swine flu?

[handmade34]

"Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year, according to the company Web site."

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-smithfield

I do not neccessarily prescribe to the opinions of this article but I seriously think this is a good starting point for the neccessary discussion about the disastorious effects of factory farms and the negative effects on our environment and bodies from excessive meat-eating.

[Avalux]

1. I am against factory farming. However -

even if there were no factory farms mass producing animals for human consumption, there would still be influenza outbreaks. There have been at least 3 or 4 pandemics per century throughout history.

Is it possible this factory farm is linked to the swine flu outbreak? Absolutely, and you can be sure it and every other place (including small private farms raising pigs) will be tested.

[kestrel91316]

2. The Smithfield facility in the town in Mexico near were the flu started

is a likely suspect in development of the swine-avian-human flu mix that is now in the news.

Hog manure pits, migrating birds, inadequate rural hygiene for humans - a bad mix.

[kestrel91316]

3. Link to Biosurveillance blog swine flu timeline:

http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html

April 6

Veratect reported local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico. Sources characterized the event as a "strange" outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases. According to a local resident, symptoms included fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm. Health officials recorded 400 cases that sought medical treatment in the last week in La Gloria, which has a population of 3,000; officials indicated that 60% of the town’s population (approximately 1,800 cases) has been affected. No precise timeframe was provided, but sources reported that a local official had been seeking health assistance for the town since February.

SNIP

Residents believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to "flu." However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak.

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