I was recently mocked by a business reporter for suggesting that economies of scale were
in some way responsible for pandemics of salmonelosis and avian flu.
To me, his mocking suggested a profound ignorance of both biology and of global trade.
Eating is to the human-environment relationship what sex is between people.
You can't get closer to the environment than by taking pieces of bark and roots and fruits
and nuts and bits of animals and putting them into your body and they become one with you.
They become part of your body.
The environments from which foods are produced and through which they pass on their way from
the growing area to your table are rich with bacteria, viruses, parasites, and in many
cases toxic chemicals of various sorts.
In 1994, an estimated 224,000 people got sick from salmonella typhimureum.
Tanker trucks in Minnesota that had been carrying liquid raw eggs were then used to haul ice
cream.
In 2000, more than 13,000 people in Japan got sick from eating powdered skim milk contaminated
with Staphylococcus toxin.
We're seeing old foodborne diseases showing up in strange new places.
Botulism and carrot juice, E. coli and spinach, salmonella and almonds.
It's a combination of problems.
Economies of scale, intensification, international trade are probably three of the biggest ones.
Large farms for plants and animals, large processing plants, all of which create ideal
conditions for outbreaks and epidemics, have been promoted in order to keep the prices
down.
They do keep the prices down, but they also promote epidemics and pandemics.
Intensification.
The crowding of plants and animals creates richer environments for bacteria to be shed
from the animal, they're more likely to shed them, and to grow in the soils between the
plants.
So we're creating better conditions for these organisms to shed and to grow.
And finally, international trade, which spreads bacteria, viruses and parasites, toxins all
over the world.
The possibility of getting sick from something that is so important for us culturally and
romantically and socially, that this should make us sick to me is both interesting and
I think it's outrageous.
It shouldn't happen.
There should be ways of dealing with this so that we can enjoy ourselves while we're
eating without worrying about it.
In order to do that, I think people need to have a better understanding of those links
between ecology and food and foodborne diseases and agriculture.
And one way to do that is certainly to get a book like this out there, have people read
it, ask questions, get to know your food, take pleasure in his or her company, get their
family story, wash your hands, make sure the fridge works and that supper is good and hot,
turn down the lights, enjoy.
So, that's it.
Thanks for watching.
I'll see you in the next video.
