Wake-Up Call: Factory Farms Could Be Breeding Swine Flu

Wake-Up Call: Factory Farms Could Be Breeding Swine Flu
It’s too soon to be sure, but some observers think CAFOs are perfect settings for swine flu evolution.
By Leah Zerbe

http://www.rodale.com/swine-flu-and-pig-farms?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2009_04_29-_-Top5-_-NA

Tell your elected officials you want agricultural programs to subsidize safer, smaller, more diversified farming operations.

Swine flu source? Raising pigs in factory farms may have led to the current flu outbreak.

04-29-09 RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The swine flu is spreading in the United States, with hundreds of students in New York City alone likely sickened from the new virus. In California, the Los Angeles Times reports that a coroner is looking into the deaths of two men, ages 33 and 45, who may have succumbed to the flu strain. On Tuesday, several people across the country were hospitalized for possible swine flu, though most cases so far have been mild. So where did this all start? It’s too early in the outbreak to be sure, but one possibility is that the filthy conditions, tight confinement, and huge number of animals housed inside buildings in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) present a perfect breeding ground for this type of viral manifestation. “It’s the likely scenario,” says Bob Martin, senior officer at the Pew Environment Group and executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which released a
2-year independent study in 2008. Long before this outbreak, his group’s research pointed to serious concerns about commercial swine operations because of the role pigs play as conduits for swine and avian flu.

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