E coli, Wikimedia Commons

SourceVeganomics

A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) links 70% of human diseases to animal agriculture.

The “World Agriculture – Changing Disease Landscapes” report published in December 2013 explains how population growth, agricultural expansion, and the rise of globe-spanning food supply chains have dramatically altered how diseases emerge, jump species boundaries, and spread.

The report says seventy percent of the new diseases that have emerged in humans over recent decades are of animal origin and, in part, directly related to the human quest for more animal-sourced food.

Its goes on to explain how developing countries face a staggering burden of human, zoonotic and livestock diseases creating a major impediment to development and food safety. Recurrent epidemics in livestock affect food security, livelihoods, and national and local economies in poor and rich countries alike.

In the push to produce more food, humans…