Factory Farms and Swine Flu

For all the talk about swine flu and the possibility of a pandemic (from what I read the true danger relates to the fact that the virus can go "undercover" for a while and reappear at a later date when we are less prepared to deal with it), there has been little talk about the practice of factory farming, which from all indications seems to breed viruses. Granted, not all of these viruses are transmitted from animal to human, but the very fact that this practice creates viruses with the potential to do so, is reason alone for the United States to take a long hard look at its agricultural practices.

As Regina Weiss, a policy analyst and communications director for Sustainable Table notes, "concentrated feeding operations--massive facilities where thousands of animals are closely confined--are ideal breeding grounds for new infectious agents. . . In fact, the threat is so well known that, in 2004, the owner of a Nebraska factory farm told a reporter he seldom visits his own facility due to "bio-hazard" concerns."

And yet, California remains the only state in the nation to have recently passed a law to make factory farms more humane. One need only look as far as the recent outbreaks of mad cow disease and avian flu to get the picture. We need to reform these practices and we need to enforce these reforms before it is too late.

Jill Howard Church, writing on behalf on the Animals & Society Institute, notes "few of us in the animal protection community will be surprised to hear that the current swine flu outbreak that's feverishly in the news was first detected in a Mexican village known for its stinky pig manure. . .Residents of La Gloria have long complained about the stench and the flies near the hog farms' huge manure pits, but nothing has changed."

Short of becoming a vegetarian (and I'm not even sure that is the answer--remember the recent spinach contamination?) or growing your own food, consumers can purchase products from local farms where, ideally, humane methods are used to raise and slaughter their livestock.

Obama needs to overhaul the FDA, appoint a food czar with experience and a Board with oversight over the entire operation. And today could not be soon enough.