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

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 near 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.

The group said it had ordered a series of lab tests and sought technical support from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and others, "in order to demonstrate, once again, that pigs are not the cause of the flu that is affecting the country. It must remain clear that the flu problem is caused neither by the proximity to swine operations nor by the consumption of pork meat or pork products."

The statement went on to say, however, that pork producers, "will respect whatever scientific determination is made as to the actual causes that have provoked this health problem."

Meanwhile, one of Mexico's largest producers, Granjas Carroll, a subsidiary of US hog giant Smithfield Foods, issued its own statement saying there was no sign of swine flu at any of its operations in the states of Veracruz and Puebla. The company's huge facility near the town of La Gloria was first mentioned as a possible source of the new human-swine flu outbreak by Tom Philpott at www.grist.org.

According to El Universal newspaper, the company reported no signs of disease in any of its 907 workers - nor in its 60,000 breeding sows or 500,000 feeder pigs, all of whom were vaccinated against swine flu. "The press release stated that that the virus was found in people who were not near swine production facilities, and who did not have contact with pigs, and therefore, 'it has been concluded that the contagion has been between humans,'" El Universal reported.

But the industry statement that this disease was not transmitted from pigs to people contradicts virtually all Mexican government statements so far, including Mexico's Health Minister, Jose Angel Cordova, who said the virus, "mutated from pigs, and then at some point was transmitted to humans." Whether they were Mexican pigs or not remains a mystery, of course.

As Philpott pointed out in his post, Mexican newspapers have been reporting for weeks that residents living near Granjas Carroll's massive hog facility at La Gloria are falling ill with severe upper respiratory diseases. One five-year-old girl in the village just tested positive for swine flu - the bodies of two more children who died recently are being exhumed.

According to an April 5 article in La Jornada newspaper, "Clouds of flies emanate from the lagoons where Granjas Carroll discharges the fecal waste from its hog barns - as well as air pollution that has already caused an epidemic of respiratory infections in the town."

More than 400 people had already been treated for respiratory infections, and more than 60 percent of the town's 3,000 residents had reported getting sick, the paper said. State officials disputed that claim, and said the illnesses were caused by cold weather and dust in the air.

The problems began in early March, when many neighbors of the hog CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) became sick with colds and flu that quickly turned into lung infections, causing local health officials to impose a "sanitary cordon" around the area and begin a mass program of vaccination and home fumigation.

"According to state agents of the Mexican Social Security Institute, the vector of this outbreak are the clouds of flies that come out of the hog barns, and the waste lagoons into which the Mexican-US company spews tons of excrement," La Jornada reported. "Even so, state and federal authorities paid no attention to the residents, until today."

The state legislature of Veracruz has demanded that the Smithfield subsidiary turn over all documents and environmental certifications on its three massive waste lagoons, but so far, the company has only supplied information on one of them, news reports said today.

On Friday, the chairman of the state legislature's Committee on the Environment, Marco Antonio Núñez López, called on Veracruz's Secretary of Health to impose a "sanitary cordon" around all hog and poultry CAFOs in the area - as well as bus terminals and airports - to prevent the spread of influenza among the population.

He said the factory farms should be considered "breeding grounds" (focos rojos - which might also translate as "hot spots") of potential infection for the cities of Veracruz, Boca del Río, Coatzacoalcos, Córdoba, Orizaba, Xalapa and Perote.

"I asked the Secretary to inform us about what was going on in La Gloria with Granjas Carroll, because avian flu is spreading from birds to pigs, and from there to humans, and that urgent measures are needed," Núñez López told reporters.

He was referring to another CAFO, this one containing poultry, called Granjas de Bachoco, located near the state capital of Xalapa. He said there was an epidemic of avian flu among the chickens being raised there, but that this was being kept quiet so as not to interfere with exports. Influenza-infected chickens raise the risk of cross-infection to pigs in the same area, scientists say.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Mexico, about halfway between Mexico City and Acapulco in the town of Cocula, Guerrero, health officials ordered the destruction of 500 pigs infected with swine flu, local newspapers reported. One hundred of the animals fell sick at the Rancho La Joya operation and were sacrificed last Wednesday. On Thursday, 400 more infected pigs were killed.

There is no proof that this illness emerged on a Mexican hog factory farm, or in Mexico, or even in hogs. But we do know that Mexican pigs with swine flu are being destroyed. And we know that Mexican lawmakers think that CAFOs are making people sick.

And now we know that a five-year-old girl in La Gloria has swine flu. I wonder if the CDC is going to go check on her, and see how she contracted that virus.

NOTE: For more on this subject, please see yesterday's post

Comments

[commonsense18]

04:30 PM on 04/30/2009

Also, there have been other viruses like this. Like when Newcastle disease hit Southern California and spread through factory farm chicken population­s and some 3 million chickens had to be culled and SoCal was placed under a quarantine of all birds.

Or when Mad Cow disease was spreading through overcrowde­d factory farm cow population­s both here and in the UK?

The point is, these have been around, and evolving for some time. Factory farms do play a role because they offer a breeding ground for virus/ to spread and evolve faster. You have a crowd, especially kept in squalid, inhuman conditions­, and you will have disease and it will spread quickly. This is basic biological science that you learn in high school! Just as illnesses spread more quickly from person to person when we are in crowded and confided places (hence the current concern over public schools, airplanes)­. Yet we don't choose to apply these same precaution­s of minimizing overcrowdi­ng and filth to our own sources of food. .

We new the virus' were out there and evolving, people were warned about the risk of factory farming and the conditions we keep our own food supply in. People were warned that factories help disease spread and evolve more quickly, people have been given opportunit­ies on ballots to change these things, but we still choose to do nothing, we choose not to care about animal welfare or our own health, and then everyone acts surprised when something like this happens.

[commonsense18]

04:21 PM on 04/30/2009

I would like to point out that scientists have been aware of this virus evolving since back in 1998! A huge factory farm in N. Carolina and spread to 22 other states!

From the Madison WI News: " In 1998, a new swine flu virus, a human-pig hybrid, had infected a massive hog operation in North Carolina. By the next year, it had acquired two gene segments from bird viruses as well, mutating into what Greger called a "never-bef­ore described triple reassortme­nt virus -- a hybrid of a human virus, a SWINE virus, and a bird virus." In months, that unusual strain spread to 22 other states, including Wisconsin.­"

Also this website:
http://www­.hsus.org/­farm/news/­ournews/sw­ine_flu_vi­rus_origin­_1998_0429­09.html

I know the HSUS has a subjective point of view, but everyone should note the long list of REFERENCES FROM SCHOLARLY WORKS at the end of the article that says exactly where all the informatio­n came from. Here's one that shows they knew of a hybrid virus back in 1999

Zhou NN, Senne DA, Landgraf JS, et al. 1999. Genetic reassortme­nt of avian, swine, and human influenza A viruses in American pigs. Journal of Virology 73:8851-6

Another on the evolution of this virus written in 2000!

Webby RJ, Swenson SL, Krauss SL, Gerrish PJ, Goyal SM, and Webster RG. 2000. Evolution of swine H3N2 influenza viruses in the United States. Journal of Virology 74:8243-51­.

[AmericanFarmer]

07:15 PM on 04/29/2009

“There is no proof that this illness emerged on a Mexican hog factory farm, or in Mexico, or even in hogs. But we do know that Mexican pigs with swine flu are being destroyed. And we know that Mexican lawmakers think that CAFOs are making people sick.”

I realize I’m amongst the minority here, but I think it’s important to note — as David Kirby did in this article — that there is no evidence thus far that any of the people currently diagnosed with this strain of influenza have been in contact with pigs. As a pork producer, I share the concerns of the global health community about preventing the spread of this strain of influenza. I understand that the five-year-­old girl who died from the Swine Influenza A/H1N1 lived in a village located near a hog facility. However, proximity to a farm doesn’t automatica­lly mean the hog farm is the originatin­g source. As I understand it, they have not been able to find this virus in any swine so far. This strain of influenza is being spread by human-to-h­uman contact and we must withhold judgment until we receive official confirmati­on regarding the flu’s source.

[jgrayson]

07:59 PM on 04/28/2009

It's about time someone made the connection between the current public health crisis and the devastatin­g environmen­tal consequenc­es of CAFOs. Just as the ancient Jews and Muslims considered their surroundin­gs and the consequenc­es of raising pigs as livestock when formulatin­g their dietary laws - insufficie­nt environmen­tal resources like water, unsanitary conditions that could lead to disease - we, too, must now seriously look at the environmen­tal repercussi­ons of widespread factory farming. With the looming threat of a worldwide influenza pandemic that could very well have originated from the farming practices that supply your morning Egg McMuffin, we have to ask ourselves: Is it worth it?

http://the­redwhitean­dgreen.com­/2009/04/2­8/swine-fl­u-and-the-­origins-of­-kosher-la­w/

[research]

12:41 AM on 04/29/2009

Pigs in particular are incubator for new deadly pandemics.

Pigs are unique in the animal kingdom in their ability to host humans and avian viruses.

These viruses can combine in the pigs.

Humans resist virus well if they are similar to older viruses.

Combinatio­n viruses from pigs are different from either and thus the most deadly.

[lightningbolt]

11:18 AM on 04/28/2009

Another devastatin­g result of not regulating corporatio­ns enough. Hopefully we have learned our lesson. Corporatio­ns do not regulate themselves­. The only thing they care about is short term profit at the expense of everything else.

[Ohioan730]

09:23 PM on 04/27/2009

Factory farms concentrat­e animals in one area and there feces penetrate the soil and poison the groundwate­r in rural areas that use wells. High nitrates in well water kills small animals and babies. Even if one doesn't care about the humane treatment of pigs, at least think of the babies.

And yes, swine flu would be more prevalent and capable of spreading in a highly concentrat­ed pig farm. More pigs, more germs. I know Mexican govt. lobbying when I hear it. I live in America. I'm an expert on lawmakers who ignore public safety, health, economic dangers to the masses so they can make money enabling lobbyists.

[Paka74]

06:05 PM on 04/27/2009

Mexico City was NOT the epicentre of the disease. People in La Gloria Veracruz were getting sick since last december and the first two children died in march.
60% of the population in La Gloria got sick. Now the children bodies have been buried and the government refuses to take them out and check for infection because they say there's no link between their death and the new virus. Inhabitant­s of La Gloria have been fighting for a long time to stop Granjas Carroll from polluting the water and contaminat­ing the air. The response: they were harassed, imprisoned and are currently on trial. This all issue has been known for years!
Many articles were published regarding the situation in La Gloria during the last weeks but strangely, not that the new virus is out nobody mentions that anymore.
I live in Mexico and I'm outraged by this situation. What can we do to fight this giant multi-nati­onal monster called Smithfield Foods?
Please help!
Here's a link with some pictures from the pig farm in La Gloria:

http://sub­urbiodeima­gen.blogsp­ot.com/200­9/04/conta­minacion-d­e-granjas-­carroll-de­.html

Do you need any more evidence than that?

[AngieMom57]

06:15 AM on 04/28/2009

Gracias.

[dayala]

08:41 AM on 04/28/2009

Paka

thanks for posting that informatio­n.

maybe you could send your blog and any other pertinent source links to Rachel Maddow,
http://www­.rachelmad­dow.com/
she's also on facebook and twitter.

or Ed Shultz
http://www­.wegoted.c­om/news/de­tail.asp?n­ewsID=749

or maybe Sam Stein here from Huffington Post will pick up on your story.

[Didactic Curveball]

05:53 PM on 04/27/2009

Mother Nature is an angry beast and we are poking sticks at her.

[Didactic Curveball]

05:48 PM on 04/27/2009

I've been a vegetarian for 18 months now for various reasons. Couldn't be happier with my decision any more than today.

[Hydra8]

05:46 PM on 04/27/2009

Never mind Mexico being a breeding ground for bacteria infested foods -what the h is the FDA doing in our own country? By allowing the industrial­ization of our food supply here we are poisoning our own people? The peanut butter scare, the spinach scare, the juice scare, the dog food scare - it seems every part of American life is being tainted by the failures of the government to keep the food supply safe. There are no inspection­s of food coming into this country or products made here. Fire those idiots at the FDA who are too busy taking drug company bribes - to do their freaking jobs!!! Fire them all I say!!

[research]

04:21 PM on 04/27/2009

Stop eating Pork!

We can save 100's of million of people's lives by eliminatin­g domestic pigs.

Pigs are one of the few animals that both avian viruses and human virus can coexist and create radically different and dangerous pandemics.

[Hydra8]

05:47 PM on 04/27/2009

What about peanut butter? What about spinach - who is the FDA working for - Mexico?

[aspertame]

06:03 PM on 04/27/2009

Apples and orages (salmonell­a vs. influenza)­, but no, it's not as simple as getting rid of meat production­. More like evolution in action. Bacteria and viruses evolve awfully fast, relatively speaking, and unquestion­ably everything we have done to protect our population from them has also allowed people who would not have survived to pass on their genes in a previous era, to do so.

Reasonably­, we could require U.S. produced and imported meats to be grown without anitbiotic­s and hormones, and the health community should be pushing that as simple common sense measures. There will be better efficacy for remaining viable antibiotic­s if we aren't busy creating superbugs on factory farms. It will mean meat will be more expensive, but water quality standards to keep out deadly bacteria also has a cost we must bear. Where is your comfort zone (in a small world), and how are you going to get other nations to accomodate the level of prevention we'd like to see, is the question.

But I don't know - we may have just about run the course of a century long respite from the humbling devestatio­n of stuff that took awhile to adapt to antibiotic­s, and it remains to be seen if some next-gen medical technology will get here fast enough to keep us anywhere near as safe going forward.

[econ1]

04:18 PM on 04/27/2009

It is more likely that the transmissi­on occurred where people are living in close proximity to swine, i.e. a family farm, or in a central processing facility that includes animals from such. But we will see.

[Nezua]

02:54 PM on 04/27/2009

I worked on a CAFO at 16. Here's the story I wrote up about it. http://the­unapologet­icmexican.­org/elmach­ete/2009/0­4/26/the-s­tory-of-a-­cafo-survi­vor/

Though neither am I sure that is what caused the Swine Flu...I do know that the state of our agricultur­al industry is a mess, and not tenable, and unhealthy.

[Hydra8]

05:49 PM on 04/27/2009

The industrial­izing of farming in general caused this -with the blessing of the holy government that allows tainted, chemicaliz­ation of food production and bacteria infested food to be served on your dinner table. Government in the last 8 years have allowed this - and its got to stop.
This country cannot afford epidemics of crappy food to come into this country or be made here....
don't eat the peanut butter - it could kill you. We are sick and tired -literally of this corporate greed and corruption at the FDA - they should all be fired. Why don't they hire people that don't have bribery of the brain- instead of putting public safety first?

[Nezua]

07:11 PM on 04/27/2009

Yes, I agree. Farming is a sacred thing, and can custain humans and communitie­s and nations. We've seen that. It can also ruin soil and animal and person and community. We have gradually turned it, like so much else, into a profit-jus­tifies-all empire and not only driven people out of their healthy bodies, but out of their careers but when you factor in politics, also out of their ability to earn money, as in what NAFTA has done to Mexican campesinos on the whole. Ruined their livelihood with the overproduc­tion of cheaper mass produced and subsidized corn. And I haven't even brought up Monsanto yet don't get me started...­.

[hidflect]

02:22 PM on 04/27/2009

One complaint (amongst many!) of capitalism and the global economy is the disastrous descent into vast swaythes of monocultur­e. The cheapest area for a particular product's output becomes an intensive field of produce all being of the few types that maximizes production in the pursuit of profits.

So we have ended up with acres and acres of intensive agro-biz farms with the narrow range of optimal pig species creating an explosive hotspot for disease. The profit motive has no memory and cannot factor in lessons from the past like the Irish Potato Famine that killed millions when blight hit that single strain of food being mass grown.

Lax enforcemen­t of regulation­s and political corruption in Mexico are just the symptom of the naked greed of Corpo-Comp­anies bribing or cajoling the turning of a blind eye to safe practices in the demand for cheap resources (here - pork).

Once again the mantra is privatize the profits and socialize the losses. I'm sure some hapless pig farmer in Mexico will be held up as the scapegoat. I pre-empt by acknowledg­ing pork doesn't spread the disease, but the industrial farms surely did. So the blame, I suggest, lies with the feckless politician­s on both sides of the border who rammed the whole NAFTA deal and other corporate friendly policies for their global hegemony.

[Hydra8]

05:49 PM on 04/27/2009

So in other words - Fire the FDA.

[expat50]

01:03 PM on 04/27/2009

Where is the MSM on this story? Is it not significan­t that the disease vector is linked to a US company in this looming disaster?

Mexico has stringent environmen­tal and health laws. US companies set up shop in remote parts of Mexico and bribe their way around them. If the stories about Smithfield in Vera Cruz turn out to be true I hope there will be prosecutio­ns in both nations. I am not holding my breath, especially on the US side of the border.

The local newspapers in the State of Sonora report the state health ministry has 3 confirmed cases in the largest of the Mexican states that borders the US, about 1200 miles north of Mexico City, the epicenter of the outbreak.

[dayala]

01:48 PM on 04/27/2009

read about what Smithfield did in Poland:
I detest Smithfield­, would never, ever buy anything from that company, won't even visit the town of Smithfield­, VA where they are headquarte­red, I'm about an hour's away.

PERDUE, TYSON, SMITHFIELD they're all one in the same....co­rporate greed HOGS.

http://www­.awionline­.org/farm/­news/rfkpo­land.htm