From Bird Flu to Big Farms - and the Codex Alimentarius

Wired just published a great overview on the dangers of industrializing China's agriculture, written by Marilyn McKenna. I addressed some of the issues last September in this thread: Pushing Flu Vaccines, and the Codex Alimentarius. Right now, most of China's meat comes from backyard Mom-andPop livestock production. But the Big Boyz are pushing hard to get control of China's markets - consumer AND production - and China's laws and regulations do not measure up. Just so happens, the Big Boyz want the same deregulation everywhere, plus control of the global food supply. Their main strategy is to blame bird flu on Mom-andPop livestock production to justify their take-over.

One big point stands out in McKenna's article: the use of antibiotics in meat production. China used about 105 million kgs. of antibiotics in industrial livestock production; in comparison, the US used 13.2 million kgs.

So if the problem of antibiotic resistance is a crisis in the USA...

From Bird Flu to Big Farms: The Rise of China’s Agriculture

You can’t have avian flu — or at least, not this avian flu — without birds; most of the people who have been diagnosed with H7N9 had contact with live chickens or visited a market that sold live poultry for slaughter. H7N9 is continuing to spread in China; and so it’s a lucky coincidence that a nonprofit with deep knowledge of Chinese agriculture has just published a series of reports exploring the vast expansion of Chinese production of meat animals, including chickens.

The nonprofit is the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, based in Minneapolis. On Wednesday, it released four linked reports on the transformation of livestock-raising in China:

The Need for Feed: China’s Demand for Industrialized Meat and Its Impacts
China’s Pork Miracle? Agribusiness and Development in China’s Pork Industry
China’s Dairy Dilemma: The Evolution and Future Trends of China’s Dairy Industry
Fair or Fowl? Industrialization of Poultry Production in China

Here’s an excerpt from the press release that accompanied the reports’ publication:

China is the world’s largest producer of pork, the second largest producer of poultry, the largest feed importer and the fourth largest dairy producer. IATP’s reports analyze the global implications for policy decisions at this scale as well as domestic impacts on China’s food supply and economy as small producers can no longer compete with corporate livestock operations.

reply to post by soficrow

China used about 105 million kgs. of antibiotics in industrial livestock production; in comparison, the US used 13.2 million kgs.

Are you making a connection between the use of antibiotics and a virus? You know that antibiotics don't affect viruses, right?

reply to post by Phage

Are you making a connection between the use of antibiotics and a virus?

Of course not. Still, antibiotic use in livestock production causes much antibiotic resistance - arguably far more than human "misuse."

reply to post by soficrow

Could be.
But what's the connection between antibiotic use and H7N9? Or did you post the wrong article?

Wouldn't something like this have been more appropriate if the concern is antibiotic resistance?
www.nytimes.com...

reply to post by Phage

But what's the connection between antibiotic use and H7N9? Or did you post the wrong article?

There's no direct connection between antibiotic use and H7N9 - but both reference aspects of industrializing China's agriculture. Granted, it is a bit subtle to consider several points at once. And I did write quickly, leaving gaps for the reader to fill. Too many perhaps. Maybe just stretch a bit?

Consider: The evidence shows that industrialized livestock production leads to viral and bacterial mutations because of mass vaccinations and daily antibiotic dosing. Most of China's livestock production is NOT industrialized - no mass animal vaccinations, no mass antibiotic use in feed - yet they still use 105 million kgs. of antibiotics in industrial livestock production. Can you imagine the effects of full industrialization in China? Without even minimal regulation?

And the pro-industrialization camp takes a cheap shot at China. Says there are "red flags" in China's disease control. Reminds us about the SARS debacle, claims China is mis-managing risk control of H7N9 outbreaks by following FAO and WHO protocols. Specifically, by being "heavily reliant on ….mass culling and other draconian containment measures — to address disease outbreaks." Huh? ...It's all about the money. Said culling and containment cost the poultry industry "over US$16.4 billion in 2013 alone." I'm guessing it wasn't the Mom-and-Pop backyard producers who took that hit.

Red Flags In China’s Disease Control

….during an outbreak the government reactive mobilization efforts often run counter to a risk management strategy essential for effective disaster response. A primary objective of risk management is to maximize protection and minimize disruption to the society and the economy. But even today the government is still heavily reliant on state-centric, vertically imposed prohibition and coercion — such as mass culling and other draconian containment measures — to address disease outbreaks without differentiating the risk posed by different viruses.

Indeed, the SARS crisis reinforced the notion that aggressive containment measures are the silver bullet to all infectious disease outbreaks. As shown in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, such measures potentially can do more harm than good. In coping with the H7N9 outbreak, drastic public health interventions have already resulted in consumer panic and increased the financial burden of poultry farmers, costing the poultry industry over US$16.4 billion in 2013 alone.

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