Anti-whistleblower laws are being successfully pushed by Canada’s farm lobby.

Mainstream commercial animal agriculture is conducted in an intensive way in often cramped and unhygienic environments. These conditions are ideal for new viruses to jump from animals to humans.

Beyond potentially lethal pathogens, the conditions in factory farms also raise concerns about air and water contamination and greenhouse gas pollution that exacerbates climate change.

Meanwhile, dangerous conditions for workers and considerable animal suffering add compounding concerns for an already controversial industry.

Often, the only light shed on these shadowy, dirty and densely populated spaces comes from hidden-camera investigations by journalists, activists and whistleblower employees. But new laws in Canada — often referred to as “agriculture-gag” laws — are making such investigations illegal.

These laws do a disservice to all Canadians.

~

In our research we found that Canadian governments chiefly cite biosecurity as the justification for ag-gag laws. They claim that whistleblowers and animal activists could spread diseases. To our knowledge, there is no evidence that whistleblowers or animal activists have ever spread animal-borne diseases in this way.

Meanwhile, modern animal agriculture is itself a hotbed for diseases like avian influenza — including H5N1. Viruses spread and mutate easily in concentrated populations of chickens, dairy cows and pigs.

Industry and government officials have also painted animal activists as “domestic terrorists” who pose a threat to farmers and their children. Likewise, such claims appear to be baseless.

Another thing is that the motivations to raise ‘livestock’ as quickly and cheaply on the largest scale as possible mean that they have practically no immunity to pathogens. Livestock workers are in PPE like surgeons because of how precarious the situations are, perfect for outbreaks