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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