Mexican Lawmaker: Factory Farms Are "Breeding Grounds" of Swine Flu Pandemic

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/mexican-lawmaker-factory_b_191579.html

Large-scale swine producers in Mexico deny that their industry is the source of the deadly new influenza strain, saying the animals are all healthy, and that it is scientifically "not possible" for hogs to infect people with the illness. But lawmakers in the eastern state of Veracruz are now charging that large-scale hog and poultry operations are "breeding grounds" of infection that are making people sick and fueling the pandemic.

On Sunday, the state government of Veracruz confirmed swine influenza in a five-year-old girl in the village of La Gloria, located right next to a massive US-owned hog facility. The bodies of two other village children who died in February and March will be exhumed and tested for signs of the illness, local media reports said.

And in the western state of Guerrero, 500 pigs were just killed after becoming ill with swine flu.

The nation's hog industry says it is not to blame for any human illness. "We deny completely that the influenza virus affecting Mexico originated in pigs, because it has been scientifically demonstrated that this is not possible," said a statement issued by the National Organization of Pig Production and Producers and its president, Mario Humberto Quintanilla González

[Fridays Child]

1. As is avian flu.

http://www.grain.org/briefings_files/birdflu2006-en.pdf

[seemslikeadream]

2. bodies of two other village children who died in February and March will be exhumed

[seemslikeadream]

3. massive US-owned hog facility

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Not for long...China is looking to buy Smithfield out.

Now there's a picture...China adopting the worst of massive hog farm production.

Chinese agribiz giant eyes Smithfield takeover

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-chinese-agribiz-giant-eyes-smithfield-ta/

[Hello_Kitty]

5. But...but...it's CHEEEEEEEEEAP!! People don't want to pay higher prices!

That's what I keep hearing, anyway.

[Holly_Hobby]

6. I can't vouch for the source, but interesting non the less

http://www.reddirtreport.com/news.php?id=10649

Posted: April 26, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas -- The recent swine flu outbreak taking place in Mexico may have originated at a US-owned pig-breeding farm by the name of Granjas Carroll (aka Carroll Farms), which is owned, in part by the Smithfield Food Company. Smithfield also promotes the consumption of genetically-altered foods, and even owns certain genetic lines of pork breeding. On April 12 of 2009, before the swine flu outbreak was covered by mainstream media outlets, the Mexican newspaper La Jornada broke a story on how Carroll Farms was polluting the drinking water near the towns of La Gloria and Perote, in Veracruz.

According to La Jornada, Carroll Farms maintains a strong political influence in municipal governments in the area. Recently, group of environmental protesters that blocked a highway near the Carroll Farms facilities was arrested. Among them were Guadalupe Serrano Gaspar, a 66-year-old man who said was arrested by undercover police officers. Local residents from 20 towns nearby in Veracruz and the bordering state of Puebla also oppose what they consider deplorable environmental practices by Carroll Farms. The complaints from local residents range from reports of large quantities of pig excrement in the waterways to the smell of chemicals and feces in several towns.

Veratect, which is company that tracks epidemic outbreaks, has posted a timeline of events that also indicates that the Mexican swine flu outbreak may have started in Veracruz, Mexico near the Carroll Farms facilities. According to the Veratect timeline, more than 400 local residents at La Gloria, Veracruz and other nearby towns reported having strong flu-like symptoms days before the outbreak was reported by the media. Local health authorities in La Gloria and Perote have determined that this “strange” flu-like disease or “new strain of the flu” was spread to the local towns by flies that feed on pig feces. In the town of La Gloria, 60 percent of the 3,000 inhabitants have been infected.

The newspaper La Jornada also reported that local health officials and residents found “clouds of flies” feeding on organic pig waste, carcasses and feces. Reportedly, Carroll Farms has been dumping organic pig waste out in the open, leaving it exposed for the flies to feed.

...

BTW... :hi:

[Arcana]

7. I find it disgusting

That there are people who deny the existence of such horrid breeding grounds for disease and torturing of animals as just "PETA garbage" This proves it is cold reality.

[Occam Bandage]

8. I think it's certainly worth investigating.

And by that I mean "investigating by scientists." It's too easy for issues directly involving international trade to get caught up in economically-driven tit-for-tat between transnational corporations and politicians attempting to manipulate populist sentiment.

[sam sarrha]

9. Mexico is known far and wide for Quality.. of their Heroin, Cocaine and Crystal Meth

[wuvuj]

10. The heavy use of antibiotics...

...crowded conditions...no control of waste....ends up breeding superbugs???