I recently returned from a vacation in the Mediterranean where one of my favorite spots was Dubrovnik, Croatia. Even though it was hot and exhausting, we walked the city walls and enjoyed exploring the castles in the city. And no matter where I go, the elements of microbiology come into focus.

Our tour guide explained to us that in the 15^th Century, an aqueduct was built to supply clean water to the city to replace the cistern system that was used as the primary water supply, which was unstable and could be unsafe. Of particular interest to me was that the people were highly protective of this clean water source. There were several farm animals in the surrounding area. If a farmer allowed his farm animal to drink from the aqueduct, the penalty was that his hand was cut off. (Yikes!). I found it interesting that even in the 15^th Century there was an understanding that disease could be transmitted from the livestock to the people through the water in the aqueduct.

Fast forward to the 21^st century and livestock, water and the impact on public health is still a concern. A couple of days ago there was a report in USA today claiming that the next pandemic could “easily” start from the U.S. meat supply. Of course, I found this alarming. This headline arose from a report from the Harvard School of Law and NYU. First, I want to highlight a couple of comments from the USA today article. One quote was, "There is virtually no regulation of on-farm raising of animals. There's limited regulation of the slaughterhouse, but it is extremely inadequate and it's getting worse.” Anyone in the meat industry knows that there are strong regulations in “slaughterhouses” overseen by USDA-FSIS. Also, APHIS has oversight on farms and there are biosecurity measures in place to prevent zoonotic diseases. What is especially concerning is that the bulk of the USA Today article discussed mink farms referencing recent scientific studies reviewing risks on mink farms and discussing actual outbreaks. I do not have any level of expertise about mink farming, but I do know that we do not eat mink meat and it is not part of the “meat supply chain” that is blamed in the title of this article. The article goes on to discuss the risks with wildlife in general and imported wildlife. The bulk of the article was not about the “U.S. meat supply.” This was a misleading headline targeting the U.S. meat industry in the headline with little discussion about risks in the body of the article.

After reading the article, I went to the original report and want to comment on a few things from that. First of all, the report was funded by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law & Policy through the Brooks Animal Studies Academic Network (BASAN). There is certainly a political slant to all aspects of the report with an underlying theme scattered throughout the report that people “use” animals for profit and to gain wealth. The report discusses APHIS, FSIS and other agencies and their oversight, but minimize efforts of the agencies stating that the regulations are in place due to the “value” of the animals, implying that the only reason there is any regulatory oversight of the livestock/meat industry is to protect the money that is made by the industry, not for public health. They noted that there is not a single regulatory agency responsible for oversight of zoonotic diseases in all animals, which is true but it takes expertise from multiple entities and oversight at the federal, state and local level to ensure that policies/regulations are implemented.

Are zoonotic diseases important and should we be concerned? Yes, absolutely! Has the U.S. turned a blind eye to this? No, they have not. With any outbreak, whether it be in the U.S. or abroad, we are aggressive in containment and control. While there is always room for improvement and we should always be pushing the bar for more data to ensure that we are prepared for a potential outbreak, pointing fingers at or “cutting off the hand” of the industry least at risk, according to the actual report, puts a target in the wrong place. It is yet another example of how our industry is under attack. Being proactive and providing facts and data is more important than ever to protect this industry to ensure that the public knows the truth. Misinformation is a true threat to the industry as well as to public health.

Cutting off the hand to spite one’s disease

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