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The "Lethal Gifts of Livestock"
Currently unavailable
The "Lethal Gifts of Livestock"
ratings:
Length:
45 minutes
Released:
Jul 15, 2009
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Being animals ourselves, it makes sense that we share many of the same diseases as our non-human cousins. We aren’t – after all – plants. We aren’t at risk for catching aphids or sooty mold or downy mildew. In fact, many of the major killer pandemics we’ve been plagued with were acquired from non-human animals. Here are just a few: we got tuberculosis from cattle, influenza from pigs and birds, whooping cough from pigs and dogs, smallpox from cattle, and of course cowpox from cows. Even HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is believed to have been first transmitted to humans through the butchering and consumption of infected chimpanzees. it is our very consumption of animals and their products that has bestowed upon us what Guns, Germs, and Steel author Jared Diamond calls the “lethal gifts of livestock.” Our abuse of nature comes full-circle and at a heavy price for both the consumer and the consumed.
Released:
Jul 15, 2009
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
The Rise of the Excuse-itarians (or The Emperor's New Clothes): I've heard every excuse in the book for eating animals, but I've yet to hear a convincing reason. by Food for Thought: The Joys and Benefits of Living Vegan