Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
When Reality “Flu” the Coop
The new Veg News is out...but since my “Meat the Press” column is not available on-line, I’m posting it here for your consideration:
As of this writing, the hand wringing over “bird flu” has not led to a widespread look at the meat- and dairy-based diet and the role it may play in the global health scare. ABC News offered words about “prevention” on November 21, 2005: “China is a large country, and there have been some places where there has been a lack of compliance,” said Cao Kangtai, head of the State Council’s laws and regulations office. “Only by taking such severe measures can we guarantee the prevention work.”
BBC News stuck to the tried-and-true vaccination theory on November 23: “The authorities in China have culled millions of birds, but experts are warning that the virus is entrenched in parts of the country. Beijing has said it will vaccinate all of the country’s estimated 14 billion poultry, but it is feared wild birds could spread the virus.”
The next day, Reuters fed the mass denial: “France, whose poultry industry has been hard hit by fears of bird flu, launched an advertising campaign ... to reassure consumers that cooked chicken is safe to eat.” The Los Angeles Times, also on November 24, explained that while a 35-year-old farmer had died after coming in “contact with sick poultry,” China’s largest city, Shanghai, was planning to “ban sales of pet birds in an attempt to stem the outbreak’s spread.” Huh?
Here’s my question: Is such a potential pandemic even possible on a vegan planet? It doesn’t seem likely that line of inquiry will be addressed by anyone in the corporate media. Fortunately, there are alternative voices.
“Over the last few decades meat and egg consumption has exploded in the developing world, leading to industrial-scale commercial chicken farming and mass animal transport, favoring the emergence and spread of influenza superstrains,” writes Michael Greger, MD (“Bird Flu: Meat Eaters Put the Entire World at Risk"). “The World Animal Health Organization blames changes in the global poultry industry, such as shorter production cycles and greater animal densities, for the increased risk of spawning epidemics. Even backyard farms in Asia have turned almost industrial, filling every square inch with chickens.”
Greger concludes: “The stress of intensive confinement alone on the birds’ immune systems increases the risk that factory farms will become the breeding ground for the next global pandemic ... Animal agriculture has become a public health hazard for more than those that consume the meat.”
The next time someone tells you that what they eat is simply a personal choice, think: Bird Flu.
Later...
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
