Hi Jason Quite so.
>if swine flu has killed 150 people in the last month, and if the >trend continues that will be more than 2000 people killed by this >disease. 2,000 children die of hunger every hour and a half. That sure sounds like a pandemic to me. Same perps too: Agri-Biz at Root of Swine Flu? Evidence points to industrial pig farm as source of outbreak, if so, Bernice Wuethrich tried to warn us <http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3632> Swine Flu and Factory Farms: Fast Track to Disaster by Michael Greger, M.D. April 25, 2009 Factory farms confine thousands of animals in one building -- a breeding ground for disease. ©Farm Sanctuary <http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/swine_flu.html> Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic -- Fact or Fiction? <http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx> Best Keith >35000 (thirty-five thousand) people die from the normal everyday >chicken-soup-and-toast flu every year in the US alone. there are >more than 25 million reported cases of common flu in the US in a >year, and officials are calling 3000 cases of swine flu /worldwide/ >a pandemic?!?! > >www.flufacts.com/impact/statistics.aspx > >---------------------------------------- >> Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:38:03 +0900 >> To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: [Biofuel] A Food System That Kills - Swine Flu Is Meat >>Industry's Latest Plague >> >> New from GRAIN >> April 2009 >> http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=48 >> >> A Food System That Kills >> >> Swine Flu Is Meat Industry's Latest Plague >> >> Mexico is in the midst of a hellish repeat of Asia's bird flu >> experience, though on a more deadly scale. Once again, the official >> response from public authorities has come too late and bungled in >> cover-ups. And once again, the global meat industry is at the centre >> of the story, ramping up denials as the weight of evidence about its >> role grows. Just five years after the start of the H5N1 bird flu >> crisis, and after as many years of a global strategy against >> influenza pandemics coordinated by the World Health Organisation >> (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the world >> is now reeling from a swine flu disaster. The global strategy has >> failed and needs to be replaced with a public health system that the >> public can trust. >> >> What we know about the situation in Mexico is that, officially >> speaking, more than 150 people have died from a new strain of swine >> flu that is, in fact, a genetic cocktail of pig, bird and human >> influenza strains. It has evolved to a form that is easily spread >> from human to human and is capable of killing perfectly healthy >> people. We do not know where exactly this genetic recombination and >> evolution took place, but the obvious place to start looking is in >> the factory farms of Mexico and the US. [1] >> >> Experts have been warning for years that the rise of large-scale >> factory farms in North America has created the perfect breeding >> grounds for the emergence and spread of new highly-virulent strains >> of influenza. "Because concentrated animal feeding operations tend to >> concentrate large numbers of animals close together, they facilitate >> rapid transmission and mixing of viruses," said scientists from the >> US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2006. [2] Three years >> earlier, Science Magazine warned that swine flu was on a new >> evolutionary "fast track" due to the increasing size of factory farms >> and the widespread use of vaccines in these operations. [3] It's the >> same story with bird flu. The crowded and unsanitary conditions of >> the farms make it possible for the virus to recombine and take on new >> forms very easily. Once this happens, the centralised nature of the >> industry ensures that the disease gets carried far and wide, whether >> by feces, feed, water or even the boots of workers. [4] Yet, > > according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), >> "no formal national surveillance system exists to determine what >> viruses are prevalent in the US swine population." [5] The same is >> true of Mexico. >> >> COMMUNITIES AT THE EPICENTRE >> >> Another thing we know about the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is that >> the community of La Gloria in the state of Veracruz was trying to get >> authorities to respond to a vicious outbreak of a strange respiratory >> disease affecting them over the past months. The residents are >> adamant that the disease is linked to pollution from the big pig farm >> that was recently set up in the community by Granja Carroll, a >> subsidiary of the US company Smithfield Foods, the world's largest >> pork producer. >> >> After countless efforts by the community to get the authorities to >> help -- efforts which led to the arrest of several community leaders >> and death threats against people speaking out against the Smithfield >> operations -- local health officials finally decided to investigate >> in late 2008. Tests revealed that more than 60 per cent of the >> community of 3,000 people were infected by a respiratory disease, but >> officials did not confirm what the disease was. Smithfield denied any >> connection with its operations. It was only on 27 April 2009, days >> after the federal government officially announced the swine flu >> epidemic, that information came out in the press revealing that the >> first case of swine flu diagnosed in the country was of a 4-year old >> boy from the community of La Gloria on April 2, 2009. Mexico's >> Minister of Health says a sample taken from the boy was the only >> sample taken from the community that Mexican officials retained and >> sent for laboratory testing, which later confirmed that it was swine >> flu. [6] This despite the fact that a private risk assessment firm in >> the US, Veratect, had notified regional officials from the WHO about >> the outbreaks of the powerful respiratory illness in La Gloria in >> early April 2009. [7] >> >> On 4 April 2009, the Mexican daily La Jornada published an article on >> the struggle of the community of La Gloria, with a photo in which a >> young boy is holding a placard at a demonstration with a picture of a >> pig crossed out and the words "Danger: Carrolls Farm" written on it >> in Spanish. [8] >> >> About influenza pandemics in general, we know that proximity of >> factory pig farms and factory poultry farms increases the risks of >> viral recombination and the emergence of new virulent flu strains. >> Pigs held near to chicken farms in Indonesia, for instance, are known >> to have high-levels of infection from H5N1, the deadly variant of >> bird flu. [9] Scientists from the NIH warn "that increasing the >> numbers of swine facilities adjacent to avian facilities could >> further promote the evolution of the next pandemic." [10] >> >> While it has not been widely reported, the region around the >> community of La Gloria is also home to many large poultry farms. >> Recently, in September 2008, there was an outbreak of bird flu among >> poultry in the region. At the time, veterinary authorities assured >> the public that it was only a local incidence of a low-pathogenic >> strain affecting backyard birds. But we now know, thanks to a >> disclosure made by Marco Antonio Núñez López, the President of the >> Environmental Commission of the State of Veracruz, that there was >> also an avian flu outbreak on a factory farm about 50 kilometres from >> La Gloria owned by Mexico's largest poultry company, Granjas Bachoco, >> that was not revealed because of fears of what it might mean for >> Mexico's export markets. [11] It should be noted that a common >> ingredient in industrial animal feed is "poultry litter", which is a >> mixture of everything found on the floor of factory poultry farms: >> fecal matter, feathers, bedding, etc >> >> Could there be a more ideal situation for the emergence of a pandemic >> influenza virus than a poor rural area, full of factory farms owned >> by transnational corporations who care nothing for the well-being of >> the local people? The residents of La Gloria have tried for years to > > resist the Smithfield farm. And they tried for months to get >> authorities to do something about the strange illness hitting their >> people. They were ignored. Their voices did not register a single >> blip on the radar of the WHO's global emerging disease surveillance >> system. Nor did the bird flu outbreaks in Veracruz trigger a response >> from the OIE's global disease alert system. News only broke out >> haphazardly from private sources. [12] This is what passes for global >> surveillance. >> >> CORPORATE BIAS >> >> It is not the first time and it will not be the last time that >> corporate farms conceal disease outbreaks and put people's lives at >> risk. It is the nature of their business. A couple of years ago in >> Romania, Smithfield refused to let local authorities enter its pig >> farms after residents complained of the stench coming from hundreds >> of dead corpses of pigs left rotting for days at the farms. "Our >> doctors have not had access to the American [company's] farms to >> effect routine inspections," said Csaba Daroczi, assistant director >> at the Timisoara Hygiene and Veterinary Authority. "Every time they >> tried, they were pushed away by the guards. Smithfield proposed that >> we sign an agreement that would oblige us to warn them three days >> before each inspection." [13] Eventually, it emerged that Smithfield >> had been concealing a major outbreak of classical swine fever on its >> Romanian farms. [14] >> >> In Indonesia, where people are still dying from bird flu and where >> many health experts believe the next pandemic virus will emerge, >> authorities can still not enter large corporate farms without the >> permission of the company. [15] In Mexico, authorities deflected >> calls to investigate La Granja Carroll and accused the residents of >> La Gloria of spreading infection because "they use home remedies >> instead of going to the health centres to cure their flu." [16] >> >> Factory farms are time-bombs for global disease epidemics. Yet, there >> are still no programmes in place to deal with them, not even >> programmes of independent disease surveillance. Nobody on high seems >> to care, and it's probably no coincidence that these farms tend to be >> located amongst the poorest communities, who suffer dearly to get the >> truth out. Worse still, so much of our food supply now comes from >> this bloated system that the main task of government food safety >> agencies now seems to be to calm fears and keep people eating. >> Smithfield is already on the financial brink and just last week was >> negotiating for China's largest agribusiness company, COFCO, to take >> it over. [17] >> >> In the meantime, the pharmaceutical industry is making a killing from >> the crisis. The US government has already opened an emergency window >> in its authorisation system to allow antivirals like Tamiflu and >> Relaxin to be used more widely on flu sufferers than allowed. This is >> great news for Roche, Gilead and Glaxo SmithKline, who hold >> monopolies on the drugs. But even more importantly, a swathe of >> smaller vaccine producers like Biocryst and Novavax are seeing their >> share prices shoot through the roof. [18] Novavax is trying to >> convince both CDC and the Mexican government that it can come up with >> a swine flu vaccine in as little as 12 weeks if the testing rules >> remain relaxed. >> >> SEA CHANGE NEEDED >> >> Clearly, the global system for dealing with health problems brought >> on by the transnational food industry is completely upside down. Its >> surveillance system is a bust, frontline public health and >> veterinarian services are in a shambles and authority has been handed >> over to the private sector, which has every interest in maintaining >> the status quo. Meanwhile, people are told to keep indoors and to >> keep their fingers crossed for Tamiflu or a new vaccine that they may >> or may not get access to. This is not a tolerable situation; action >> for a sea change is needed, now. >> >> In the specific case of the swine flu epidemic in Mexico, change can >> start with an immediate, transparent and thorough independent >> investigation of corporate pig and poultry farms in Veracruz, across > > the country and throughout North America. The people of Mexico need >> to know the source of the problem so that they can take adequate >> measures to cut the epidemic off at its roots and to ensure that it >> does not reoccur. >> >> At the international level, the expansion of factory farms has to >> stop and be put into reverse. They are the hotbeds for pandemics and >> will continue to be so as long as they exist. It is probably >> pointless to call for a complete shift in the WHO-led global >> strategy, since the experience with bird flu demonstrates that >> neither the WHO, nor the OIE, nor most governments are going to take >> a hard line on corporate farming. Once again, it is people who are >> going to have to take the lead and protect themselves. Across the >> world, there are thousands of communities fighting against factory >> farms. These communities are on the front lines of pandemic >> prevention. What we now need is to turn these local fights against >> factory farms into a global movement to abolish them. >> >> But the swine flu disaster in Mexico is also about a larger public >> health problem. The threats to consumer safety that are an inherent >> part of the industrial food system are compounded by a global trend >> to completely privatise health care, which has destroyed the >> capacities of public systems to properly respond to crises, and by >> policies to encourage migration to mega-cities where sanitation and >> public health policies are woefully inadequate. (The outbreak of >> swine flu hit Mexico City, a metropolis of more than 20 million >> people, just as the government cut off water supplies for much of the >> city's population, particularly the poorest sections.) The fact that >> surveillance of disease outbreaks has to come from private >> consultancy firms, that governments and UN agencies can sit quiet on >> that information and that we have to depend on a handful of drug >> companies to produce half-tested but fully-patented relief for our >> suffering should tell us that things have gone too far. We need not >> only food but public health systems that truly have some public >> agenda and public accountability to them. >> >> =========================================================== >> >> GOING FURTHER >> >> Silvia Ribeiro, "Epidemia de lucro," La Jornada, 28 April 2009: >> >>http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/04/28/index.php?section=opinion&article=020a1pol >> >> Edward Hammond, Indonesia fights to change WHO rules on flu vaccines, >> Seedling, April 2009: http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=593 >> >> Mike Davis, The swine flu crisis lays bare the meat industry's >> monstrous power, The Guardian, 27 April 2009: >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/27/swine-flu-mexico-health >> >> R G Wallace, "The Agro-Industrial Roots of Swine Flu H1N1," 26 April 2009 >> >>http://farmingpathogens.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/the-agro-industrial-roots-of-swine-flu-h1n1/ >> >> See the GRAIN resources page on bird flu for the following articles >> (http://www.grain.org/birdflu/): >> >> GRAIN, "Bird flu in eastern India: another senseless slaughter", >> Against the grain, February 2008, http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=35 >> >> GRAIN, "Germ warfare - Livestock disease, public health and the >> military -- industrial complex", Seedling, January 2008, >> http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=533 >> >> GRAIN, "Viral times - The politics of emerging global animal >> diseases", Seedling, January 2008, >> http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=532 >> >> GRAIN, "Bird flu: a bonanza for 'Big Chicken'", Against the grain, >> March 2007, http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=22 (also available in >> Bahasa Indonesia) >> >> GRAIN, "The top-down global response to bird flu," Against the grain, >> April 2006, http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=12 >> >> GRAIN, "Fowl play: The poultry industry's central role in the bird >> flu crisis", GRAIN Briefing, February 2006, >> http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=194 >> >> =========================================================== >> >> REFERENCES >> >> 1. The pig industry in Mexico, like its counterpart in the US, does >> not want the disease to be called "swine flu" on the grounds that it > > is being transmitted not from pigs but directly between people. >> (Their main concern, of course, is a pork market that is fast >> collapsing from the stigma.) And some Mexican officials, like the >> Governor of Veracruz, are telling the public that the virus came from >> China though there is no evidence to support this claim. >> >> 2. Mary J. Gilchrist, Christina Greko, David B. Wallinga, George W. >> Beran, David G. Riley and Peter S. Thorne, "The Potential Role of >> CAFOs in Infectious Disease Epidemics and Antibiotic Resistance," >> Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives, 14 November 2006. >> >> 3. Bernice Wuethrich, "Chasing the Fickle Swine Flu", Science, >>Vol. 299, 2003 >> >> 4. Pro-poor Livestock Policy Initiative, "Industrial Livestock >> Production and Global Health Risks," FAO, 2007: >> >>http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/pplpi/docarc/pb_hpaiindustrialrisks.html >> >> 5. CDC, April 21, 2009 / 58 (Dispatch);1-3: >> http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm58d0421a1.htm >> >> 6. Andrés T. Morales, "Cerco sanitario en Perote, tras muerte en >> marzo de bebé por gripe porcina," La Jornada, 28 April 2009: >> >>http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/04/28/index.php?section=politica&article=012n2pol; >> Tracy Wilkinson and Cecilia Sánchez, "Mexico tries to focus on source >> of infection," Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2009. >> >> 7. Dudley Althaus, "World's queries have no answers," Houston >> Chronicle, 27 April 2009. >> >> 8. Andrés Timoteo, "Alerta epidemiológica en Perote por brote de >> males respiratorios," La Jornada, 4 April 2009. >> >> 9. David Cyranoski, "Bird flu spreads among Java's pigs," Nature 435, >> 26 May 2005. >> >> 10. Mary J. Gilchrist, Christina Greko, David B. Wallinga, George W. >> Beran, David G. Riley and Peter S. Thorne, "The Potential Role of >> CAFOs in Infectious Disease Epidemics and Antibiotic Resistance," >> Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives, 14 November 2006. >> >> 11. Piden cerco sanitario ante epidemia, SPI/ElGolfo.Info, 24 April >> 2009: >> >>http://www.elgolfo.info/web/lo-mas-nuevo/37017-piden-cerco-sanitario-ante-epidemia-.html >> >> 12. Tom Philpott first broadcast the possible connection between the >> swine flu outbreak and the Smithfield operation in Veracruz from his >> US-based blog on 25 April 2009: >> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-smithfield/ >> >> 13. Mirel Bran: "Swine Plague: Romania Criticizes American Group's >> Attitude", Le Monde, 15 August 2007, translated by Leslie Thatcher >> (Truthout). >> >> 14. GRAIN, "Viral times - The politics of emerging global animal >> diseases", Seedling, January 2008 >> >> 15. See "Box 2. Bird flu in Indonesia and Vietnam" (by GRAIN) in >> Edward Hammond, "Indonesia fights to change WHO rules on flu >> vaccines," Seedling, April 2009: http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=593 >> >> 16. "Afectados por extraña enfermedad, 60% de pobladores de La >> Gloria," La Jornada 27 April 2009: >> http://www.lajornadasanluis.com.mx/2009/04/27/pol15.php >> >> 17. "Is Smithfield on the market?", Farming UK, 26 April 2009. >> >> 18. "Smaller drug firms gaining from swine flu," Reuters, 27 April >> 2009: > > http://www.reuters.com/article/pressReleasesMolt/idUSTRE53Q5P620090427 _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
