Experts say current US outbreak is unlikely to end without intervention with further mutation of virus likely

Summary

A new H5N1 bird flu variant has become “endemic in cows,” with cases detected in Nevada and Arizona, raising concerns about human transmission.

Experts warn that without intervention, the outbreak will continue, but Trump has cut CDC staff and halted flu vaccination campaigns.

The virus’s spread coincides with a severe flu season, increasing the risk of mutation.

The administration has also stopped sharing flu data with the WHO and shifted its containment strategy away from culling infected poultry, raising fears of inadequate response.

  • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    0·
    3 days ago

    We currently grow enough plants to feed 15B people, but we feed that to the animals instead.

    a lot of the plant matter fed to animals is parts of plants we can’t or won’t eat.

    and a lot of the land used isn’t crop land, but grazing land

    and they’re is no reason to believe the land would ever be rewilded.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
      0·
      3 days ago

      Still results in overall reductions in arable-land usage. Even more than just eliminating 100% of food-waste

      we show that plant-based replacements for each of the major animal categories in the United States (beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs) can produce twofold to 20-fold more nutritionally similar food per unit cropland. Replacing all animal-based items with plant-based replacement diets can add enough food to feed 350 million additional people, more than the expected benefits of eliminating all supply chain food loss.

      https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1713820115

      Grazing usage isn’t free from harms either

      Livestock farmers often claim that their grazing systems “mimic nature”. If so, the mimicry is a crude caricature. A review of evidence from over 100 studies found that when livestock are removed from the land, the abundance and diversity of almost all groups of wild animals increases

      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/16/most-damaging-farm-products-organic-pasture-fed-beef-lamb

    • lumpybag@reddthat.comEnglish
      0·
      3 days ago

      Even just replacing 25-50% meat with plants in the US would have incredible outcomes for the people. I guarantee we would be a far healthier population. The cheap meat being served up to Americans is not good.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        0·
        2 days ago

        Maybe this is bias from 20ish years of not eating meat, but most of the time it just smells foul to me, like an overly sour smell that only goes away if you spice the fuck out of it. Beef and chicken are the main offenders for this for me.

    • tree_frog@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      3 days ago

      It’s mostly corn.

      Granted, it’s not processed in a way to be fit for human consumption.

      But still, most of it is corn. Some of it is corn cobs and stalks but most of it is kernels.

      Outside of that, other grains are very common. Oats for example.

      So, they are right. Raising plants to feed animals so we can eat the animals is less efficient than raising plants for us to eat. Especially in regards to cattle. Which is one of the most inefficient things in the US food system. The only reason it’s so cheap is because of subsidation, both of the cattle and the corn that’s grown to feed them.

      And countries much larger than our own survive on rice and beans just fine. As queerminest eluded to in her comment.

      As far as local food, I have a co-op. So I buy local vegetables and fruits when I can.

      • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        0·
        3 days ago

        Raising plants to feed animals so we can eat the animals is less efficient than raising plants for us to eat.

        if that were the situation, you might be right. but since we actually feed livestock mostly crop seconds and byproducts, it’s actually a conservation of resources in a lot of situations, with minimal competition with human food sources

        • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
          0·
          3 days ago

          1 kg of meat requires 2.8 kg of human-edible feed for ruminants and 3.2 for monogastrics

          https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912416300013

          we show that plant-based replacements for each of the major animal categories in the United States (beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs) can produce twofold to 20-fold more nutritionally similar food per unit cropland. Replacing all animal-based items with plant-based replacement diets can add enough food to feed 350 million additional people, more than the expected benefits of eliminating all supply chain food loss.

          https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1713820115

          • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            0·
            2 days ago

            your shepon paper shows a great deal of spinach being fed to chickens. why would it be fed to chickens if it were suitable for human consumption? I don’t actually know, but my guess is that it is not suitable for human consumption, and that is why it is fed to chickens. that’s a conservation of resources. the potatoes fed to cattle are likely the same.

            this paper doesn’t discuss this discrepancy at all. I have to say I don’t find the analysis very compelling.