Avian influenza, or “bird flu,” threatens humanity with the greatest public health crisis in recorded history. Experts warn that the disease could kill one in eight people worldwide.

Hans-Gerhard Wagner, a senior officer with the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, calls “intensive industrial farming of livestock” an “opportunity for emerging disease.” In a Jan. 26, 2005 article in Newsweek, he goes on to say, “The cramped and unhygienic conditions common in commercial farming can transform chickens and ducks into veritable flu-making factories.” Animal agriculture has a long history as a breeding ground for epidemics. Going vegetarian is a great way to help prevent such diseases.

Eating Meat Threatens Millions With Bird Flu, goveg.com, Nov. 2005

INDEPTH: AVIAN FLU The next pandemic?, CBC News, January 20, 2006