Reuters Mangles Flu Story and Blasts "Wild Theories" About "Evil Factory Farms"

Reuters agency, one of the most reliably business-friendly news outlets, today blasted "wild theories" about "evil factory farms in Mexico" being the cause of the current outbreak of "deadly swine flu."

"Dead pigs in China, evil factory farms in Mexico and an al Qaeda plot involving Mexican drug cartels are a few wild theories seeking to explain (it)," says Reuter's Michael Kahn in London. "Nobody knows for sure, but scientists say the origins are in fact far less sinister and are likely explained by the ability of viruses to mutate and jump from species to species as animals and people increasingly live closer to each other."

That's right - in the lead paragraph, he derides the "wild theory" about factory-farms; and in the next he says the virus jumped from species to species to people, who live ever closer together.

La Gloria, Veracruz, thought to be the epicenter of the pandemic, is close to a massive hog complex that generates the same amount of raw sewage as a small city every day.

It wasn't the only oddity - or error - in the article, which also admonished readers to remember that, "Sound science is no match for the Internet and unsubstantiated media reports when it comes to providing a forum for ideas that have forced responses from governments and companies alike."

In Mexico, according to Reuters, "reports in at least two newspapers focused on a factory farm run by a subsidiary of global food giant Smithfield Foods," forcing Smithfield to go on the defensive. "Based on available recent information, Smithfield has no reason to believe that the virus is in any way connected to its operations in Mexico," a company statement said.

But then came the last, rather confounding sentence. The factory-farm connection was a "wild theory" propelled though the vexingly "unsubstantiated" Internet and drowning out "sound science." But, Kahn concluded at the end of his piece, "Viruses spread much more easily on factory farms where animals are packed together than in the wild, but so far there is no evidence that any one particular farm is the source."

It's just a wild theory lacking in "sound" science.

But Kahn seemed to be lacking some sound science himself. "Some of the rumors mentioned noxious fumes from pig manure and flies," he wrote, "neither a known vector for flu viruses."

That's not quite true.

Last year, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Practices issued a landmark report that described air emissions - or "noxious fumes"- measured outside large concentrated animal feeding operations, (CAFOs), or factory farms. In addition to toxic gases such as ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide and others, scientists also measured high levels of particulate matter and bioaerosols blowing out from the giant vents at the end of each massive animal confinement.

"Particulate matter associated with CAFOs is composed of fecal matter, feed materials, skin cells, microorganisms, and the products of microbial action on feces and feed," the report said.

And it added this: "Bioaerosols, or airborne particles of biological origin, are a major component of the particulate matter from livestock facilities. These include bacteria, fungi, mold and bacterial spores, viruses, mammalian cell debris, products of microorganisms, pollens, and aeroallergens."

If you are feeling sick just by reading that, imagine what it must be like to breathe it - every day. But yes, it is entirely possible for noxious fumes emitted from pig CAFOs to contain viruses, including influenza viruses.

Residents of La Gloria have complained about air quality problems for years. But they also complained intensively about the black clouds of flies that swarm in from the CAFOs' waste lagoons and invade their homes - which government officials fumigated even as they insisted there was no connection to the illness that sickened half the town of 3,000 people.

Reuters says that flies do not carry flu virus. Again, Reuters is wrong.

Several species of flies, and in particular Musca domestica, the common housefly, can carry and transmit not only Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) virus, but also the highly infectious and dangerous avian influenza strain, H5N1, according to UK scientist Terry Mabbett, who published his finding in the journal Poultry International.

"That the avian influenza virus can be spread by winged insects as well as wild birds underlines the need for efficient fly control on poultry farms along with other strict biosecurity measures," he said. And what goes for chickens, in this case, almost certainly goes for pigs as well.

Another study in 1985, found that one-third of all houseflies collected during a serious avian flu outbreak in Lancaster County Pennsylvania contained bird flu virus particles. And blow flies near a Japanese poultry farm a 2004 outbreak of H5N1 carried the whole virus. (And recent studies show that flies also carry antibiotic resistant bacteria from CAFO's to surrounding areas).

And of course, Reuters ignored another entirely plausible explanation for how the virus might have escaped the "evil" factory farms - asymptomatic workers who track it home and shed live virus around others.

More than 75% of all emerging pathogens that infect humans originate from animals, the Pew Report said. No wonder the commissioners called for "better assessment and surveillance of zoonotic pathogens in the CAFO environment."

Finally, when disputing other conspiracy theories about terrorists and drug lords being the viral source, Kahn turned to Michael Le Page, biology editor of the New Scientist magazine. Oddly, however, he seemed to have missed the rest of the article.

"In the wild nasty flu strains that make animals too ill to walk or fly are unlikely to spread far," Le Page had written. "On crowded factory farms, they can spread like wildfire, helped by the global trade in animals and animal products.

And Le Page finished his piece by saying: "By far the most plausible explanation is that this monster is the long-predicted product of our farming system."

In yet another New Scientist article, Deborah MacKenzie wrote that, "We could have seen this coming."

"This type of virus emerged in the US in 1998 and has since become endemic on hog farms across North America. Equipped with a suite of pig, bird and human genes, it was also evolving rapidly," she wrote.

According to Richard Webby of St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, swine H1N1 virus merged with human and bird viruses in 1998 and by the next year they were the most common - and rapidly evolving - flu strain in North American pigs.

"There are many versions with different pig or human surface proteins, including one, like the Mexican flu spreading now, with H1 and N1 from the original swine virus," MacKenzie said.

Mass vaccination of pigs might be causing some strains of swine flu to rapidly mutate into new and more infectious forms. One in five US pig producers now makes its own vaccines.

According to Amy Vincent of the USDA, this quick turnover of viral mutations creates the "potential for pandemic influenza emergence in North America."

One reason is that one in five swine workers have antibodies to swine flu, showing they were infected at some point. So if it wasn't the flies or the fumes, there were still other vectors for getting that virus from pigs to people.

It is entirely possible that the Smithfield facility at La Gloria had nothing to do with this outbreak. But it is not exactly a "wild theory" - Smithfield pigs are being tested for the new H1N1 strain as I write this.

The author is currently completing a book about factory farming for St. Martins Press

 

Comments

[DownOnTheFarm]

As a neighbor to a mega hog confinement (17,000 animals) in Illinois, I can attest that these are a nasty, nasty business. As bad as this one is with lax Dept. of Ag and Illinois EPA attitudes, there are at least some regulations. The one in Mexico must be a nightmare. The chance for clean air for us is dicey, at best. It depends on which way the wind is blowing. My spouse and I have both developed resperatory problems that we have never had before this abomination was built. We worry about the strong possiblity that MRSA can become airborne. They spread the s***t on the fields around the neighborhood and the smell is suffocating. What people breathe around these industrial operations (NOT farm) is dangerous. They need to be outlawed. There's gotta be a better way. As it is, our country is asking for big, big problems.

[EvidenceGuy]

Kirby's article is excellent.
More info on what makes for a deadly flu at http://www.conflusion.com/conflusion.com/Blog/Blog.html
There's a way to scientifically clarify the matter: go into the pig facility and the town of La Gloria, test the stuff coming out of the pig farm for virus, and test the people for evidence of infection with the virus strain in question (seroprevalence survey for antibodies). So far, Smithfield is not allowing any reporters into their facility and they answered no questions at their press conference in La Gloria. Some of the pigs are being tested for something by Smithfield and the Mexican government. I have not seen reports of the CDC or WHO going there and testing everyone in LaGloria for antibodies.
The involvement of the pig facility as a source is not proven but it is not a wild theory. Confinement does select for more virulent germs. This deserves to be reported on and investigated properly. .

[BlackJAC]

Everybody knows that swine flu is caused by vaccines.

[max08]

Read sometime Huffington Post blogger Al Giordano who lives in Mexico and filed this report. At the very least, Giordano has waaaay more credibility than the Reuters jerk sitting in London pontificating.

"How “The NAFTA Flu” Exploded
Smithfield Farms Fled US Environmental Laws to Open a Gigantic Pig Farm in Mexico, and All We Got Was this Lousy Swine Flu
http://narconews.com/Issue57/article3512.html

[truenortherner]

I like that ... NAFTA Flu ... we should contact the WHO with this new moniker.

[KIVPossum]

Amazing that only now people discover pigs can be dirty animals.

But tasty.

[sonofsamphm1c]

Pigs have been raised inside of buildings and in confined spaces for a long time. In the 1960s we called them hog barns, and a lot of farmers had them.

The country has millions of pigs. No matter where they are kept, they will produce exactly the same amount of feces.

[Never-The-Less]

I don’t think it is about demand, its about supply: Just like GM building huge SUVs that did not sell, they did not make SUVs because everyone wanted them, but because they were so profitable. Just the same with pigs, there is a reason this “American” company has built its plants down in Mexico and its not because of the warm sun, it’s the cheap labor and the lack of regulation (thanks Clinton, NAFTA: the gift that keeps on giving) .

We in my family don’t eat pork because of how they are treated and the pig’s high level of intelligence.

Even in our own country, in the meat packing industry, they use Illegal immigrants to do the dirty work. They use the illegals because they know they will do anything for a paycheck, no questions asked (that’s also why legalizing the 30 million here would be such a joke, as soon as they became legal they would be fired and the sleazy corporations would hire new illegals, they don’t want legal workers, you can’t control them…).

[max08]

It's 12 million illegals, not 30 million. The 30 million count is Lou Dobbs, John Tanton, and Frosty Wooldridge wishful thinking: it keeps them in a lather about the issue.

[LewDan]

Just what is your definition of a "wild theory" if its not one with no actual evidence to support it?

The arguments you present are nonsensical. Just how is a handful of people being exposed to thousands of pigs more dangerous than thousands of people being exposed to a few pigs each? Because for a couple hundred years pigs were of staple of rural American farms.

And yes, our being much more mobile, traveling farther, faster, and more frequently than ever before to denser, more heavily populated destinations makes every communicable disease potentially more dangerous. What exactly does that have to do with factory farms? We should all still be raising pigs in our backyards so they don't have to be exported or imported?

Somehow, the fact that nothing about factory farms in particular has any bearing means nothing to you. But it seems to me though that baseless accusations "justified" by claiming they haven't been proven wrong yet is exactly what constitutes a "wild theory."

[Gatogorra]

Disease among humans spreads in prison camps where people are packed like sardines and breathing their own sh*t a lot faster than diseases would spread among people living in separate apartments, even in the most densely populated city.

It's a well known fact that factory farms are disease breeding grounds, far more than old fashioned animal farm operations-- thus all the stringent regulations in the US regarding sanitation and sequestering of the facilities. Those regulations can be nicely gotten around in third world countries, which is why it's so attractive for corrupt American industries to have their operations abroad-- with the bonus that the locals can be arrested if they complain.

[DenverJJ]

Hey,
You missed the snout flu lead..... is already a part of the playbook.
The mexican pandemic was forcasted last year in this book :
7 Deadly Scenarios by Krepinevich.
It pin-point the causes and the ramifactions of such a pandemic coming out of mexico.

DenverJJ

[wallyone]

The historical fact is that these new virus strains have arisen on small Asian farms that had a few pigs and domestic fowl. There was close human contact.

[raker]

My favorite part is Reuters's conflating the perfectly reasonable and credible pig farm theory with "wild theories" like an Al Qaeda terrorist plot. That's a deceptive device right out of cable news and NPR.

[scpato]

I believe Reuters was right in its discussion of "wild theories" and believe that your biases, exaggerations and speculations are wrong.

[alexandra hamilton]

Factory farms are a problem for several reasons. They are detrimental to the environment and human health even without any viruses. Companies like Smithfield Foods should not exists and such farms must be closed as they can be a source of health hazards.
Rolling Stone has run a piece on this in 2006, see http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters

Having said that, you cannot completly avoid to gather scientific proof that this particular flu did indeed originate in such a factory farm. If the word science is to have any meaning, you still need to trace the source by scientific means. So far I haven't heard of any pig that tested positive for the virus - that may simply be because those that were infected have already died and were made disappear, or it may be because there were none.

[americanrevolution]

READ IT PEOPLE!!!!

IT"S TOTALLY GROSS!!!!

[Kim Stagliano - Huffpost Blogger]

Logic takes a back seat to profit. Again. Black is white. White is black.

[rocketman69]

Maybe the real problem is the 20 million people in Mexico city and the 'factory farm' of people there. If packing pigs closely together is bad, how about the 10 million people in New York or L.A.? Aren't those large cities more of a threat to society than the pigs? If 10000 pigs get sick, O.K. But when 10 people in New York come down with a highly communicable disease, NOT O.K.

[dshwa]

If 10,000 pigs get sick, and in the process mutate a virus that's deadly to humans, how is that "OK?"

[truenortherner]

You pose a legitimate question. But the thing is that hogs produce 3 times more waste than humans, so the comparison is misleading