This new year began with the first human death in the U.S. from H5N1, the disease also known as Avian Flu or Bird Flu. More than 60 people across the country, mostly workers at dairy or chicken factory farms, have been infected. While most cases were mild, experts warn that it wouldn’t take much for this virus to mutate and spread quickly among humans.
Among animals being raised for food, the outbreak is already massive. Millions of chickens, turkeys, and cows on hundreds of farms have gotten sick. At least 875 herds of cattle in 16 different states have tested positive. In California alone, which has declared a state of emergency over the virus, cows in 645 different dairy herds have tested positive. H5N1 has helped cause egg prices to skyrocket. But instead of focusing on fixing the root problem — the way we raise animals for food — the system just keeps rolling along.
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It’s obvious how we got here: Industrial farming’s entire business model creates the perfect conditions for diseases to spread. But instead of stepping in to protect people and stop the spread, the government deferred to Big Ag to handle the outbreak on their own.
What will happen next is unclear. Trump’s history of empowering big business – and his and Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s disdain for public health – are terrifying omens. The CDC has been tracking what it knows about the virus, and recommending precautions to take, but Trump’s halting of scientific research and federal public health communications puts this critical information in jeopardy. (It’s not just livestock that’s at risk right now: because H5N1 is particularly deadly for felines, the American Veterinary Medical Association is offering guidance on keeping your housecats safe.)
Factory farms are the perfect breeding grounds for diseases like Bird Flu to spread and get worse. These “farms” are more like huge warehouses crammed with thousands of animals with no sunlight or fresh air. Plus, to make animals grow faster, these farms overuse antibiotics, which creates super-strong germs that are harder to treat and therefore more dangerous to humans.
The way livestock is raised is a big factor in the spread of diseases that originate in animals. Small, independent farms are different: Animals there are healthier because they have space to move, fresh air, and sunlight, which makes it much harder for diseases to spread. Unfortunately, factory farming companies have taken over most of the market, forcing smaller farms to struggle or shut down. They’ve created a system that harms animals, workers, and the environment—and all so they can make more money.
Every day, my organization FarmSTAND sees the extent to which industrial animal agriculture is a system built on a foundation of harm. A handful of ag megacorporations have so much power that they control most of what ends up on grocery store shelves, leaving people with fewer real choices and pushing independent farmers out of business.
