Page 8 - Seniors Today -April20
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Focus | Covid - 19
The Arrogance
of Mankind
In the name of development, we have
invaded nature for our needs. By
Vickram Sethi
For men may come and men may go / But I from their natural hosts. When that
go on forever. happens, they need a new host and often, we
- Alfred Lord Tennyson in the poem are it.
‘The Brook’ Why are the outbreaks of animal-borne and
other infectious diseases such as Ebola, Sars,
We consider ourselves the “superior beings” bird flu and now Covid-19, caused by a novel
– we know it all, we have all the solutions coronavirus, on the rise?
– but the question is, at the hour of crisis
when we have barely seen the tip of the Destruction of biodiversity
iceberg, why do we find ourselves helpless Only a decade or two ago it was widely
and fragile? Why is it that all of a sudden, thought that tropical forests and intact
the “superior beings” are vulnerable to a natural environments teeming with exotic
speck of germ? Is this our doing, that has led wildlife threatened humans by harbouring
to such a pandemic crisis? the viruses and pathogens that lead to new
In the name of development, we have diseases in humans such as Ebola, HIV and
invaded nature for our needs – from the dengue. But today it is actually humanity’s
tropical forests to the wild landscapes to destruction of biodiversity, that creates the
the oceans. While we are aware that nature conditions for new viruses and diseases such
harbours many species of animals and as Covid-19.
plants that are disrupted by our invasion, Pathogens are spreading from animals to
still we cut the trees; we kill the animals; we humans and many are able to spread quickly
cage them and send them to markets to feed to new places. The US Centers for Disease
on them. Overlooking the fact that within Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that
those creatures thrive many unknown three-quarters of new or emerging diseases
viruses and we shake these viruses loose that infect humans originate in animals.
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