What do y'all think about this?
I can't believe there is an actual machine designed to flip fish around on a conveyor belt and inject them with vaccines. 😂
I suppose it makes sense. Vaccination started with animal husbandry and has been attempted in cultures the world over throughout history.
In the 18th century, farmers realized that milkmaids and other workers in close proximity to cows were immune from smallpox and began to connect it to their previous infection with the far-less-deadly cowpox.
In 1774, English farmer Benjamin Jesty used cowpox pus to inoculate his wife and two children during a smallpox outbreak. By 1796, British physician Edward Jenner had created the first vaccine and the world was never the same (smallpox alone accounted for about 10% of global deaths at that time).
In the case of fish, the report that vaccines significantly lower the use of antibiotics seems extremely beneficial. Antibiotic resistance is rising and no one wants to eat a slurry of penicillin with their seafood order.
But in this brave new world, people are asking what other kinds of impacts there might be from inoculating, well, everything.
You've gotta admit, this video of fish being vaccinated in Norway is pretty dystopian:
At the same time, there are decades of research showing how this practice allows for healthier fish populations, which means humans can harvest more fish without decimating the oceans and rivers through over-fishing, which means more people get fed and food is cheaper.
I have no idea what it costs to vax fish, or if farmers are being squeezed by Big Pharma like they get squeezed by companies when they buy fertilizer or engineered seed or try to fix their own tractors/combines.
What I do know is that the Norwegian model has been so successful that markets around the world are trying to implement vaccination methods to protect their own livestock:
Benefits aside, now I'm going to think about needles every time I have a salmon burger. Thanks, internet! 😂
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
