Amongst the things the animal flesh industry would prefer you didn’t know about are viral infections contracted by workers in the meat industry. Fresh meat is so laden with viruses that there is a well-defined medical condition colloquially known as “butcher’s warts,” affecting the hands of those who handle the flesh of dead cows, poultry and fish. Not only do the people who handle the flesh of dead creatures contract a virus that causes warts, but so also do those who work with them, and their families.

According to a paper called Treatment of Warts by Steven and Joshua Pray, although warts can affect anyone, people who work with raw meat are at “particularly high risk of butcher’s warts.”

The International Journal of Epidemiology published an article called: The Aetiology and Risk Factors for Warts among Poultry Processing Workers. Researchers conducted an investigation at a poultry processing plant in New Zealand to study the prevalence of warts among workers and the risk of developing warts. The study found that “Almost half had developed wart-like lesions on their arms or hands after they began working at the plant.” People working in areas where they often handled dead, raw, unfrozen chickens were three times more likely to have developed warts.

Another report published by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology reveals that even the wives of butchers seem to be “at higher risk of cervical cancer,” which is associated with exposure to the wart virus. The report also says “concerns about viral infection have led to recommendations that pregnant women and people with AIDS not work on the slaughter lines.”

The report “Mortality in the Baltimore Union Poultry Cohort: Non-Malignant Diseases,” paints a darker picture by concluding that “Poultry workers may have excess occurrence of disease affecting several organs and systems, probably originating from widespread infection with a variety of micro-organisms.” The report also concludes, “Poultry workers as a group had an overall excess of deaths” from a variety of diseases.

An update to the union poultry cohort report says, “Compared to the US general population, an excess of cancers of the buccal and nasal cavities and pharynx, esophagus, recto-sigmoid/rectum/anus, liver and intrabiliary system, myelofibrosis, lymphoid leukemia and multiple myeloma was observed in particular subgroups or in the entire poultry cohort.”

There is already a great deal of clinical evidence that eating the flesh of dead creatures causes disease amongst humans. Now we know that even touching the flesh of dead creatures may not only cause warts, but increased mortality. The weight of evidence for vegetarianism continues to grow.

In his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4, chapter 25, verse 8, Srila Prabhupada tells us “When animals are killed in a slaughterhouse, six people connected with the killing are responsible for the murder. The person who gives permission for the killing, the person who kills, the person who helps, the person who purchases the meat, the person who cooks the flesh and the person who eats it, all become entangled in the killing.” Scientists and researchers are continuing to provide the evidence to support the karmic consequences of the desire to kill and eat other creatures. Tell your friends.