April, 27 2009, 05:31pm EDT
Food & Water Watch Urges Investigation of Swine Flu and Link to Industrialized Pork Production
WASHINGTON
Today, amid increasing international concern about the global swine flu
outbreak, Food & Water Watch urged leaders of the U.S. Senate and
House agriculture and health committees to investigate the serious
human health problems caused by industrialized pork production. The
national consumer advocacy organization submitted a letter to Chairman
Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman Henry
Waxman (D-CA) and Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), asking their
respective committees to hold hearings examining the source of the
swine flu virus, the pathway for transmission between hogs and humans,
and the conditions inside factory farms that could foster the growth
and mutation of the influenza virus into more virulent strains.
"Factory
farms have a long track record of maximizing volume and profit at the
cost of human health and safe food," said Wenonah Hauter, Food &
Water Watch executive director. "The swine flu outbreak is
unfortunately just the latest example of the negative public health
impacts from intensive pork production."
Food & Water
Watch warned of other potential threats to human health, including the
discovery at U.S. hog facilities of Methicillin-Resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - the difficult to treat staph infection -
and antibiotic-resistant E. coli on operations using non-therapeutic antibiotics.
"The
public health issues of disease transmission, antibiotic resistant
bacteria and worker health are critically important to rural
communities, workers, and consumers and any research into these issues
must be done in a way that is independent of any industry pressure,"
said Hauter in the letter. "Congress needs to prioritize these topics
for credible research that is funded and performed by public entities,
not the pork industry or its trade associations."
To view Food & Water Watch's letter, please visit: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/swine-flu-letter
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
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Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
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Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
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Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
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Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
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On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
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As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
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Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, praised the FTC for "listening to the comments of thousands of entrepreneurs and workers of all income levels across industries" and finalizing a rule that "is a clear-cut win."
Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
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'Discriminatory' North Carolina Law Criminalizing Felon Voting Struck Down
One plaintiffs' attorney said the ruling "makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society."
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
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As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow all incarcerated people to vote behind bars.
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