This is a picture of an infected pig. I certainly would not feel comfortable eating that! Yet that is what someone may unknowingly eat since humans are so separated from the origins of their meat.
This article was really scary because it states that Ebola can be transmitted from pigs to primates. We have discussed in class how similar pigs are to human beings in terms of intelligence but they also are very similar to humans in terms of anatomy. This is why some Biology and Anatomy classes use fetal pig dissections as part of their curriculum. Knowledge of this makes me worried that it is possible to contract many illnesses from the pork that we eat. According to this article, “‘Pigs are remarkably versatile animals when it comes to acquiring and transmitting infections,’ said Tara Smith from the University of Iowa, who studies emerging infectious diseases and was not involved in this study. ‘They have been implicated in the spread of a variety of nasty zoonotic viruses: influenzas, Nipah virus, possibly Hendra virus, and now at least two types of Ebola.'”
A lot of the antibiotic and drug treatments that we force our meat to undergo may reduce the healthiness of humans. I have been thinking about this a lot since Foer warned that we are overdue for another pandemic.
References:
“Ebola from Pigs to Monkeys.” The Scientist. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. Print.
“Philippine Pig Worker Infected with Ebola.” PigProgress. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
I do not believe that there is much to worry about in this regard. Like Kobinger stated, “this work was done in controlled conditions, and may not be representative of pigs running outside in the field.” Plus in the pork we eat, if cooked to the proper temperature, it should harm us.
But I totally agree with you in the fact that abundance of antibiotics will become/ if not already a troubling issue.
Foes has quite a bit to say on this topic, doesn’t he?