Is Factory Farming To Blame For The Swine Flu?
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano began White House press briefing on the swine influenza by noting it had been declared a public health emergency. She said:
That sounds more severe than really it is. This is standard operating procedure and allows us to free up federal, state, and local agencies and their resources for prevention and mitigation; it allows us to use medication and diagnostic tests that we might not otherwise be able to use, particularly on very young children; and it releases funds for the acquisition of additional antivirals.
The CDC is working with Mexico and Canada to track and monitor all presented cases. There have been 20 confirmed cases in the US and all have fully recovered, says the CDC. This is compared to, as of yesterday, up to 80 deaths in Mexico (link).
Mexican large-scale pork producers under the umbrella of Smithfield Farms, the largest pig processor in the world, have been accused as being the “breeding grounds” of the virus. They deny it, of course. But, surely, saying it is scientifically “not possible” for hogs to infect people with the illness weakens their case (link).
While unable to determine whether the swine flu began there, Marion Nestle points out the negative findings in a report released by Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production last April. As a member of the commission, she summarizes:
Our report fully documented how CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) are not nice to animals; pollute air, soil, and water; turn communities into garbage dumps; and promote transmission of nasty—and often antibiotic resistant–microbial diseases to farm workers, community residents, and everyone else.
So, while any particular feedlot operation may not be culpable for the breakout, it seems likely that one of them was. Given the prevalance of antibiotic resistance and the intense animal contact–from the clouds of flies that hover around factory farm manure lagoons, the hundreds of pigs in confinement, to the human handlers–there is certainly plenty of chance for viral cross-contamination.
I wouldn't go fishing in that. It's not a lake, but a manure lagoon at a factory farm.
Perhaps now, because of the swine flu (and the pistachio recall, the tomato and jalapeño scare, etc.), there will be reason for people besides animal lovers, vegans, and environmentalists to decry factory farming methods. It’s up to all of us, anyway, to vote with our forks.
Watch the drama unfold by subscribing to the CDC’s twitter updates.
April 27, 2009
Tags: factory farms, farmers, food event, food safety, Health Posted in: Health, Science & Technology
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Food Done Right: On the Farm | Live Nakedly - March 12, 2012
[...] a solution, lagoons have been used for manure, though they do not necessarily roof them to collect the greenhouse gases [...]
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