| Flu factories |
| Thursday, August 03, 2006 |
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review > Before the discovery of the deadly Asian H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the worst bird flu outbreak in the world was not in China, but in Pennsylvania during 1983-84. The H5N2 outbreak in the Keystone State led to the deaths of 17 million birds at a cost to taxpayers and consumers of $400 million.
While it's important for cities to try to mediate the impact of the next flu pandemic ("Municipalities now winging it on bird flu," July 30 and PghTrib.com), it's critical to try to prevent outbreaks of bird flu in the first place.
The United Nations has called on all governments to fight what they call "factory farming" to prevent the spread and mutation of these viruses into more dangerous forms. On any given day, Pennsylvania poultry producers overcrowd more than 20 million chickens into filthy, football field-sized sheds to live beak-to-beak in their own manure, a veritable breeding ground for disease. |
posted by citizen jerk @ 5:56 PM   |
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