Plantdemic – PLANTDEMIC

LIFE FOR ALL
ALL FOR LIFE

A LITTLE HISTORY

Anthropologists have identified the start of disease since the beginning of human evolution. It started just 10,000 years ago, with the domestication of animals.

Before the domestication of animals, no one ever got the measles, smallpox, the flu, not even the common cold because these diseases didn’t exist.

Since about 1975, previously unknown diseases have surfaced at the pace unheard of in the annals of medicine. More then thirty new diseases in thirty years, most of them newly discovered viruses. What has changed in recent decades to bring us to this current situation of deadly pandemics? Why is it getting worse? Where are these emerging diseases remerging from? An increasingly broad consensus of infectious disease specialists has concluded that « nearly all » of the emergent diseases around the world in recent years has come to us from forcing animals into ever more artificial environments and existences.

The World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health got together to uncover the key underlying causes of this age of emerging plagues. The number one on their list was the increasing demand for animal protein the world over.

SUSTAINABILITY BY PREVENTION

Researchers have demonstrated the irrefutable correlation between animal farming and the emergence of infectious diseases that are contagious and transmissible to humans.

COVID-19 is not the first and will not be the last zoonotic disease to make history. « With pandemics, it’s never a matter of if, but when ». And the question we should be asking is, how virulent will it be?

To stop and prevent the development of new deadly zoonotic pandemics, we must tackle the source of the problem and therefore, we must modify our relationship with animals, put an end to industrial farming as we practice it and look towards a plant-based diet.

« The bottom line is that humans have to think about how they treat their animals, how they farm them, how they market them, basically the whole relationship between the animal kingdom and the human kingdom is coming under stress. In this age of emerging plagues, we now have billions of feathered and curly-tailed test tubes for viruses to incubate and mutate within billions more spins at pandemic roulette. Along with human culpability, though, comes hope. If changes in human behaviour can cause new plagues, well then, changes in human behaviour may prevent them in the future ». — World Health Organization

ENDORSEMENTS

Thank you for publicizing the well-documented connection between our exploitation of animals and the onset of pandemics. We're glad you're doing this and wish you much success.

Dr. Alex Hershaft, President Farm Animal Rights Movement - USA

PETA applauds Plantdemic for recognizing that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or an ounce of plant protein knocks the socks off a pound of flesh—and can save lives, including one’s own.

Ingrid Newkirk, President People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

I am very glad to learn about Plantdemic. It’s wonderful to see that you are tackling this important issue and raising awareness of the benefits of plant-based diets! We are always happy to see more organizations join in on this important work!

Stefanie McNerney, Global Food & Nutrition Program Coordinator Humane Society International - USA

We are encouraged together we are #TurningTheTide for our ocean and wild places. We want you to know that we are inspired by your efforts. Please continue making a positive change in the world. One of our favorite quotes comes from Robert Swan, the first person to walk both Poles. He says, “The biggest danger to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Individual efforts add up, and collectively, we will save the planet.

Cristina Mittermeier & Paul Nicklen, Co-Founders SeaLegacy - Canada

Vegan Australia recognises that animal exploitation is a major source of new infectious diseases in humans, mainly through animal farming and hunting. This use and exploitation is not only harmful to humans, but it denies the animals their rights to their bodies, lives and freedom.

Vegan Australia supports Plantdemic in their efforts to raise public awareness about the negative impact of animal agriculture on human health. We believe that respecting the rights of animals will lead to better solutions for all.

Greg McFarlane, Director Vegan Australia

Scientists have alerted us for decades to the increased risks and severity of zoonoses. Some people talk about « health bombs ». However, animals are still more numerous in intensive farming which continues to develop, always accompanied by massive deforestation. Ethical, climatic, social and health emergency, switching to a 100% vegetable diet is essential.

Brigitte Gothière, Co-founder L-214 - France

Plantdemic is an innovative and dynamic organization whose interest is in the close relationship between global animal exploitation and the rampant and disastrous pandemics such as COVID-19. Plantdemic reminds us of the importance of focusing on the causes of pandemics in order to become the bearer of solutions rather than the promoter of the problem.

Thank you Plantdemic for working to make this information, still too inaccessible, and for encouraging us to be more equipped and able to work on the prevention of future pandemics for the good of all (humans and animals)!

Alyssa Berris, Founding member and General Director Vegan Option Canada

Throughout history our interaction with animals has perpetuated countless epidemics and pandemics that have resulted in millions of human deaths around the world. Couple that with the fact that more than 72 billion land animals are killed each year for food, that then kills us, and it's easy to see why a complete food system revolution is necessary: not sometime in the future, but NOW!

As a farmed animal sanctuary, we are happy to support Plantdemic’s campaign to disseminate information and education that will benefit all life on earth.

Michelle Singleton, President & CEO and Kirsti England, Vice President A Home for Hooves Farm Sanctuary Foundation - Canada

I congratulate you on your initiative. The link between zoonoses such as COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases are now undeniable. Unfortunately, superficial and temporary solutions are being implemented that do not in any way address the root of the problem. As long as our animal brothers are being bred and exploited, there will be no effective solution. The VEGAN route is the only serious, scientific and viable road for everyone.

Sauro Martella, Founder VEGANOK Società Benefit - Italy

The world needs to realize that our bad relationship with nature is the cause for diseases and ecosystem problems. Thank you for creating this space for dissemination and empathy towards animals. Plant-based diets are the future of humanity.

Lorena Bellolio, President Protección Animal Ecuador

Thank you for creating Plantdemic and allowing us to have information on the existing relation between wrong and abusive animal handling and global health. We must find a way to reverse these actions and switch to sustainable plant-based options.

In developing countries like mine, governments see intensive farming as a cheap and adequate source of protein, but do not consider the impact on the environment and the animals, and the deforestation caused when providing each day more space to place cattle; scientific data like the one you provide is needed to make authorities and decision makers understand and change policies.

Luis C Sarmiento M, Founder and Director Proyecto ALA - Animales Latino América - Colombia

I applaud Plantdemic’s initiative to communicate the link between animal agriculture and disease, and to promote a healthy plant-based diet that spares non-human animals abuse and suffering.

Jonathan Leighton, Executive Director Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS) - Switzerland

Thank you for creating this great resource to help spread awareness of a plant-based diet.

Courtney Eklund, Event Coordinator & Executive Assistant to Co-Founder The Gentle Barn Foundation - USA

The epidemics that have affected humans (Ebola, SARS, MERS, avian or swine flu and now also COVID-19) have a common origin and it is now well established within the scientific community that their spread is facilitated by factors directly related to animal exploitation: on the one hand, the reduction of natural barriers (such as forests) aimed at creating spaces for the breeding and production of timber has cancelled the distances between viruses linked to wild animals and humans. Covid has also found fertile ground in meat production and processing plants. In addition to this, the activity of capturing wild animal species, as in the case of wet markets, favours the transmission of the virus from species to species. There is a solution: becoming aware of the direct consequences of eating meat and making the shift in the food choices towards plant-based as a priority preventative measure.

Laura Serpilli, Director Osservatorio VEGANOK - Italy

The VEGAN movement is in the front row in the fight of zoonosis diseases with the tools of truthful information and nonviolence, which distinguishes the very soul of the nonspecific choice that the greatest personalities in the history of humanity have revealed to all of us. A better and healthier world already exists and it’s VEGAN.

Renata Balducci, President Associazione Vegani Italiani - Italy