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| No | 46% | 6 votes | Total: 13 votes | |
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Add to FavoritesChina is no more a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria than any other place on earth. Our Holy Mother the Earth is a dirt ball, after all, and dirt is where viruses and bacteria grow! By the same token, not all bacteria and viruses are bad. We need bacteria in our guts in order to process our food, for example. Without them, we become sick and die.
What China is, is a prime example of where the rest of the world will be in short order if humans don't stop over-populating themselves. If your idea of 'how to live' includes cheek-by-jowl with your neighbors, China is the place, and role model, for you.
The Chinese people have practiced infanticide for centuries, focussing on females, since
Chinese culture - old and 'modern' - values only males. In recent years, this has resulted in problems for the Chinese, as they have developed a considerable excess of males, and have no 'suitable' females for them to mate and produce their one legal child with. Non-mainland-Chinese are not 'suitable' in Chinese culture, and mixed bloods of any kind are treated very badly there. In this, the Chinese share a behavior with much of Asia.
The Chinese have so over-populated their land that their government has been forced to mandate one child per couple, with stiff fines and even jail for those who try to circumvent this law. Small wonder, then, that virus-disease outbreaks occur more commonly in China..
All of which speaks to the problems Chinese agriculture faces as it tries to feed its teeming billions of humans. But the problem is not one of China's agriculture, or even of China's, uniquely. It is a problem of too many humans for the available land, of which Takuskanskan has not seen fit to make any more (and isn't likely to).
Thus, the problem is not one of Chinese agriculture's insufficiency, or of incorrect agricultural practices; it is Mother Nature's ordinary response to an excess of humans who refuse to do the responsible thing and limit their numbers - and decrease them - to levels where ALL species can live in peace, harmony, and comfort, as Takuskanskan intended when It began to develop the world so very long ago.
If you put too many of any species in an enclosure, you will invariably see problems; and that is what we are seeing happening in China now. China is the 'mine canary' for the rest of the world. But the problem is not one of incorrect Chinese agricultural practices.. It is one of too many humans packed too closely together, resulting in the normal response of Nature to over-population of any species - it kills some of them off.
This is not a tragedy. It is normal. Thus the threat to world health comes from human reproductive irresponsibility; not from Chinese agricultural practices, and the threat is to every species that we humans share our Holy Mother the Earth with, not merely to us humans.
Learn more about this author, Carel Two-Eagle.
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Yes
China is a virtual spawning place for lethal viruses. For years, authorities have been saying the unclean environment was a serious health threat. Low and behold, there was a virulent influenza pandemic in 1957 and yet another in 1968, both spawned in China, taking the lives of more than a million people.
Farms line the roads with animals in tight living quarters. The markets are full of vendors with live and dead animals, heaped in piles. Along with chicken and fish, there are dogs, cats, snakes, rats and assorted birds. When the SARS epidemic began in Guangdong, those who worked in those markets were among the first fatalities. Over six thousand people worldwide have been infected and the current death toll for SARS is close to five hundred.
For years, China has been giving rise to new viral strains by their farming methods. China has continuously threatened its neighbors, especially Taiwan, and experts agree that it will not be the last. Current trade and tourist visits to China have risen tremendously, opening the doors for the SARS virus that distressed the people of Taiwan.
Authorities say the SARS virus is mutating. Dennis Lo, a chemical pathologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, "This rapid evolution is like that of a murderer who's trying to change his fingerprints or even his appearance to escape detection."
Ian Jones, a professor at the School of Animal and Microbial Sciences at the University of Reading in England, said, "Viruses transfer when you have a density of population of people and animals. Given that about a quarter of the world's population is living in China, things are just bound to pop up there."
It is widely believed in the health community that the epidemic could have been contained sooner had the Chinese been less secretive about it. China has a long history of epidemics and with modern day travel the potential to spread disease worldwide is overwhelming. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Mongol movements, in all likelihood, carried the bubonic plague to Europe. Bubonic plague or black death, absolutely devastated Europe, wiping out about a third of its population.
In conclusion, world leaders should stand together for the sake of worldwide health. If China refuses to clean up its environment, they should be forced to. Considering the masses who have been devastated by the plagues China has produced throughout the years, only God knows what they are going to unleash upon us next.
Learn more about this author, Pat Lunsford.
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