Industrial farming caused the Mexican swine flu?

[Guest guest]

Is industrial farming the cause of the Mexican swine flu?

Veratect is a biosurveillance group that broke the news of a swine flu outbreak in Mexico.

In their original report they said it emerged in the town of La Gloria

in the state of Veracruz. Apparently the residents felt it was

connected to Granja Carroll, a local industrial pig farm which is a

subsidiary of the US firm Smithfield. Residents had been complaining of

the pollution of the air and water by this farm. A later post states that this must be established by proper epidemiology.Interestingly research into Avian flu released in 2007

stated that the factory farming of birds was the cause of several

outbreaks of bird flu. “In Asia, avian flu existed among backyard

flocks for centuries, the study's authors said, but it never evolved

into highly pathogenic forms such as the deadly H5N1 virus.

By contrast, in large-scale farms where animals are concentrated by

the thousands, diseases erupt and spread quickly, all the way to small

farms, they added.†Unfortunately indiscriminate culling of birds and animals suspected of

incubating flu often affects the poorest or most vulnerable. In the

bird flu epidemic in Asia several years ago many small backyard poultry

keepers had their birds killed. Currently Egypt has ordered the slaughter of the country’s 300,000 pigs

although there is no swine flu in the country. The pig owners will

receive no compensation as the meat can be sold. However as the

majority of the population is Muslim, and forbidden to eat pork, there

is unlikely to be sufficient purchasers for this meat.

After World War 2 in the US, 'cities' of industrial pigs and

poultry developed, replacing smaller mixed farming. This factory

farming of animals

was

spread round the world from the 1970's by the structural adjustment

policies of the World Bank and the IMF. It had the effect of driving

out

small farmers and replacing them by internationally owned agribusiness.

It has been suggested that the swine flu outbreak should be called

"NAFTA

flu". NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement signed between

the

US and Mexico in 1993 that has led to massive changes in the Mexican

agriculture.

This opinion piece from The Age suggests we put the risk from flu in perspective when compared by the risk of death from smoking, cars and ordinary flu. However flu may not be the only risk we face from feedlots for animals. MRSA (antibiotic resistant infections) have been linked to farmers involved in intensive pig farming in the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and the US.

Happy eating Love MADGE “The world is moving ahead but our lives have become harder.†- Nikheil, small farmer from Kohima, India.

Now surf faster and smarter ! Check out the new Firefox 3 - Edition * Click here!