Food and Agriculture Organization Warns of Risks Involving Diseases, Meat Production

The United Nations; Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that animal food production is in the process of significant changes which could result in greater risks for diseases to be transferred from animals to humans. It pointed to international trade of live animals and the heavy concentration of animals in large industrial production facilities as two of the problems promoting these risks.

According to a press release issued by the organization, a livestock policy expert at the FAO called for people to avoid the "excessive concentration" of animals to be used for food production purposes, and stated that more investment in disease monitoring and biosecurity are necessary. The press release indicated that the demand for meat is increasing worldwide, due to the rising wealth of some nations and the expanding world population. This has resulted in heavier concentrations of farm animals, consisting of a smaller variety of breeds.

The FAO press release also pointed out that in industrialized countries, most turkeys and chickens are housed in facilities containing fifteen thousand to fifty thousand of them, and such methods are being expanded to developing nations. It also stated that almost twenty-five million pigs were traded across national borders in the year 2005, increasing the possibility of diseases being spread, and warned that animal waste being generated at large facilities is frequently disposed of where it can infect wild animals. It referred to such viruses as H5N1 and other types of Influenza "A", which have become "fairly widespread" in the poultry industry.

FAO recommendations provided at the end of the press release included regular cleaning/disinfecting of farms, better control of farm staff and vehicle movement, and biosecurity training for employees. It also called for production facilities involving such animals not to be built near populations of humans or wild birds.

H5N1 is a type of avian flu. Wikipedia.org indicates that H5N1 is transmitted among birds, but can also infect other animals and humans. It has been most harmful in Asia, but has spread to additional regions. A map on wikipedia.org demonstrates that humans have been killed by H5N1 in such countries as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt, Iraq, and Nigeria; it has killed birds in many more nations, including much of Europe.

According to the FAO web site, the organization works to bring an end to hunger and assists nations in modernizing or otherwise improving their agriculture industry. The organization was founded in 1945.

Sources:

1. U.N. FAO, http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000660/index.html
2. U.N. FAO, http://www.fao.org/UNFAO/about/index_en.html
3. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1
4. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Global_spread_of_H5N1_map.PNG