EDIT, with a relevant source for context:

Since 1940, an estimated 50% of zoonotic disease emergence has been associated with agriculture (1–3). This estimate, however, is necessarily conservative because only direct agricultural drivers are considered in the epidemiological literature, i.e., within the farm gat

[…]

The intensification of animal agriculture through confinement and industrialization has directly led to the emergence of viruses including Nipah and H5N1 influenza (“swine flu”) (18) and antibiotic-resistant infectious bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (19, 20).

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add6681

  • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
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    7 months ago

    The spread also comes from intensive factory farming. Having billions of creatures in extremely close contact is a major source of the disease spread in animal agriculture

    This is not some random fact, it’s been a major point for epidemiologists. For instance, antibiotic resistance is heavily tied to animal agriculture which uses 73% of the entire global antibiotic supply (source)

    Ignoring the majority of these things is not sensible to do. Advocating for killing all wild life is not going to be sensible nor even close to pratical politicy

    And it doesn’t even solve the spread of disease from farm animals who again directly cause 50% of zoonetic disease spread. The 50% figure was not including land use change. The creatures themselves are shipped around all over and put in those crampt conditions that are ripe for disease