---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alice Jay - Avaaz.org <av...@avaaz.org> Date: Wed, May 6, 2009 at 3:27 AM Subject: The truth about swine flu To: "maya.sssmgu2...@gmail.com" <maya.sssmgu2...@gmail.com>
Dear friends, <http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic?cl=226893097&v=3274> Evidence is emerging that traces *swine flu to giant factory pig farms* that are dirty, dangerous, and inhumane. Sign the petition to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization to *investigate and regulate* these threats to our health: [image: Sign the Petition!]<http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic?cl=226893097&v=3274> No-one yet knows whether *swine flu* will become a global pandemic, but it is becoming clear *where it came from – most likely a giant pig factory farm * run by an American multinational corporation in Veracruz, Mexico.(1) These *factory farms are disgusting and dangerous*, and they're rapidly multiplying. Thousands of pigs are brutally crammed into dirty warehouses and sprayed with a cocktail of drugs -- posing a health risk to more than just our food -- they and their manure lagoons create the perfect conditions to breed dangerous new viruses like swine flu. *The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) must investigate and develop regulations for these farms to protect global health.* Big agrobusiness will try to obstruct and scuttle any attempts at reform, so we need a massive outcry that health authorities can't ignore. *Sign the petition below for investigation and regulation of factory farms and tell your friends and family *and we will deliver it to the UN agencies. If we reach 200,000 signatures we will deliver it to the WHO in Geneva with a herd of cardboard pigs. For every 1000 petition signatures we will add a pig to the herd: http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic<http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic?cl=226893097&v=3274> Last week the flu was all that we talked about -- Mexico has been nearly paralysed and across the world leaders halted air travel, banned pork imports and initiated drastic controls to mitigate the spreading virus. As the threat shows signs of subsiding the question becomes where it came from and how we stop another outbreak. *Smithfield Corporation, the largest pig producer in the world whose farm is being fingered as the source of the H1N1 outbreak*, denies any connection between their pigs and the flu and big agrobusiness worldwide pays huge sums of money for research to argue that biosafety is ensured in industrial hog production. But the WHO has been saying for years that 'a new pandemic is inevitable'(2) and experts from the European Commission and the FAO have cautioned that *the rapid move from small holdings to industrial pig production is in fact increasing the risk of development and transmission of disease epidemics.* The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that scientists still do not know the extent that infectious compounds produced in factory farms affect human health.(3) *Studies abound of the horrific conditions endured by pigs in concentrated large-scale operations*, and the devastating economic impact on small farmer communities of bloated large-scale operations.(4) *Smithfield itself has already been fined $12.6m and is currently under another federal investigation* in the US for toxic environmental damage from pig excrement lakes.(5) But even with all of this damaging evidence, a combination of increased global meat consumption and a powerful industry motivated by profit at the cost of human health, means that instead of being shut down - *these sickening factory farm operations are propagating around the world and we are subsidising them* (6). In the wake of this swine flu threat, let's hold industrial pig producers to account. Sign the petition for investigation and regulation: http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic<http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic?cl=226893097&v=3274> If we resolve this global health crisis boldly by reassessing our food consumption and production, and urgently calling for an inquiry into the impact of factory farms on human health, we could put in place tough farm practice rules that will save the global population from future animal borne lethal pandemics. http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic<http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic?cl=226893097&v=3274> in hope, Alice, Pascal, Graziela, Paul, Brett, Ben, Ricken, Iain, Paula, Luis, Raj, Veronique, Milena, Margaret, Taren and the whole Avaaz team (1) *Biosurveillance report tracing the disease to the Smithfields farm:* http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html *Reports on the link between the Mexican factory farm and the flu:* http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/for-la-gloria-the-stench-of-blame-is-from-pig-factories-1675809.html http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-fg-mexico-flu28-2009apr28,0,1701782.story http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-swine-flu-be-blamed-on-industri-09-05-01 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227063.800-swine-flu-the-predictable-pandemic.html?full=true http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/swine-flu-outbreak----nat_b_191408.html (2) *WHO pandemic information* http://www.euro.who.int/influenza/20080618_19 (3) *FAO, EC and CDC reports on the risks of industrial farming on public health* FAO<http://www.fao.org/ag/AGAinfo/projects/en/pplpi/docarc/rep-hpai_industrialisationrisks.pdf>and CIWF<http://avaazimages.s3.amazonaws.com/Intensive%20pig%20farming%20is%20a%20breeding%20ground%20for%20disease.pdf>and http://www.cdc.gov/cafos/about.htm (4) *CIWF and PETA video reports of the disgusting conditions for animals in factory farms and the disease ridden manure swamps:* CIWF <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZQiWf-KEgQ> and PETA<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4> (5) *Reports on Smithfield's animal welfare and environmental damage* http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/for-la-gloria-the-stench-of-blame-is-from-pig-factories-1675809.html http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/new-report-highlights-the-trouble-with-smithfield-article03132008 http://avaazimages.s3.amazonaws.com/SmithfieldJan08.pdf (6) *Reports on UK tax payers subsidising factory farms* http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/5225298/Taxpayers-forking-out-700-million-for-factory-farming-in-England.html --------- <https://secure.avaaz.org/en/footer_donations/index.php?d_cl=&v=> *ABOUT AVAAZ* Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva. Call us at: +1 888 922 8229 or +55 21 2509 0368 Click *here* <http://www.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2/> to learn more about our largest campaigns. *Don't forget to check out our Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Avaaz/8340223883>and Myspace <http://www.myspace.com/avaazorg> and Bebo<http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=6305316853>pages! * You are getting this message because you signed "Mumbai: We Will Not be Divided <http://www.avaaz.org/en/india_undivided>" on 2008-12-01 using the email address maya.sssmgu2...@gmail.com. To ensure that Avaaz messages reach your inbox, please add av...@avaaz.org to your address book. To change your email address, language settings, or other personal information, https://secure.avaaz.org/act/index.php?r=profile&user=ad117c7bda7a45820958646a05e3a6f9&lang=en, or simply *go here to unsubscribe<https://secure.avaaz.org/act/?r=unsub&cl=226893097&email=maya.sssmgu2...@gmail.com&b=579&v=3274&lang=en> *. To contact Avaaz, please *do not reply to this email.* Instead, write to i...@avaaz.org. You can also call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US) or +55 21 2509 0368 (Brazil) If you have technical problems, please go to http://www.avaaz.org -- Maya S. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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