Why did people stop eating one another?

The connection between cannibalism and disease, explained

By Linda Luo

Vegans begone. And let us rid ourselves of all our morales and common sense for a second.

Morales aside, are humans edible? One would think that it should be fine. We can’t get a disease from cannibalism, right? After all, it’s meat. The same substance inside any other edible animal. Humans have been eating each other for millennia, both with and without consent and for countless different reasons. In most countries that are apart of the UN, it’s technically legal to consume a human since no laws are forbidding the action.

A brief history

The earliest records of cannibalism (a.k.a anthropophagy) are based on a 2006 study on Neanderthal remains. The study suggests that 120 000 years ago, during a time when humans and Neanderthals coexisted, they butchered and ate each other. Though it’s unclear whether or not humans ate themselves, there is the fact that they ate the same species they had kids with. These actions still occur in the 21st century. One of the most famous cases in recent years happened in 2006. A man had recorded a video of himself slaughtering and eating another human. Throughout the centuries, the practice of anthropophagy has engraved itself deep into human history. From consuming a friend to stay alive in the middle of nowhere to eating a dead relative as part of a ritual, it makes scientists question the edibility of human meat.

Although cannibalism won’t immediately kill the victim, a certain disease may start to grow in the victim’s brain. They can stay there for up to 30 years before it dues any damage. Records suggest that thousands of people have died due to diseases sourced from cannibalism.

Past Occurrences

Believe it or not, humans were mortal vampires at one point. European elites of the 17th-century use to drink human blood. In fact, there are many types of blood consumers to this day. For instance, one example of these so-called vampires are people with Reinfield’s syndrome. The addiction to drinking blood. Believe it or not, there’s a whole entire vampiric subculture under goth. They consist of consensual blood donors and members who go as far as sleeping in coffins.

Not only did 17th-century humans drink human blood, but they also consumed mummy dust, human fat and bones to get rid of minor symptoms such as nosebleeds. Even before those European doctors got the idea that cannibalism cures and enhances the human body, people in Asia were feeding their families fingers and toes in hopes of curing illnesses. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t do much besides occasionally resulting in the placebo effect (a psychological effect in which a patient is cured or recovers due to their belief in a certain treatment). Although these cases are rare, it shows that in the back of the human mind, cannibalism might sound oddly appealing for curing diseases.

Modern Day Examples

Despite most of the world looking down on cannibalism, one extremely common example occurs every single day. Placentophagy, it’s when the afterbirth of a mammal is consumed. When babies are born, their placenta also comes out with the child and many believe it’s full of nutrition and full of benefits if consumed. People all over the world have been eating it for hundreds of years, mothers, fathers, siblings, strangers, etc.  Furthermore, there are even placenta pills. Apparently, the “highly nutritious” ground-up placentas that are to be consumed as vitamins are legal and are being produced right now.

Side effects

More recently, in the 1950s, Fore, a tribe of around twenty thousand people in Papua New Guinea experienced a mysterious disease that was taking lives left and right. With hundreds of people dropping to the floor each year, agitated tribe members invited researchers to investigate. The disease, now known as Kuru, is a result of cannibalism, specifically consuming brains.

Prions are DNA/RNA free proteins with twisted molecules that appear in the brains of all mammals. With the fact that they are proteins in mind, prions can disguise themselves as regular, beneficial proteins as they enter the victim’s body. Typically, the body discovers them soon after they enter the body and get rid of them. However, when a human consumes the brain of its fellow kind, it risks having their body overrun by prions. Once the prions enter the human body, it changes the proteins around them into a dangerous and messed up form. It’s like it brainwashes the other proteins. The prions eventually destroy brain cells, starting with those that are responsible for coordination. Consequently, the victims lose control over their limbs. Then the rest of the body, emotions and eventually their brain resembles a sponge. Eating brains brainwashes people’s brains.

Conclusion

Cannibalism isn’t worth the risk. Even if one omits the brain, we can still carry diseases like STIs, ebola, or other blood-borne diseases without knowing. Hence, the consumer risks contracting it when they eat another human. The widely accepted placenta eating on the other hand is also misleading. Consumers risk both viral and bacterial infections and the repercussions can be as severe as a baby contracting STIs such as HIVs and Zika from their mother through breast milk. Cannibalism can easily give a human a disease.

For all you out there who think cooking the meat will help, try cooking Covid-19.

Dig deeper, read more

Incredible Survival Story: How 16 Lost Men Saw Cannibalism as Their Only Option

10 Famous Human Cannibals

Neanderthals Resorted to Cannibalism in the Face of Climate Change

Neanderthals Were Cannibals, Study Confirms

First Love Child of Human, Neanderthal Found

Don’t Eat the Placenta

Is It OK to Drink Human Blood?