A document that contains, within it, a complaint and an appeal: the LAV #Noncomeprima Manifesto recalls how the pandemic crisis originates from a sick relationship with animals. Collected, exploited and subject to all sorts of trafficking, they are both victims and vehicles of diseases communicable to humans.

To avoid new pandemics in the future, LAV proposes a recipe: to radically rethink our economic and social system , replacing mere economic interests with a new paradigm that starts with respect for the environment and all forms of life.

A mag-book on the man / animal relationship

The LAV Manifesto finds space and place in the new Animals mag-book . Synthesis between an essay and a thematic magazine , the volume explores the complex relationships between humans and animals, through the contribution of researchers and experts. 

Created by the psychotherapist Giusy Mantione, Animali  has in fact been able to count on the contents offered by many protagonists of animal rights activism, and not only: from Jo Anne McArthur, founder of We Animals to Jill Robinson, founder of Animals Asia Foundation; from Niccolò Rinaldi, activist in Europe for animal rights to Luisella Battaglia, full professor of Moral Philosophy and Bioethics at the University of Genoa; from Roberto Marchesini, director of the SIUA zooanthropological training institute to Monica Cirinnà, senator of the Italian Republic, who established the first municipal office in Italy for animal rights .

The testimonies, including photographic ones, are shared in order to network experiences of care and constructive projects , so as to effectively start from a new perspective, drawing on a diversified pool of knowledge and skills.

Animal industry among the main causes of the pandemic

Introduced by the premise of LAV President Gianluca Farinetti , the #NonComePrima Manifesto concludes the volume Animals  with a reflection: on the one hand, the causes of the pandemic are analyzed, on the other hand there is the need to avoid further future health crises by going beyond a vision purely anthropocentric of the world .

In its examination, LAV reports data reported in the past by the major world organizations in the field of health, to recall how much the predominant lifestyle – consumerist and disrespectful of animals and resources – has contributed to the current emergency situation .

“Already in 2004 the WHO-World Health Organization, the OIE-World Organization for Animal Health and the FAO-United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture, reported the increase in the demand for animal proteins and the intensification of their industrial production as the main causes of the appearance and propagation of new unknown zoonotic diseases , that is, of new pathologies transmitted from animals to human beings ” , reads the Manifesto.

“[…] UNEP, the United Nations Environment Program, describes a worrying increase in zoonosesin recent years, linked to the rapid destruction of ecosystems, deforestation and the trafficking of wild species, and amplified by the intensification of livestock farming and climate change “.

The Manifesto in 6 good intentions

In its Manifesto, LAV also identifies six good intentions useful for averting new epidemics, starting with the creation of a new paradigm of “normality”: sustainable, cruelty-free, respectful of the rights of humans and animals.

• More plant foods : opting for a plant-based diet is a choice within everyone’s reach that allows you to minimize the risks associated with promiscuity between animals typical of intensive farming and the disastrous environmental consequences caused by the animal industry. 
• A truly green economy : the Manifesto hopes for a real sustainable revolution for companies, starting with food and clothing companies, through access to the “ Recovery Fund-Next Generation EU ”.
• Stop the trade in exotic animals: the import, trade and possession of wild and exotic animals can easily become a vehicle for the spread of new viruses.
• Enough public money for farms: with the shift of public funding from farms to the production of plant foods.
• More research without animals: with the use of alternative testing methods, more effective for patients.
• Aid to families with animals: a support that absorbs the damage of the health and economic crisis for those who take care of animals, helping to combat the widespread phenomenon of abandonment .