New Delhi: The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has drawn the ire of Twitter users after it tweeted a picture Sunday that said “COVID-19 wouldn’t exist in a vegan world”. The suggestion that pandemics like coronavirus are caused due to meat consumption resulted in people accusing the animal rights organisation of being racist and spreading misinformation.
Deadly diseases like #COVID19 will keep breaking out until the world stops eating animals. https://t.co/AGXlbPnL2d pic.twitter.com/ltm5YvJbru
— PETA | #BreakingTheChain (@peta) March 21, 2020
With coronavirus claiming over 14,923 lives worldwide, users called out the organisation for its untimely tweet, while some said PETA was engaging in “passive racism”.
Please delete this. You’re likely creating this as a response to false and racist claims about where the virus came from, and how it jumped into humans, and that means that you’re participating in spreading misinformation and racism via passive racism.
— Joel Birch (@JoelDTD) March 22, 2020
My household is vegetarian… and we are more than disappointed in this tweet. Now is NOT the time to capitalize on politics / activism advertisements. Shame on you.
— Katykin (@katy_kin) March 22, 2020
https://twitter.com/andraydomise/status/1241890736183873536?s=20
Others reminded PETA of the E. Coli outbreak, the source of which was believed to be lettuce.
Weren’t there several E-Coli breakouts last year due to lettuce?
— Ramon Nunez (@Ramon_ANunez) March 21, 2020
Jimmy’s Famous Seafood company also didn’t hide its disappointment, while some users called for PETA to withdraw its tweet and delete its account.
https://twitter.com/ismail_kupeli/status/1241802593296359425?s=20
Even during a world crisis, you remind everyone what jackasses you are.
— Jimmy's Famous Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) March 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/ismail_kupeli/status/1241802593296359425?s=20
PETA had written a blog post in which it maintained that “raising animals for food in filthy conditions is a breeding ground for diseases that can be transmitted to humans”. It said, “For animals, the environment, and your own health, going vegan is your safest bet. Yes, even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.”
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PETA drew some criticism earlier too when it tweeted similar views. On 20 February 2020, it posted, “Carnivorous is an anagram of coronavirus. Coincidence? We think NOT!”
Some users accused it of being “tone deaf” and the “flat earthers of veganism”.
Carnivorous is an anagram of coronavirus.
Coincidence? We think NOT! ?? pic.twitter.com/b5d6Jifa5K
— PETA | #BreakingTheChain (@peta) February 19, 2020
Is coronavirus caused by consumption of meat?
The source of the coronavirus outbreak is believed to have been a wet market in Wuhan, which sold dead and live animals. This has opened up a series of debates on whether meat eating is solely to blame for the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
Dr Stephen Felt, a professor of comparative medicine at Stanford University Medical Center, said, “There are handful of food-borne parasitic diseases that one can only get from eating undercooked or raw pork so if you stopped eating pork altogether, you’d never need worry about any of those”.
At the same time, Dr Felt added, “But certainly, for zoonotic agents not transmitted through ingestion of infected meat, it would be difficult to claim with any certainty that the occurrence of these diseases would be reduced if humans began to consume less animal products”.
Dr Homayoon Farzadegan, a professor who teaches epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at John Hopkins University added: “Just living in close proximity with animals that are the potential reservoir of zoonotic viruses may lead to new transmissions.”
Also read: At current rate, India can see 30,000 COVID-19 deaths by May, no hospital bed by June: Data