Eating Animals Causes Pandemics, Part 1 of 4

On May 1, 2021, concerned people from 60 cities in 20 different countries participated in the International Pandemic Outreach Initiative, organized by Eating Animals Causes Pandemics, calling attention to the dangerous connection between pandemics and the exploitation of animals. In today’s episode, we learn from two of the primary organizers of this international initiative, Mo Markham and Ray Ippolito, why they are so worried about future pandemics.

“Zoonotic viruses are when a virus jumps from one species to the next, from a non-human animal now to human animals. So, it has to do with a completely broken animal-based food system, but also coming from wildlife. And, you add in the petri dish of stacking tens of thousands of animals in cages, in confinement. And you're creating a perfect, perfect environment, a petri dish to create more viruses.” “We had SARS from eating animals. We've had avian flu, also known as bird flu, and swine flu, and Mad Cow disease as well. These are all present throughout the world all the time.” It is not just avian flu. While COVID-19 ravages the planet, other zoonoses and animal-related malaises are breaking out across the globe.

Mo and Ray state that, Although we are facing a unique situation due to the unprecedented scale of livestock operations devastating our ecosystems, the media is not discussing this “elephant in the room.” “The media is not talking about it, and our governments are not talking about it. That's a huge issue. Greta Thunberg has been trying to say to us for several years now, listen to the science, listen to the science. And it all points in the same direction. It's all telling us that we need to end animal agriculture.”

Our most gracious Supreme Master Ching Hai has also frequently warned about the deadly consequences of eating animals starting three decades ago, including climate change, environmental destruction, mass extinction of wildlife, pandemics and more. She is emphatic that there is only one way to stop COVID-19 and all future pandemics: the global adoption of a vegan lifestyle.