Should The Chinese Be Encouraged To Eat Fewer Species Of Animal?

[JoeBidensDisintegratingBrain]

I believe people are avoiding this conversation out of a desire to be culturally sensitive, but when the result is 170,000 deaths that sensitivity is unjustified.

Researchers from the university of Michigan suspect the pangolin of being the vector for Covid-19. For the unaware, a pangolin is a small, armadillo-like mammal. Since they are shy and nocturnal the pangolin would not cross paths with people often were it not for them being a source of food, specifically in soup, in China.

The higher the number of species that humans interact with the greater is the number of viruses humans are exposed to. The number of animal species eaten in China is high indeed, and this has repercussion for people the world over.

Other researchers suspect the bat (96% match to bat coronavirus genome - pangolin about 92%)

The circumstances of the event/s which caused the species leap are still unknown. As is the natural reservoir.

I deplore the cruelty of China’s live markets. But I do not think pre-empting coronavirus research is the way to go about it.

It is thought the bat infected another animal which was consumed from the live market.

One thing to say, and you aren’t wrong about how horrific the markets are, however my family lived in China for 20 years and I visited probably 4 or 5 times a year. I have never witnessed a wet market in all my times there. The majority of Chinese absolutely abhor them

I think it's disgusting that Brits eat dead pigs and cows tbh. Pigs that are literally raised in their own shit. Chickens that are so cooped up, even in "barn conditions", that they end up trying to eat each other. We ended up with mad cow disease because we were feeding cows the brains of other dead cows. Don't think we can really criticise other countries for eating certain animals just because it sounds exotic to us

Approx 156 people died in the U.K. from mad cow and it didn’t cause a pandemic. Hardly comparable.

@pocketem yep, agree. As I understand it, the risk of a serious virus arising from a factory farm is comparably high.

[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/20/factory-farms-pandemic-risk-covid-animal-human-health]

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/20/factory-farms-pandemic-risk-covid-animal-human-health Sorry - clicky link.

Wet markets are how the poor get their meat across Asia. They can’t get rid of them but they could be regulated and minimum standards imposed.

Bloody hell... what's with all the Trump conspiracy theories in here tonight?

I used to live in China. They do eat some pretty weird things, but mostly the bits I wouldn't go near from animals we eat - cows, pigs, chicken. There is a HUGE amount of confusion about the different markets, quite understandably. A wet market is pretty straightforward, there is usually one in every suburb. We used to buy our veggies there. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary, butchers, fruit, veggies, some live fish. A bit like a farmers market. I showed a video of one to my friend the other day, she said it reminded her of the one in Bolton! Some might have chickens or similar for sale, the ones near me in Shanghai had no live animals, only fish and shellfish.

Live exotic animal markets are really quite different. I've never seen one, they are not the norm. Clearly they exist, but really not as prevalent as perhaps the perception is in the West. Bang out of order. It would really surprise me if they don't get banned by law in China - they have lost a lot of face over this.

Don't even start me on their treatment of animals!!!!!!!! Encouraged isn't the word I'd be using.

Jesus yep, the swine flu in 2009 almost certainly originated in a factory farm in Mexico.

@WilmaPantry wrong thread? But please do point me in the direction of the Trump thread, I have yet to read a conspiracy theory that's weirder than the reality

This is clearly a sensitive subject. But it shouldn't be. I have travelled extensively. I've seen some pretty awful things in Europe. I tried to take photos once of markets in Spain circa 1980. However what I saw in Asia when I travelled there in 2006 disturbed me massively. There is a culture (mostly among the older population) to eat and believe in some pretty strange things. I did a cookery course in Thailand and it made me very, very ill. I'm talking about 3 to 6 months.

Bottom line for me (being asthmatic and having other major illnesses) is I'm being careful. That doesn't mean I'm racist. That doesn't mean im ignorant to other peoples cultures. But if it means I need to look at my own lifestyle and other poeples, then yes I will make a judgement which has an impact on the safety of my life.