REVEALED: Very Possible Source of Swine Flu

While the WHO is ostensibly searching for the unknown cause of the outbreak, there is evidence not only that a likely starting point is known, but that early measures could have been taken to prevent an epidemic - but weren't:

Because of the population density of Mexico City it continues to be the center of the epidemic. Of the seven deaths from swine flu confirmed by the Mexican government and the WHO, all were in Mexico City—six in the delegation where we live.

However, the first reports came from Perote, Veracruz--home to a huge hog farm co-owned and operated by the U.S. transnational industrial livestock company Smithfield and a Mexican company. In early March, local health officials proclaimed an epidemiological alert due to a flu with the exact same characteristics. La Jornada reported that Perote officials claimed 60% of the population suffered from flu, pneumonia and bronchitis. Federal health officials reportedly ignored the complaints until April 5, when they placed sanitary restrictions on Carroll Farms.

Mexico’s Secretary of Health Jose Angel Cordova discarded the theory that the flu originated in the hog farms of Perote. But the information provided led to more confusion than clarity about that. This needs to be independently and seriously analyzed because the fact remains that the people in Perote show high indices of similar and unexplained illnesses and the government information is partial and inconclusive.

Silvia Ribeiro of the ETC Group told the Americas Program that Mexican officials “act like this is something that fell from the sky, but we’ve known for a long time that industrial livestock operations, especially hogs, are a breeding ground for recombinant viruses. Carroll Farms is just one example, an important one in this case, but it’s also true of industrial chicken farms.”

Anybody who has seen an industrial hog farm knows the risk of disease. The unimaginable concentrations of filth, corrals filled with sick and suffering animals pumped full of antibiotics, and buzzing with flies that then carry disease to the human population create a disease paradise.

So what's the background?

NAFTA unleashed the spread of industrial livestock farms in Mexico by creating investment incentives for transnational companies to relocate operations there. The “race to the bottom” –where companies move production to areas where environmental and health restrictions and enforcement are low, is exemplified in livestock farming.

Smithfield has had more than its share of legal problems stemming from its operations in the United States. Most recently it announced a decision to reject a $75 million dollar settlement on claims brought in Missouri by residents complaining of the stench. On August 8, 1997 a federal court judge in Virginia imposed a $12.6 million fine on Smithfield Foods for violation of the Clean Water Act. In September of 1999 an appeal upheld the ruling.

In 1994, the year NAFTA went into effect, Smithfield established the Perote operations with the Mexican agrobusiness AMSA (Agroindustrias Unidas de México S.A. de C.V.). In 1999 it bought the U.S. company Carroll’s Foods for $500 million and began rapid expanision of its operations in Perote.

So, you ask, who stands to gain from such operations?

Banking on Disease

Livestock transnationals are not the only economic interests involved in preserving the dangerous situation that led to this epidemic. In an article entitled “An epidemic of profiteering”, she notes that the epidemic means big business for the pharmaceutical companies who hold patents on anti-viral medicines. “Shares in Gilead rose 3%, Roche 4% and Glaxo 6%, and that’s only the beginning.”

Source for all quotes

The case may not be proven. But it makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Livestock transnationals are not the only economic interests involved in preserving the dangerous situation that led to this epidemic. In an article entitled “An epidemic of profiteering”, she notes that the epidemic means big business for the pharmaceutical companies who hold patents on anti-viral medicines. “Shares in Gilead rose 3%, Roche 4% and Glaxo 6%, and that’s only the beginning.”

It's so easy to single out the obvious. The less obvious are the unions who have opposed NAFTA from day one because they can not collect union dues in Mexico.

A president takes office who strongly supports unions, goes to Mexico, and within days Mexico's meat industry is destroyed. Anyone gonna buy Mexican pork right now? I'm sure the Meatpackers Union is drooling all over themselves right now.

Coincedence?

And all you guys can think about is pharmaceuticals WHO HAVE NO PRODUCT FOR THIS SITUATION.

By last Saturday I was reading posts here on ATS that provided the information that the outbreak more than likely began in La Gloria. The type of farming involved may be convenient to the producers, yet winds up being more than just an inconvenience in the long run. We need to rethink the practice of factory farming and legislate accordingly.

reply to post by elfie

outbreak more than likely began in La Gloria

Supposedly a 5 year old was confirmed positive in late March or early April in La Gloria close to where the Smithville pig farm is. Yet, this event IMO doesn't explain how two kids in California got the virus at the end of March. Both seem to have contacted it around the same time in two different countries.

Any ideas???

I still think it started here. To many people ( including myself and my son) were very sick in Late Feb. into March.. All the same symptoms. Then all the kids go off to Mexico for Spring break and theres a pandemic 3 weeks later

Thats just my opinion though..