Swine Flu Ancestor Born on U.S. Factory Farms

[kpete]

Source: Wired


Wired Science News for Your Neurons
Swine Flu Ancestor Born on U.S. Factory Farms

Scientists have traced the genetic lineage of the new H1N1 swine flu to a strain that emerged in 1998 in U.S. factory farms, where it spread and mutated at an alarming rate. Experts warned then that a pocket of the virus would someday evolve to infect humans, perhaps setting off a global pandemic.

The new findings challenge recent protests by pork industry leaders and U.S., Mexican and United Nations agriculture officials that industrial farms shouldn’t be implicated in the new swine flu, which has killed up to 176 people and on Thursday was declared an imminent pandemic by the World Health Organization.

“Industrial farms are super-incubators for viruses,” said Bob Martin, former executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Animal Farm Production, and a long-time critic of the so-called “contained animal feeding operations.”

As Wired.com reported on Tuesday, geneticists studying the composition of viruses taken from swine flu victims described it as the product of a DNA swap between North American and Eurasian swine flu strains.

Read more: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/swineflufarm/

[Deja Q]

1. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! THE CLENIS DID IT! THE CLENIS DID IT!!!!

Well, I could also rant

"IT'S ALWAYS AMERICA'S FAULT!" or "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!"

[glitch]

2. Informative article, thanks for posting. Wired does a good job with science writing. K & R nt

[KittyWampus]

13. Not this time. There have been several "Swine Flu" outbreaks. Latest was from individual Chinese pig

farmers who kept pigs in close proximity in foul conditions.

That DU'er are choosing to run with this bullshit is very, very sad.

Factory farming is a problem. But making stuff up about it causing this virus as if other previous outbreaks NOT INVOLVING factory farms
have occurred is just outright deceitful.

[Junkdrawer]

14. Move over China. There's a new boy in town...

Looks to me like factory farms will be the new flu generators.

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. "It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature..." U.S. pork corps can be blamed for

starting this mess but NAFTA and moving to Mexico ensured the mess would transfer to humans. As far as spreading the virus, that fault lies with every one of us that gets on a plane or bus when we're sick, and EVERY DARN HUMAN THAT DESPITE YEARS OF SCOLDING STILL DOESN'T COVER THEIR MOUTH WITH A TISSUE-OR AT LEAST THEIR SLEEVE- WHEN THEY SNEEZE OR COUGH!!
Sure wash your hands with soap will help, too, but the single best thing is cover your sneeze with a something OTHER than your hand!!
Remember, lots of plain old flu kills people also

(P.S. I'm not a doctor, I've only watched "Doogie Howser-MD" a few times...)

[Robbien]

4. Of course the powers that be have been conducting a PR campaign

this last week promoting the idea that only conspiracy theorists believe swine flu is caused by US factory farms.

So glad to see Wired picking up the story.

[Junkdrawer]

16. You would think that. eventually, the put down "conspiracy theory"...

would lose it's ability to close out debate.

[robinlynne]

5. Good. We need to end all factory farms anyway!

[Downwinder]

6. AS long as they can't decide just what to name it ,

anything wrong with Smithfield Flu?

“But even if we never find that smoking pig, we can surmise that this is probably where it came from.”

You won't find it,that pig has already been smoked. Bacon or ham anybody?

[Inchworm]

7. Photo of first transmission!

It's all Li'l Johnny's fault!

:P

[JDPriestly]

10. Great photo!

[Joanne98]

8. But the corporate media refuses to discuss the REAL problem.

[HopeHoops]

9. What a SHOCK!

Almost 100% of the commercially grown (GM) corn comes from two strains (six sub-classes each). If a disease were to take advantage of a weakness in one of those strains, half of the corn in the country would fail. Megacorporations are only concerned with money.

[bvar22]

11. Factory Farming, GM crops, non-natural pesticides/fertilizers....

ALL permanently banned.

The only way to know for sure = Grow your own.

[hedgehog]

12. And the pork, beef and chicken coming off factory farms and out

of feed lots is losing all flavor! It's not only what the animals are fed (corn) but the fact that they're all bred to standards like fast weight gain and low fat content rather than taste.


We slaughtered our own chickens some years ago. They were pretty tough, either due to our technique or the age at slaughter, but boy, were they tasty! We don't slaughter them any more because it's more fun to watch them running around the side yard chasing bugs.

[seabeyond]

15. so all those mexicans get to be pissed off at us for causing them so many problems

us getting them sick, us causing them to die cause we crossed THEIR border

got it

thanks