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Doctors Demand Slaughterhouse Closures To Slow The Spread Of COVID-19

by Alix Coe | July 2, 2020

A collective of doctors has asked the government to close slaughterhouses in order to help slow the spread of coronavirus.

The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has lodged an official complaint with the Department of Public Health in Iowa. The complaint asks that slaughterhouses in the state of Iowa are closed with immediate effect.

“Public Health Emergency”

“Meatpacking facilities should be replaced with cleaner, safer facilities that produce plant-based protein,” said the PCRM in the complaint.

“The current public health emergency highlights the need to transition the food production system away from animal agriculture.”

“This is especially urgent since meat products increase the risk of chronic diseases, including those that have helped make COVID-19 so deadly.”

Iowa produces a large amount of meat, with one slaughterhouse operated by Tyson Foods being responsible for five percent of all US pork production.

A civil-rights organization in the state is now fighting to protect slaughterhouse workers from the virus, and is calling for consumers to boycott meat products.

testing stop spread of covid-19 — *Testing is being conducted around the world to slow the spread of COVID-19 (Cryptographer/Shutterstock.com)*

Slaughterhouses & The Spread Of COVID-19

The number of coronavirus outbreaks at meat facilities around the world has continued to rise throughout the course of the pandemic, with several temporarily halting production.

Last month, a slaughterhouse in Germany was forced to close after 1,300 of the workers tested positive for the virus, with several thousand more still awaiting test results at the time of reporting.

Do you think governments should be doing more to address the spread of COVID-19? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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