By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

The Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School and the Center for Environmental & Animal Protection at New York University recently released a report titled Animal Markets and Zoonotic Disease in the United States. This 170-page report assesses “the scope of animal commerce in the United States, noting the kinds of transactions that can act as flashpoints for zoonotic spillover, an event through which pathogens are transmitted from animals to humans.”

There are many possible routes for pathogens (harmful viruses, bacteria, funguses, and parasites) to move from animals to humans. The report investigates the role of livestock production, animal imports, the pet trade, hunting, fishing, trapping, fur farming, aquaculture, backyard poultry production, industrial animal agriculture, zoos, aquariums, animal research labs, and other places where animals and humans interact.  According to the report, “at present, the United States has no comprehensive strategy to mitigate zoonotic risk” and “intensive animal production poses large-scale threats to public health, despite some of the strictest biosecurity measures of any animal industry.”

It’s a disturbing but important document.