Editor

Andrew Currie quite rightly declares we should put people before trade (Letters, 14 May), but it should also be argued that we put animal husbandry before humans, because our cruelty to the animal kingdom has the potential to decimate the human race.

According to a highly respected group of scientists, who analysed 39 viral ‘conversion events’ (transmission from animal to humans), “all but two of these events were reported in commercial poultry production systems”.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently removed the word ‘Prevention’, which rings a bell in the UK reminding us of a government that prefers to play ‘catch up’, at appalling cost, rather than invest in prevention.

Agribusiness, pharmaceutical companies (hormonal and antibiotic products), legions of lobbyists, and indifferent consumers, seeking cheap food, have all contributed to the present pandemic, and to believe the trade talks with America will reflect that reality is to believe that pigs might fly.

Roger Louvet, Porthmadog

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