Factory farm pollution causes deadly sicknesses. As reports of swine flu infections are in the thousands in certain countries, fatalities continue to mount globally. Shocking cases of the losses of healthy young fathers, mothers, a 3-year-old British girl who died within several hours of falling ill, and even the death of a man who had been vaccinated, show that many people are still extremely vulnerable to the virus. The concern rises again about the role of intensive pig farming, which has been identified by scientists as the environment that where the H1N1 swine flu virus originated. Such filthy and crowded conditions, which are found in all large concentrated animal farms, create automatic breeding grounds for even more deadly virus and bacteria-related diseases.

US epidemiologist Dr. Steve Wing of the University of North Carolina who has studied pollutants from pig and poultry farms and their effects on human health, emphasizes that the wide range of contaminating substances, which are largely unregulated, are being produced in unlimited quantities with no regard for human safety.

(Interview in English)
Dr. Steve Wing – Epidemiology professor, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health (M): The animal confinements release a very large number of chemicals and types of particular matter, from the confinement buildings, from the fecal waste pits, and the spray fields, because the pits fill up and they spray it on the land. The pollutants come from the animals, the dander, the decaying matter, the fecal matter, the bacteria, insects, dried feed, all these things. What we’re finding is there are changes in people’s symptoms and in their quality of life that correspond to levels of these pollutants that are below the levels that are set by regulatory agencies – when there are regulatory levels in the first place. For some things, there are no limits.

VOICE: One type of unregulated chemical found in the waste materials of factory farms in many countries is antibiotics. In a recent report from Eastern Michigan University's Center for Aquatic Microbial Ecology in the USA, researchers found that waterways near concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) had levels of multiple medication- resistant bacteria that were three times that of areas away from these factory farms. According to newly released data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 80%, or 13.1 million kilograms, of all antibiotics sold in the USA are routinely fed to livestock to promote abnormally rapid growth. This practice undermines the medicines’ effectiveness in treating disease, with bacteria instead being able to mutate and become resistant. These “superbugs,” such as the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria, affect humans who consume infected meat or drink from contaminated waterways. The FDA identified the need to stop the rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as E. coli bacteria, which can produce potentially fatal Shiga toxin, as well as multi-drug resistant Salmonella bacteria in the beef and poultry industries.

Our appreciation, Dr. Wing and all scientists involved in bringing attention to the lethally dangerous side effects of animal farming to human health. With sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones to the swine flu and other factory farm-related illnesses, we pray that all will choose plant-based fare that safeguards our health on many levels.

Foreseeing this tragic event Supreme Master Ching Hai had designed the Alternative Living flyer some years ago and asked our Association members to distribute it worldwide since:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12184395 toll in germany, korea: http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=111460&code=Ne2&category=2 http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h7SsaSvweinn8bdc-KhGNKP8DBvQ?docId=5628761
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/12/cafos-boost-multi-drug-resistant-bacteria-emu-farms.php 
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/food-animals-consume-80-percent-of-antibiotics-in-the-u-s/
http://www.livablefutureblog.com/2010/12/new-fda-numbers-reveal-food-animals-consume-lion%E2%80%99s-share-of-antibiotics/#more-4300Shiga
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Speech_010911_Hagen/index.asp
http://www.sph.unc.edu/?option=com_profiles&Itemid=1894&profileAction=ProfDetail&pid=702514616