How this little piggy got the flu

So I really, really, really didn't want to write a post about this, but in all the reading and listening I have done on the topic (read: other blogs and breaking news bulletins during daytime tv) I don't understand why there is so little discussion of how Swine Flu began its comeback tour. It is as if we believe that it is just inevitable that some animal disease is going to spread among the breed and then cross over to humans. No need to ask questions. It was the same thing with Bird Flu.

When those who did look into the origins of Bird Flu took a closer look at the areas of major infection, it was no big surprise that they were home to huge factory farms and along major trade routes from those farms to market.

That's why I was not at all surprised when I read that evidence is mounting that shows that this most recent outbreak came from a huge factory farm. Just as with human beings, when animals are forced to live in overpopulated conditions with poor nutrition and poor sanitation (not to mention little access to sunlight and no freedom to move), disease spreads. Instead of investing all of our time and energy trying to predict which strain of which virus is going to kill us all and giving more money to the Pharmaceuticals to create a vaccine, why can't we get proactive for once? (The vaccine they created for this flu's last go 'round a few decades ago killed more people in the U.S. than the flu itself, by the way) Perhaps if there were stricter regulations on factory farms, we wouldn't have anything for the media to blow out of proportion and people to needlessly panic about.

If this concerns you, you may want to visit avaaz.org and sign this petition.