Intensive animal farming is a ticking time bomb

During the Q-fever epidemic, between 2007 -2011, around 50000 Dutch citizens have been infected with the disease and at least 74 people have died of the consequences. 300 Q-fever victims are actively involved in a lawsuit against the government, for negligence and demand a financial compensation, since 2012.

A small country as The Netherlands counts relatively many animal farms, such as pigs, chickens, goats and cows. Therefore it is not surprising that many of those farms use intensive farming methods. Unfortunately the effect of this large scale production leads to an increase of fertiliser, pesticides, and creates a situation whereby animal diseases are easily spread. Since the 90 people began to wonder if this situation is safe. The concerns among Dutch citizens, but also the European Union, resulted in an ongoing debate in parliament about the policy on agricultural. This year on March the 15th the Dutch citizens went to the polling stations. The big win of the arty GroenLinks and PartijvoordeDieren shows that Dutch citizens demand the government to take action.

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This feeling of urgency did not happen overnight. In 2009 the Dutch citizens were shocked after hearing that the government identified an outbreak of the zoonosis (a disease that can be transferred from animal to human) named Q-fever in several goat farms in 2007. Q-fever is very contagious and can be wind-borne. Symptoms can be acute, but also chronic infections. The extreme outbreak of this disease is mainly due to intensive farming. It is well known among farmers, scientists and everyone within animal farming, that intensive animal husbandry involve high health and environmental risks. The indifference of politician on the issue is alarming and has undoubtedly been a crucial factor in the escalation of the Q-fever. Due to the outbreak it became clear that there was no research or policy made for this situation whatsoeverhis indifference even resulted in a free pass for the government to not take measures.  

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They accuse the government of not warning the residents near  the infected areas.

The RIVM estimated that around 50.000 Dutch people have been infected by Q-fever during  the epidemic between 2007-2011 and at least 74 people died of the consequences. 300 Q-fever victims filed a lawsuit against the government for negligence and demand a financial compensation. The victims believe the government have waited too long to take measures, after they identified the disease in 2007 in a goat farm in the village Herpen. Furthermore they accuse the government of not warning or even informing the residents near  the infected areas while it spread through the Netherlands. And even when the story was eventually picked up, not one government institution was willing to give information about the exact location of the infected farms.  According toP. de Leeuw  of the Ministry of Agriculture they choose  this approach to prevent people from panicking. Tuesday January the 25th 2017 the Court of Justice have pronounced the government not guilty. The government had acted correctly and took their responsibility, there was no obligation to take further measurements. Neither is the government accountable for informing resident of the infected areas. They only have to be transparent.  Mentioning the Q-fever on a website, no one normally reads, is therefore  enough. It is the responsibility of civilians read this.

40% of the EU-budget goes to the common agricultural policy.

The judgement of Court of Justice reveals a shocking truth; despite the fact the disease was able to escalate as it did, because certain measures were not taken, the government have acted just and would have not done it any other way. But what will be the consequences of this policy be when another even more threatening zoonosis occur, and who is going to cover the expenses.  We know how SARS infected tens of millions of people, some even claim the real amount is rather around hundreds of millions. But SARS, of course, entails other dimensions in addition to public health implications. The estimated cost of SARS for America alone approximately lays around 50 billion dollars. According to research conducted by the ree universitya at least half of the price payed for meat is not paid by the consumer, but by society.  At the moment the real price of meat is invisible, because negative externalities are not included in the cost. On top of that approximately 40% of the EU-budget, in other words 58 billion Euro’s a year, goes to the common agricultural policy as a subsidy. According to the EU this feudal system is necessary to sustain regional farms in Europe, they are not capable to stand on their own two feet.

By paying taxes civilians are forced to contribute to this sick making system. During the Q-fever epidemic the Dutch citizens were able to experience it with their own eyes. They saw how their government sacrificed their health for an quick economic profit.