of antibiotics in an attempt to prevent the spread of disease on factory farms is contributing to the global threat of treatment-resistant illnesses, linked to the deaths of over 1 million people around the world each year. 

Meanwhile, as bird flu has spread through the poultry industry, more than 173 million farmed birds have died or been culled in the U.S. alone since January 2022. The pathogen’s spread to cattle and other mammals has alarmed scientists and health officials, who warn that bird flu could become transmissible between humans as it continues to evolve. 

We already know that 75 percent of emerging human diseases are zoonotic, originating in animals. The bottom line is that if we continue to raise farm animals in the billions on filthy and crowded factory farms, we are putting ourselves at risk of the next zoonotic health disaster, just five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

Factory farms are breeding grounds for dangerous pathogens. To protect the public, the U.S. and other governments must shift funding away from factory farming and toward a safer, more sustainable plant-based food system.