It’s easy to dismiss a major disease outbreak such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a random stroke of bad luck, a misfortune which could befall anyone at any time, and to some extent this is true. Chances are chances, after all, and humans have been the victims of dramatic pandemics on a civilisational scale since the (in)famous Black Death of the mid-14th Century, particularly in Europe. However, it is important to appreciate the role played by current agricultural production practice in this most recent pandemic, and indeed its long and storied history since cattle epidemics in 18th Century Britain.
Diseases, viral, bacterial and otherwise, evolve all the time in nature. For them to spread on such a scale as has COVID-19, including to human populations, requires two primary characteristics. First, it must make the “zoonotic leap” between species, since a disease which exclusively affects (for example) poultry will never be more than a mild irritant to human populations. Second, it must have a relatively low lethality rate; whilst diseases that kill quickly, like EVD (or, as it’s better known, Ebola), are scary and can spread quite quickly, with basic preventative measures they can much more easily be contained. Because hosts die fast, they can only pass it on to a limited number of people, and quickly-manifesting symptoms allow for early isolation of cases.
Current agricultural practice encourages the first of these characteristics in particular, and the second is naturally evolutionarily advantageous. The constant close contact between humans and animals in extremely enclosed contexts found in space-concentrated farms, since by natural selection the pathogens which can affect species other than the one in which it was originally found will thrive far more. As well as this, the expansion of the food markets to more “exotic” foods means that increasingly “wild” diseases are given exposure to human populations. These tend to be divergent from diseases we’re more familiar with, and thus more difficult to deal with using existing technologies and mechanisms.
Furthermore, the nature of the workplace, and its necessity in capitalism, is also a serious aid to the spread of disease. Obviously, humans are social animals and will try and meet up for fun whenever they can – I know I’m rather looking forward to being able to see… well, anyone! – but being forced to go into work massively expands the number of people we come into contact with – for more disadvantaged people, at least.
COVID-19: Biosocial Interactions
Not only is this true for the workplace proper, but also on the regular commute, normally
degrading and unpleasant in big cities (raise your hands all those who enjoy being on a rush- hour train at Waterloo East), and now a serious vector for the spread of contagions. The need for constant productive work in our economy means that work is only closed down at the last minute, and the impact of this on loss of life is not to be understated.
What is the point of all this discussion of how different productive modes engender the wide
spread of diseases in this or that way? Farming is (to some extent) a necessity, and diseases will always spring up in the process. Though current, capitalist agricultural practice is unique (serious and large-scale outbreaks have abounded far more since the introduction of these practices in mid-18 th Century England), it does not seem to be leaving any time soon. What is important is remembering that capitalism is a biosocial phenomenon, not a “pure” economic system, and combating it (should that be your inclination) is a much greater task than a mere redistribution of wealth and property ownership. Capitalism must be treated as, in philosophical terms, a totality – by no means to be underestimated in the scale and breadth of its effects.
Ananya
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