WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.740 Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you're listening 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:07.860 to The Vegan Report. Today's episode is a solo 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:12.220 episode and recording it is stressing me out, 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:15.640 in a good way. As my drama teacher would say, 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:20.640 some stress is good stress. It's one I've been 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:24.839 waiting a long time to share with you. For more 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:28.179 than a year, I've been working on a special project. 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:32.340 I've... poured my heart and time into something 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:37.060 I believe can genuinely change your life for 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:41.000 the better. But before I introduce it, I want 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:45.299 to start with a story that should have been front 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:49.799 -page news. A massive pipe recently collapsed 00:00:49.799 --> 00:00:54.920 near Washington DC, releasing nearly 300 million 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:00.200 tons of sewage and to the Potomac River. That's 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.799 the equivalent of about 200 million cars just 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:08.239 crashing into the water and no one heard about 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:12.579 it. An environmental disaster of this scale in 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:15.219 such a historically and politically significant 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:19.319 region should have sparked widespread alarm. 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:24.560 Instead, it was met with silence, and the limited 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:28.599 information released by authorities did little 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:32.819 to help families understand the threat to their 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:37.239 health. This silence is not an exception, it's 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:41.420 a pattern. Environmental health dangers, sewage 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:48.060 contamination, zoonotic outbreaks, industrial 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:53.430 toxins and more are everywhere. They shape our 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:57.609 health in profound ways, yet they remain in our 00:01:57.609 --> 00:02:01.870 blind spot, leaving entire communities vulnerable 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:06.890 and uninformed. This is why I decided to create 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:11.310 Map Your Health, an app designed to track harmful 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:15.250 toxins in your surroundings. Map Your Health 00:02:15.250 --> 00:02:18.030 bridges the gap between environmental health 00:02:18.030 --> 00:02:22.800 data and the people who need it most. It allows 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:26.759 you to monitor everything from tap water quality 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:31.379 to pollutants emitted by nearby industries, drawing 00:02:31.379 --> 00:02:35.520 real -time information from public health agencies, 00:02:36.419 --> 00:02:40.159 scientific institutions, and independent organizations 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:44.560 tracking environmental risks. This is the tool 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:49.270 I wish every family had, including my own. and 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:52.409 it's the one I'm determined to bring to life. 00:02:53.330 --> 00:02:56.129 The web version will be ready soon, it's still 00:02:56.129 --> 00:02:59.430 under construction, but we're getting close. 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:03.629 In the meantime, I invite you to sign up for 00:03:03.629 --> 00:03:07.210 Map Your Health's waiting list at mapyourhealth 00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:11.849 .info. The link is also in the episode notes, 00:03:12.250 --> 00:03:14.969 and please share it with the people you love 00:03:14.969 --> 00:03:20.560 and want to keep safe. Now, you might be wondering 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:24.680 how this connects to our activism for animals. 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:30.639 Well, the link is direct and undeniable. Factory 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:33.860 farms and slaughterhouses are dangerous breeding 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:38.000 grounds for zoonotic diseases and antibiotic 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.219 -resistant bacterium. Vegans often talk about 00:03:42.219 --> 00:03:46.439 how animal products contribute to diabetes, heart 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:51.080 disease and cancer. And that's fair, but the 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:55.000 existential health threat of animal exploitation 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:00.379 goes far beyond chronic disease. We're talking 00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:05.180 about risks on the scale of a comet impact, the 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:09.000 emergence of a virus with a mortality rate far 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:13.780 higher than COVID -19. or the rise of antibiotic 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:17.000 resistant bacteria that could end the golden 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.920 age of antibiotics altogether. We've covered 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:25.220 many of these issues on the show. For example, 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:28.480 listen to Liz White, leader of the Animal Protection 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:32.480 Party of Canada, explain how backyard chickens 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.240 can become a major vector for avian influenza. 00:04:41.750 --> 00:04:44.870 chicks out to people who want backyard chickens. 00:04:45.269 --> 00:04:48.810 So we put them in Canada Post and mailed them. 00:04:49.569 --> 00:04:52.970 And, you know, you look at this whole situation, 00:04:53.529 --> 00:04:57.129 not only is it cruel and ridiculous, because 00:04:57.129 --> 00:05:03.129 the eggs cost about $2 an egg, it is also the 00:05:03.129 --> 00:05:06.850 cruelty and the insanity of it. But yes, you're 00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:11.209 playing with fire. It's like that avian influenza 00:05:11.209 --> 00:05:15.810 is very very um contagious and you can't stop 00:05:15.810 --> 00:05:18.970 other birds from coming into your backyard with 00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:22.230 the chickens and you know and that's how the 00:05:22.230 --> 00:05:24.250 contamination happens so the city of Toronto 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:27.089 decided to ban it all together which was great 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:31.709 but many other communities are going on as though 00:05:31.709 --> 00:05:35.110 nothing's happening and you know the problem 00:05:35.110 --> 00:05:38.189 with avian influenza is it's transmitting to 00:05:38.189 --> 00:05:43.060 other animals and it's been transmitted to people 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:46.459 from animals. It hasn't transmitted from people 00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:50.160 to people yet but this is a virus that is evolving 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:56.980 and and somehow we think that it's all good and 00:05:56.980 --> 00:05:59.540 that nothing's going to happen and you know we 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:03.240 could be in a situation like COVID all over again 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.459 and much more serious because there are no vaccines 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:10.800 for it. And I think we're just playing with fire, 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.939 so yeah, I would recommend every community in 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:20.120 Canada ban backyard chickens. And this isn't 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.620 just a Canadian problem. It's happening everywhere. 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:27.100 Here's Haydee Mansfield, founder of Bell and 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:30.519 Fleur, describing how poorly the UK government 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:34.579 monitors and controls the spread of avian influenza. 00:06:35.509 --> 00:06:39.949 Bird flu in the UK is being disastrous. I don't 00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:42.170 particularly trust the government in their handling 00:06:42.170 --> 00:06:44.930 of the situation. I don't particularly trust 00:06:44.930 --> 00:06:48.509 their testing or how they deal with the situations. 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:50.829 Year on year, the numbers are getting worse. 00:06:50.910 --> 00:06:54.889 Year on year, the outbreak and the housing restrictions 00:06:54.889 --> 00:06:58.230 are getting longer. So the housing restrictions 00:06:58.230 --> 00:07:00.990 over here where backyard flocks have to be kept 00:07:00.990 --> 00:07:03.709 under cover, they're getting longer and longer. 00:07:04.009 --> 00:07:06.350 But the numbers and the cases are getting bigger 00:07:06.350 --> 00:07:09.329 and greater. So what they're doing isn't working 00:07:09.329 --> 00:07:12.170 over here. For me, it's a common sense approach 00:07:12.170 --> 00:07:14.410 that you protect your area and you make sure 00:07:14.410 --> 00:07:17.149 you don't bring anything in the commercial farms 00:07:17.149 --> 00:07:20.819 where they they. on their websites, you know, 00:07:20.899 --> 00:07:22.879 you read all their blurb about how wonderful 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:25.560 they are and how the welfare of the hens is vitally 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:27.720 important and how their biosecurity measures 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.420 are paramount to their operations. And yet time 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:32.720 and time again, they're getting bird flu and 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:37.420 the entire flocks are being culled. And as you 00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:39.360 said, Judy, you know, the way in which they're 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:41.980 being culled is just horrendous. And again, I 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:43.600 try and share this because people haven't got 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.000 a clue what goes on, you know, these mainstream 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.800 methods of depopulating. the flocks are just 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:54.540 horrendous and people, this is kept from the 00:07:54.540 --> 00:07:58.000 public, you know, because they just don't want 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:02.480 them to understand the real, you know, effect 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:07.560 of this on the animals. I don't think the government 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.000 over here has got a handle on bird flu or how 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.439 to properly take care of it and to minimise the 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:15.560 impact. They just want to minimise the impact 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:19.430 on the industry and their profit margins. But 00:08:19.430 --> 00:08:23.449 the situation feels even more urgent when it 00:08:23.449 --> 00:08:27.629 comes to antibiotic resistant bacterium. We did 00:08:27.629 --> 00:08:31.689 a deep dive on this in episode 55 with Colin 00:08:31.689 --> 00:08:35.370 Noonan, scientific advisor to the Alliance to 00:08:35.370 --> 00:08:39.029 Save Our Antibiotics. Listen to him describe 00:08:39.029 --> 00:08:49.600 how these dangerous bacteria spread. pass from 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:54.360 direct contact with an animal. This can happen 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:59.799 when a farmer is touching their animals or when 00:08:59.799 --> 00:09:01.940 a vet is touching the animals. It can also, of 00:09:01.940 --> 00:09:07.299 course, happen with pets. Pets can also receive 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:11.779 antibiotics. It can also pass into the environment. 00:09:13.139 --> 00:09:17.350 So, as I said, the antibiotics can be excreted 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:20.730 in the urine and that those antibiotics will 00:09:20.730 --> 00:09:24.090 then end up ultimately in the environment where 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:26.350 they can select for more resistant bacteria. 00:09:27.210 --> 00:09:30.309 But the bacteria can also end up, you know, in 00:09:30.309 --> 00:09:32.870 the air, you know, particularly when you have 00:09:32.870 --> 00:09:35.690 kind of factory farms with, you know, thousands 00:09:35.690 --> 00:09:37.629 or, you know, in the case of chickens, you know, 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:42.870 tens of thousands of chickens in one shed. Obviously, 00:09:42.990 --> 00:09:52.110 you know, There will end up being a lot of bacteria 00:09:52.110 --> 00:09:56.169 in the air and so people who go into that shed 00:09:56.169 --> 00:10:00.590 will end up being kind of to some extent where 00:10:00.590 --> 00:10:03.809 their clothes anyway will end up with bacteria 00:10:03.809 --> 00:10:07.149 on it. The air that is released from those farms 00:10:07.149 --> 00:10:12.710 can contain bacteria in the local environment. 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:18.149 Some of the antibiotic residues that are excreted 00:10:18.149 --> 00:10:20.889 or the resistant bacteria that end up in the 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:24.409 manure will end up on the land. They can also 00:10:24.409 --> 00:10:27.970 end up, you know, in water supplies as well. 00:10:28.250 --> 00:10:33.649 Of course, so then it can also, as you said, 00:10:34.049 --> 00:10:37.110 be on the meat, but it can also end up, you know, 00:10:37.269 --> 00:10:42.799 when, you know, or rather vegetables more likely 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:48.539 are grown in the fields that there may be resistant 00:10:48.539 --> 00:10:53.600 bacteria or residues in those fields. And so 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:00.279 it can end up on vegetables as well. So yes, 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.799 there are various different ways in which I can 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:08.879 spread it. I want to go back to the airborne 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:14.600 This is the first time I hear about bacteria 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:18.240 being in the air. So what do we mean by that? 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:24.299 Is it mixed with water? Can they mix with clouds? 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:28.019 Is it present in the rain? I wouldn't really 00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:33.759 know exactly that. I do know that you have to 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.539 be relatively close, say, to a factory farm for 00:11:37.539 --> 00:11:41.830 there to be kind of the detectable number of 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:48.210 bacteria like in the air. So I think it's, you 00:11:48.210 --> 00:11:52.190 know, kind of like within a few hundred meters 00:11:52.190 --> 00:11:56.529 or something like that. And yeah, I don't know 00:11:56.529 --> 00:11:59.429 exactly, you know, presumably these bacteria 00:11:59.429 --> 00:12:01.850 are just kind of floating and eventually settle. 00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:08.289 But I don't know exactly how that works. And 00:12:08.289 --> 00:12:11.590 what about the water? You know, you have slaughterhouses 00:12:11.590 --> 00:12:16.830 built as an example, built by, you know, on the 00:12:16.830 --> 00:12:21.110 shores of a river and they dump all of the manure 00:12:21.110 --> 00:12:24.870 and inside you have all of those bacterias and 00:12:24.870 --> 00:12:32.230 then they will most likely travel to lakes, to 00:12:32.230 --> 00:12:38.970 other rivers, to even the ocean. Is that a likely 00:12:38.970 --> 00:12:42.330 scenario? There is certainly in different parts 00:12:42.330 --> 00:12:46.789 of the world, you have contamination of rivers 00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:50.909 and that sort of thing with resistant bacteria, 00:12:53.409 --> 00:12:57.809 particularly in sort of lower and middle income 00:12:57.809 --> 00:13:04.590 countries. I mean, some of it is coming from 00:13:04.590 --> 00:13:07.419 livestock farming. Some of it is coming from 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:14.320 human sewage as well. Human sewage will be treated 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:19.460 in many countries but some of it nevertheless 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:26.740 is going to release antibiotic residues and then 00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:29.259 some of it will also be coming from antibiotic 00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:33.600 manufacturing which releases sometimes very high 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:38.750 levels of antibiotics into the environment. And 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:41.549 so, yeah, there are manufacturing facilities 00:13:41.549 --> 00:13:45.929 in some countries like India, which are releasing 00:13:45.929 --> 00:13:49.210 very high levels of antibiotics into the environment. 00:13:49.309 --> 00:13:52.570 But we do know that even in countries like the 00:13:52.570 --> 00:13:55.750 UK, that there can be residues of antibiotics, 00:13:55.750 --> 00:14:00.690 you know, in water supplies, and these can sort 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:05.090 of, you know, you can detect these on people 00:14:05.090 --> 00:14:09.309 who swim in that water, that sort of thing. So 00:14:09.309 --> 00:14:13.210 yes, it is something that can be detectable and 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:16.669 it may well depend on the time of year and rain 00:14:16.669 --> 00:14:20.049 and that sort of thing. In the case of farming 00:14:20.049 --> 00:14:23.190 it will depend on when manure is spread on the 00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:26.730 land and it will also depend on whether that 00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:29.830 manure has been properly composted before it's 00:14:29.830 --> 00:14:33.700 spread on the land because if it's If animal 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:37.500 manure is mixed with crop residues and properly 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:42.019 composted, then this will reduce the number of 00:14:42.019 --> 00:14:45.799 bacteria in there and it will also reduce antibiotic 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:49.899 residues. But if it's not, and very often it 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:53.620 isn't properly composted, then you can get higher 00:14:53.620 --> 00:14:57.700 levels of these residues of antibiotics and of 00:14:57.700 --> 00:15:02.200 antibiotic resistant material. If antibiotics 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:07.440 stop working, modern medicine collapses. No more 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.759 open -heart surgeries. No more chemotherapy. 00:15:11.740 --> 00:15:15.200 Even childbirth becomes dangerous again. You're 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:18.279 prescribed antibiotics for something as routine 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:22.039 as dental procedure. The implications of losing 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:27.120 them are catastrophic. Our lifespan would shrink. 00:15:28.019 --> 00:15:31.639 And Map Your Health will shine a light on all 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:35.539 of this. It will expose the presence of factory 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:39.080 farms and slaughterhouses and show their impact 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:42.659 on the water we drink, the air we breathe, and 00:15:42.659 --> 00:15:47.440 the soil we depend on. No more hiding. To me, 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:50.980 Map Your Health is simply common sense. Just 00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:54.019 as we have the right to know what companies put 00:15:54.019 --> 00:15:58.720 in our food, Laws literally require them to list 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.480 every ingredient. We should also have the right 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:05.539 to know what industries are putting into our 00:16:05.539 --> 00:16:10.679 air and water. And when the next virus outbreak 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:14.759 happens, we deserve an independent, reliable 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:18.759 platform for risk communication. We shouldn't 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:22.480 have to depend on the whims of the media cycle 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:26.669 or the political interest of the moment to access 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:30.889 life -saving information. We deserve a mappier 00:16:30.889 --> 00:16:34.629 health to protect our wellbeing and the wellbeing 00:16:34.629 --> 00:16:39.590 of the people we love. So this is my case for 00:16:39.590 --> 00:16:43.070 mappier health. This is why building this app 00:16:43.070 --> 00:16:46.370 feels meaningful to me, not only as an animal 00:16:46.370 --> 00:16:48.889 rights activist, but as someone who believes 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:53.580 in fighting for a safer, healthier world. I hope 00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:57.620 I can count on your support. Please sign up at 00:16:57.620 --> 00:17:01.080 mapyourhealth .info and share the link with the 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:03.919 people you care about. Thank you so much for 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.319 caring and see you soon.