Apr30
Mexican Flu Farms Mean Mucho Dinero for Some
Posted at 03:31 PM | Permalink
| 
Comments (28)
 |
Before you race to the doctor for a Tamiflu vaccine, read this piece. You might think twice about helping Mr. Rumsfeld and his buddies at Roche pay for their vacations (surely they don't do Acapulco these days, maybe St. Barts though).
Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms
By F. William Engdahl
If we are to believe what our trusted international media report, the world is on the brink of a global pandemic outbreak of a new deadly strain of flu, H1N1 as it has been labelled, or more popularly, Swine Flu. As the story goes, the outbreak of the deadly flu was first discovered in Mexico. According to press reports, after several days, headlines reported as many as perhaps 150 deaths in Mexico were believed caused by this virulent people-killing pig virus that has spread to humans and now is allegedly being further spread from human to human. Cases were being reported hourly from Canada to Spain and beyond. The only thing wrong with this story is that it is largely based on lies, hype and coverup of possible real causes of Mexican deaths.
April 29, 2009 "Global Research" — One website, revealingly named Swine Flu Vaccine, reports the alarming news, ‘One out of every five residents of Mexico's most populous city wore masks to protect themselves against the virus as Mexico City seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak. As many as 103 deaths have been attributed to the swine flu so far with many more feared to be on the horizon. The health department of Mexico said an additional 1,614 reported cases have been documented.’ We are told that the H1N1 ‘shares genetic material from human, avian and swine influenza viruses.’1
Airports around the world have installed passenger temperature scans to identify anyone with above normal body temperature as possible suspect for swine flu. Travel to Mexico has collapsed. Sales of flu vaccines, above all Tamiflu from Roche Inc., have exploded in days. People have stopped buying pork fearing certain death. The World Health Organization has declared a ‘a public health emergency of international concern,’ defined by them as ‘an occurrence or imminent threat of illness or health conditions caused by bioterrorism, epidemic or pandemic disease, or highly fatal infectious agents or toxins that pose serious risk to a significant number of people.’2
What are the symptoms of this purported Swine Flu? That’s not at all clear according to virologists and public health experts. They say Swine Flu symptoms are relatively general and nonspecific. ‘So many different things can cause these symptoms. it is a dilemma,’ says one doctor interviewed by CNN. ‘There is not a perfect test right now to let a doctor know that a person has the Swine Flu.’ It has been noted that most individuals with Swine Flu had an early on set of fever. Also it was common to see dizziness, body aches and vomiting in addition to the common sneezing, headache and other cold symptoms. These are symptoms so general as to say nothing.
The US Government’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta states on its official website, ‘Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.’ Nonetheless they add, ‘CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it is not known how easily the virus spreads between people.’3
How many media that have grabbed on the headline ‘suspected case of Swine Flu’ in recent days bother to double check with the local health authorities to ask some basic questions? For example, the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 and their location? The number of deaths confirmed to have resulted from H1N1? Dates of both? Number of suspected cases and of suspected deaths related to the Swine Flu disease?
Click here to read the entire article.
Some known facts
According to Biosurveillance, itself part of Veratect, a US Pentagon and Government-linked epidemic reporting center, on April 6, 2009 local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico.
They reported, ‘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.’ What they later say is ‘strange’ is not the form of the illness but the time of year as most flu cases occur in Mexico in the period October to February.
The report went on to note, ‘Residents claimed that three pediatric cases, all under two years of age, died from the outbreak. However, health officials stated that there was no direct link between the pediatric deaths and the outbreak; they stated the three fatal cases were "isolated" and "not related" to each other.’
Then, most revealingly, the aspect of the story which has been largely ignored by major media, they reported, ‘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.’4
Since the dawn of American ‘agribusiness,’ a project initiated with funding by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1950s to turn farming into a pure profit maximization business, US pig or hog production has been transformed into a highly efficient, mass production industrialized enterprise from birth to slaughter. Pigs are caged in what are called Factory Farms, industrial concentrations which are run with the efficiency of a Dachau or Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They are all conceived by artificial insemination and once born, are regularly injected with antibiotics, not because of illnesses which abound in the hyper-crowded growing pens, but in order to make them grow and add weight faster. Turn around time to slaughter is a profit factor of highest priority. The entire operation is vertically integrated from conception to slaughter to transport distribution to supermarket.
Granjas Carroll de Mexico (GCM) happens to be such a Factory Farm concentration facility for hogs. In 2008 they produced almost one million factory hogs, 950,000 according to their own statistics. GCM is a joint venture operation owned 50% by the world’s largest pig producing industrial company, Smithfield Foods of Virginia.5 The pigs are grown in a tiny rural area of Mexico, a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and primarily trucked across the border to supermarkets in the USA, under the Smithfields’ family of labels. Most American consumers have no idea where the meat was raised.
Now the story becomes interesting.
Manure Lagoons and other playing fields
The Times of London interviewed the mother of 4-year-old Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria in Veracruz, the location of the giant Smithfield Foods hog production facility. Their local reporter notes, ‘Edgar Hernández plays among the dogs and goats that roam through the streets, seemingly unaware that the swine flu he contracted a few weeks ago — the first known case — has almost brought his country to a standstill and put the rest of the world on alert. ‘I feel great,’ the five-year-old boy said. ‘But I had a headache and a sore throat and a fever for a while. I had to lay down in bed.’’
The reporters add, ‘It was confirmed on Monday (April 27 2009-w.e.) that Edgar was the first known sufferer of swine flu, a revelation that has put La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and ‘manure lagoons’ at the centre of a global race to find how this new and deadly strain of swine flu emerged.’ 6
That’s quite interesting. They speak of ‘La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and ‘manure lagoons.’ Presumably the manure lagoons around the LaGloria factory pig farm of Smithfield Foods are the waste dumping place for the feces and urine waste from at least 950,000 pigs a year that pass through the facility. The Smithfield’s Mexico joint venture, Norson, states that alone they slaughter 2,300 pigs daily. That’s a lot. It gives an idea of the volumes of pig waste involved in the concentration facility at La Gloria.
Significantly, according to the Times reporters, ‘residents of La Gloria have been complaining since March that the odour from Granjas Carroll’s pig waste was causing severe respiratory infections. They held a demonstration this month at which they carried signs of pigs crossed with an X and marked with the word peligro (danger).’7 There have been calls to exhume the bodies of the children who died of pneumonia so that they could be tested. The state legislature of Veracruz has demanded that Smithfield’s Granjas Carroll release documents about its waste-handling practices. Smithfield Foods reportedly declined to comment on the request, saying that it would ‘not respond to rumours.’8
A research compilation by Ed Harris reported, ‘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.’9 That would imply that the entire Swine Flu scare might have originated from the PR spin doctors of the world’s largest industrial pig factory farm operation, Smithfield Foods.
The Vera Cruz-based newspaper La Marcha blames Smithfield’s Granjos Carroll for the outbreak, highlighting inadequate treatment of massive quantities of animal waste from hog production.10
Understandably the company is perhaps more than a bit uncomfortable with the sudden attention. The company, which supplies the McDonald’s and Subway fast-food chains, was fined $12.3 million in the United States 1997 for violating the Clean Water Act. Perhaps they are in a remote tiny Mexican rural area enjoying a relatively lax regulatory climate where they need not worry about being cited for violations of any Clean Water Act.
Factory Farms as toxic concentrations
At the very least the driving force for giant industrial agribusiness outsourcing of facilities to third world sites such as Veracruz, Mexico has more to do with further cost reduction and lack of health and safety scrutiny than it does with improving the health and safety quality of the food end product. It has been widely documented and subject of US Congressional reports that large-scale indoor animal production facilities such as that of Granjos Carroll are notorious breeding grounds for toxic pathogens.
A recent report by the US Pew Foundation in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health notes, ‘the method of producing food animals in the United States has changed from the extensive system of small and medium-sized farms owned by a single family to a system of large, intensive operations where the animals are housed in large numbers in enclosed structures that resemble industrial buildings more than they do a traditional barn. That change has happened primarily out of view of consumers but has come at a cost to the environment and a negative impact on public health, rural communities, and the health and well-being of the animals themselves.' 11
The Pew study notes, ‘The diversified, independent, family-owned farms of 40 years ago that produced a variety of crops and a few animals are disappearing as an economic entity, replaced by much larger, and often highly leveraged, farm factories. The animals that many of these farms produce are owned by the meat packing companies from the time they are born or hatched right through their arrival at the processing plant and from there to market.’ 12
The study emphasizes that application of ‘untreated animal waste on cropland can contribute to excessive nutrient loading, contaminate surface waters, and stimulate bacteria and algal growth and subsequent reductions in dissolved oxygen concentrations in surface waters.’13
That is where the real investigation ought to begin, with the health and sanitary dangers of the industrial factory pig farms like the one at Perote in Veracruz. The media spread of panic-mongering reports of every person in the world who happens to contract ‘symptoms’ which vaguely resemble flu or even Swine Flu and the statements to date of authorities such as WHO or CDC are far from conducive to a rational scientific investigation.
Tamiflu and Rummy
In October 2005 the Pentagon ordered vaccination of all US military personnel worldwide against what it called Avian Flu, H5N1. Scare stories filled world media. Then, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced he had budgeted more than $1 billion to stockpile the vaccine Oseltamivir, sold under the name Tamiflu. President Bush called on Congress to appropriate another $2 billion for Tamiflu stocks.
What Rumsfeld neglected to report at the time was a colossal conflict of interest. Prior to coming to Washington in January 2001, Rumsfeld had been chairman of a California pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences. Gilead Sciences held exclusive world patent rights to Tamiflu, a drug it had developed and whose world marketing rights were sold to the Swiss pharma giant, Roche. Rumsfeld was reportedly the largest stock holder in Gilead which got 10% of every Tamiflu dose Roche sold. 14 When it leaked out, the Pentagon issued a curt statement to the effect that Secretary Rumsfeld had decided not to sell but to retain his stock in Gilead, claiming that to sell would have indicated something to hide.’ That agonizing decision won him reported added millions as the Gilead share price soared more than 700% in weeks.
Tamiflu is no mild candy to be taken lightly. It has heavy side effects. It contains matter that could have potentially deadly consequences for a person’s breathing and often reportedly leads to nausea, dizziness and other flu-like symptoms.
Since the outbreak of Swine Flu Panic (not Swine Flu but Swine Flu Panic) sales of Tamiflu, as well as any and every possible drug marketed as flu-related, have exploded. Wall Street firms have rushed to issue ‘buy’ recommendations for the company. ‘Gimme a shot Doc, I don’t care what it is…I don’t wanna die…’
Panic and fear of death was used by the Bush Administration skilfully to promote the Avian Flu fraud. With ominous echoes of the current Swine Flu scare, Avian Flu was traced back to huge chicken factory farms in Thailand and other parts of Asia whose products were shipped across the world. Instead of a serious investigation into the sanitary conditions of those chicken factory farms, the Bush Administration and WHO blamed ‘free-roaming chickens’ on small family farms, a move that had devastating economic consequences to the farmers whose chickens were being raised in the most sanitary natural conditions. Tyson Foods of Arkansas and CG Group of Thailand reportedly smiled all the way to the bank.
Now it remains to be seen if the Obama Administration will use the scare around so-called Swine Flu to repeat the same scenario, this time with ‘flying pigs’ instead of flying birds. Already Mexican authorities have reported that the number of deaths confirmed from so-called Swine Flu is 7, not the 150 or more bandied in the media, and that most other suspected cases were ordinary flu or influenza.
(To be continued)
F. William Engdahl is author of Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation (Global Rersearch, 2007, see below) and A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press) . His new book, Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order (Third Millennium Press) is due out end of May. He may be contacted through his website: www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net.
Notes
- Health Advisory, accessed in http://www.swine-flu-vaccine.info/.
- Ibid.
- Centers for Disease Control, Swine Influenza and You, accessed in http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm.
- Biosurveillance, Swine Flu in Mexico- Timeline of Events, April 24, 2009, accessed in http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html.
- Smithfield Foods website, accessed in http://www.smithfieldfoods.com/our_company/our_family/Norson.aspx.
- Ruth Maclean in La Gloria and Chris Ayres in Mexico City, I had a headache and fever’ says boy who survived, London Times, April 28, 2009.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ed Harris, Bloggers Examine Environmental Role in Mexico Swine Flu Outbreak, April 27, 2009, accessed in http://www.planetthoughts.org/?pg=pt/Whole&qid=2870.
- Ibid.
- The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, accessed in http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- F. William Engdahl, Is Avian Flu another Pentagon Hoax?, GlobalResearch, October 30, 2005.
Posted by: Karin Bennett
TAGGED:
Comments
EXCELLENT ARTICLE! Thank you for posting. Global Research is an excellent source for information "the media won't tell you" and it is not surprising that they are featuring this informative article by Wm. Engdahl.
There's only ONE solution: never eat pork, NEVER. What's called pork was once an abused, suffering, intelligent
sentient being. Go veg NOW. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Posted by: r worrell | April 30, 2009 04:58 PM
Umm, not to rain on your parade, but the swine flu has been traced back to a liitle boy who has never seen a pig. It is part reqular flu, and part avian flu as well. The poor pigs really have nothing to do with it.
Posted by: Ceece | April 30, 2009 08:59 PM
im glad that this article came out. its hard to know what to believe from the media nowadays. Its always good to be cautious about your health but not panic. political corruption will always be around so we should always take a really good look at the information given to the public and weigh it carefully. Thanks
Posted by: Ilka | April 30, 2009 09:31 PM
Well, thanks for the info. What bthers me the most is that anything always become political and then people lose the focus. Just all about the face right. How the mexiacans polititians reacts will show to the world how they are. Just about looks...Poor pigs in this..We just need to stop eating meat or at leas treat them better, poor thing.
Posted by: Adityo | April 30, 2009 10:55 PM
BECOME A VEGETARIAN. IT HAS VERY MANY ADVANTAGES. KEEPS YOU FIT AND HEALTHY, GREENERY IS REVIVED, HYGEINIC, MORE FOOD GIVING TREES COMES INTO EXISTENCE, ETC..,ETC.,ETC.
Posted by: RAKESH KEHTA | May 1, 2009 12:59 AM
It helps isn't it? From my part of the world, people are avoiding pork now! I have been trying to get people around me to cut down on meat but to no avail. Now people are doing it on their own accord. Less consumption of pork means we save more pigs!Cheers to the media for misleading people.
Posted by: Chin Yi Hui | May 1, 2009 01:10 AM
Right on..I'm not the only one who refers to Rumsfled and his cronies as spin doctors..as I watched the media induce fear all week my biggest fear was wondering what the WHO and the pharmaceutical companies were really up too...ever since we created the aids virus the only panic I have is when they try to sell something under the guise it for your own good..
Posted by: barbara schweihs | May 1, 2009 01:15 AM
No r worrell, your wrong. We can eat pork fine. Animals dont suffer like we do.
Posted by: ryan | May 1, 2009 02:29 AM
There's a reason this isn't being referred to as "Swine Flu" anymore. WHO is referring to it as H1N1 now to avoid the accusations you are perpetuating in this article. More than 100,000 pigs were killed in Egypt because government officials mistakenly thought killing the pigs would prevent the spread of H1N1. I can't believe PETA would be so irresponsible.
Posted by: Amy | May 1, 2009 02:45 AM
Go Veg! Be Green! Save the Planet!
Posted by: Rita | May 1, 2009 03:38 AM
As with everything in life there is natural retribution. We have mistreat animals for years, but moreso now in an ever greedy reign of the planet. There are consequences of factory farming and this IS one of them. The bacteria which can travel thousands of miles from these farms is to blame. DO NOT trust in the media, they are scaremongers, they try to make us paranoid, when perhaps they are up to something else while all this goes on. The big drug companies are in cahoots with it all, reaping in the coin, while the infection they speak continues to grwo, BECAUSE of factory farma, believe me, I know, I have been to quite a few. It is astonshing that we as a so=called intelligent race, allow this treatment of aniamls and do not seem to possess the common sense to realise what it is doing to OUR environment. That's the most shocking thing.We can do do to our animals and planet what we do and NOT expect Payback time! Jan
Posted by: Jan Graveson | May 1, 2009 04:54 AM
In the news on TV there's no truth told about what causes this & they say that they "will do genetic tests 2 figure out what went wrong" I thought what! The very thing that's causing all this etc...He then went on 2 say "There is no need 4 alarm as we have had this strain be4." yet in another news report they said "Sars went away, so maybe this will go the same way" This way of thinking is so distorted!
Keeping the public unaware & in a state of panic. The amount of money spent could have been used 2 clean up this mess & curruption within the food industry... Always a pill or something unatural is used 2 sort out problems...Rather than a natural healthy long term solution which respects life in turn... Because of greed we never seem 2 get 2 this place... STAY GREEN Copenhagen Mtg Dec2009 Earth Awareness
Posted by: IONIESKYE | May 1, 2009 07:43 AM
That's the punishment from God ,because the people abused the pigs ,by the end the viruses caused by pigs ,so that's a good time to help the people think !! Eat vegetables instead !!
Posted by: Connie | May 1, 2009 08:54 AM
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this very enlightening article, PETA. Here in Texas it is even harder to get the truth than it is in other parts of the country, they like to treat the public like mushrooms. I often get more information from my friends in Illinois about what is happening here; the news reporting is better and more truthful. I just knew this was some kind of hype, but did not know the reason for it. Now, thanks to your article, I do. It is well known that illness leaves the body when enough good stuff is put into it and enough bad stuff kept out. I have met many people who were cured from "terminal illness" by holistic treatment and then a strict vegan diet. The illnesses these people had ranged from brain cancer to leukemia, and they were living to tell about it over two years later. It is very sad that some died from this (mutated) flu virus. In some areas of the world there is so much poverty that it is very difficult to get what is needed to be healthy, the most basic being clean water.
It is very sad, too, that pigs and other animals are kept in a manner in which ensures their sickness.
When one chooses to be vegan, she 1) saves water, 2) saves animals, and 3) saves herself.
Q.How is a mushroom kept?
A.It is fed manure and kept in the dark.
That sounds a little bit cruel
Posted by: Susan Ballarini | May 1, 2009 10:22 AM
Everybody needs to stop behaving as though they were a passenger on the Titanic and go about their daily lives. Those who are in a panic are afraid of dying; those of us for whom death is not something to be feared are not letting this scare us.
Posted by: Rev. Meg Schramm | May 1, 2009 12:44 PM
Hi, I thank you for this article because there are so many lies in media around the world. I'm from Mexico City and there's paranoia everywhere, the worst part is that Government has "recomended" not to go out, just keep in home, and for me that's a kind of curfew, now we must not gather because it can be "dangerous". Plus there's a decree where authorities can enter in your home if they consider it's necessary to stop the outbreak!
A biologist said on the radio "life is worthless without freedom", I think ANYTHING justifies a DICTACTORSHIP
Posted by: Di Y | May 1, 2009 12:52 PM
The world health organization is reporting 156 cases of H1N1 in Mexico not 7!! Is the WHO a Rummy puppet also.
Posted by: Dave | May 1, 2009 03:58 PM
Before I begin, don't write me off as a close-minded meat-eater and scroll down. I'm a vegan, and I follow PETA news.
This is a terrible article for two reasons.
First, the author attempts to argue that factory farming leads to pandemics which lead to high numbers of unnecessary and preventable human deaths.
But he takes his expose of the Bush administration too far; he ends up arguing that they had so much to gain and that avian flu and swine flu scares were nothing more than scares. This causes the beginning and end of the article to be wildly out of touch with each other.
While he starts off arguing that officials and the media have downplayed the number of incidents of this virus in the paragraphs on the initial spread in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico, the author completely reverses this by the end of the article when he states, almost condescendingly, "Already Mexican authorities have reported that the number of deaths confirmed from so-called Swine Flu is 7, not the 150 or more bandied in the media, and that most other suspected cases were ordinary flu or influenza."
Which is it? Do factory farms cause deadly pandemics that cause hundreds of unnecessary deaths? Or is this merely an "outbreak of Swine Flu Panic (not Swine Flu but Swine Flu Panic)"?
Please note, I am not arguing against either of these possibilities (one or both of them may be true) - I am merely pointing out that the author states them both so strongly that they conflict with each other.
The second reason this is a terrible article is that the author is inaccurate in his treatment of scientific information. This ranges from the careless, where he refers to Tamiflu as a vaccine (which it is NOT, it is an anti-viral medication and there is a huge difference), to the misleading, where he states that the confirmed deaths from swine flu are only seven, much less than 150 "bandied about in the media."
This is because the only place that can test samples is the CDC in Atlanta. Not every death is going to be sampled and shipped off for confirmation, especially not in Mexico, where many of the victims aren't receiving medical treatment at all.
And his assertion that the rest died from "ordinary flu or influenza," is conveniently not cited, but it seems to be founded on the same misunderstandings of scientific information he displays elsewhere. Both ordinary flu and swine flu are Type A and H1N1 influenza strains. They are not exactly the same, but they are closer to each other than avian flu (H5N1).
Further, because of the fact that most deaths are not being sampled for confirmation at the CDC, the most logical conclusion is that people involved in the same outbreak are dying from the same virus, swine flu. It is preposterous for Engdahl to argue that people dying in an outbreak for which swine flu is a known cause are being killed by a different strain of the same virus that has NOT been confirmed killing people in these outbreaks.
Finally, a word for PETA: I like many of the things you stand for, I receive your newsletter, I write letters when you send me alerts, and I follow a vegan lifestyle. But posting articles that so irresponsibly deal with the facts of this situation detracts from your image. It makes you look not like a principled advocate of animal rights, but a sneaky organization that will tell people whatever you think will make them stop abusing animals.
I hope you guys didn't realize how faulty this article was. But if you did, I urge you to stick to the truth. The truth is enough to win, because the facts are on our side. We don't need distortions about swine flu to convince others. Those that recognize them as such will stop listening on the spot. And the reality of factory farming is bad enough to reach the others.
Posted by: Chris | May 1, 2009 04:10 PM
Ok, we all stop eating meat and that will stop all the bad things like swine flu and avian flu, and we stop testing on monkeys in labs and this will help with things such as HIV right? Even if we let all the pigs go and shut down slaughter houses I do believe that since a virus can spread from an animal to a human or from a human to an animal it wouldn't really make a difference. What about manure that is spread as fertilizer on vegetables and fruit plants to help them grow, maybe something should be said about that. Maybe somethings not clicking here but don't the two industry's go hand in hand? No matter meat or vegetarian it seems to me that they are intertwined. Correct me if I'm wrong!
Posted by: Denise | May 1, 2009 04:17 PM
Thank you PETA for posting this article. It is clear that certain individuals are clueless as to the level of greed and evil taking place in the world.
I guess they are removed or have been sheltered or most probably just have their heads in the sand. Well, I live in NYC, and I can tell you the depths of human depravity are shocking. The lengths that people will sink to over petty jealouses, control, fear, are astounding.
I am very grateful when you post these articles with the names of the evil men and women in collusion with the devil. The corporate giants, whose real CEO is the anti-christ.
It is very important to pray specifically for the destruction of these evil individuals and corporations.
As always,
God Bless above and beyond, for your tireless efforts to promote the KINGDOM OF GOD.
Posted by: Saucy | May 2, 2009 09:04 AM
thanks for the article...because it brings to light that animals are mistreated and that DIRTY AIR contributes to respiratory infections which people seem to be ignorant about-- and it's too bad that everyone is blaming the pigs for this big mess.
Posted by: Nancy Wong | May 2, 2009 02:08 PM
I absolutely believe that this "pandemic" is just the beginning of serious repercussions due to the terrible way which we treat our fellow creatures. Pigs have the intelligence of 3 year old children. We can't expect there to be no consequences for confining animals in disgusting, crowded conditions and pumping them full of chemicals. We are not living in a world anymore where small farms are providing for local communities, we are living in a world where people have no clue where their food comes from, and animals are seen as nothing more than profit- and only evil and suffering can come of that. Although it would be nice, I'm not so unrealistic to expect everyone to become vegetarian or vegan, but we should at the least be cutting WAY back in our meat consumption, and we should be extremely conscious of where our food comes from.
Posted by: Andrea | May 2, 2009 06:37 PM
The more I learn the more delighte I am at my choice to be vegetarian! I'm taking the next step now... going vegan. If you eat meat, take a moment to reflect on the impact this has on your own health and that of the planet, not to mention those beautiful sentient beings that have no say over their own lives.
Posted by: Zerin Knight | May 3, 2009 05:22 AM
I wish all this new knowledge acquired from excellent informative articles such as this one could really indeed make a difference, however, sadly that I feel is not the case. The only way that change could take place is if everyone could be convinced to have a revolution against the government and unfortunately we know that's an unrealistic possibility. Yes a largescale, massive protest against the government to shut down the factory farms and create new natural farming practice where each family gets a parcel of land, where no taxes exist. Seem like an unrealistic fairytale? Maybe but not really as this is no different than history where the peasants stormed the bastille. Yes the common peasants had enough of the rich royalty dictating a life where the peasants were poverty stricken guinea pigs under the authority of the rich landlords etc who only became richer (sound familiar kind of like the elite government)...Yes I know this won't happen since most people choose to live in their little bubble world of convenience where everything is fine. As long as people eat at supermarkets and pay taxes and remain good little guinea pigs the government and pharmaceutical companies can do with us what they want. By using media as a tool or whaever means of keeping us in the dark where they want us (which is well behaving little consumers of commodity), change can not occur. Ironically this is no different than rats in a large scale experiment of theirs to see how rich they can get. Perhaps not quite as cruel an experiment but surely a slow death for many. Realistically in my opinion all we can do is raise our own organically grown vegetables , and our meat in a natural humane safe way and stay away from the cities and large factory farms where viruses are going to become alarmingly more abundant.
Posted by: Sherry Thesen | May 3, 2009 08:23 PM
A lot of vegetarians and vegans are unhealthy. They don't get enough B12 and other vitamins and minerals.
So many are reverting back to eating meat.
Factory farming is bad.
We should all be encouraged to eat grass-fed.
Posted by: Sue | May 3, 2009 11:16 PM
i think one thing is important to remember that the pharmaceutical industry are not our friends ... they sell drugs to make money and they sure don't want 'cures' for anything ...they want to continue to sell us drugs... maybe this has something to do with such inflated news stories and maybe not, but it is interesting to note
Posted by: cath hurwood | May 4, 2009 06:29 AM
Every time I read about the horrible conditions of pigs,cows, chickens and all the other animals in the factory farms,I couldn't be more happy to be a vegetarian..
I just wish I could do more to help all those innocent animals..
How can people still eat meat and go to bed without any regrets...it's something I will never understand.
I have a question...I just read an article saying that cage-free eggs and all the other organic products,aren't really keeping animals away from pain and a regular healty life..
Is that true?Is that just a trick?
Are there farms that really provide acceptable conditions for the animals?if yes does anybody know the names of the brands?
Thank you and thank you PETA for the amazing work you do!!!
Posted by: Giorgio Picinelli | May 4, 2009 06:41 PM
A) swine flu doesn't come from pigs.
B)Why are people going to get the flu shot it doesn't work against H1N1
Posted by: Derek H | May 5, 2009 10:18 PM