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On NPR this evening, Robert G. Wallace, the author of a forthcoming book called Farming Human Pathogens, basically stated that factory farms are breeding grounds for the likes of H1N1 (I want to pronounce that “Heinie,” rhymes with “Swinie”). According to Wallace, as a precondition of obtaining IMF loans, small Mexican hog farmers were forced either to consolidate or to sell out to multinational agribusiness corporations. Factory farming, a barbaric and unhealthy (for everyone) practice, is being aggressively exported and has diseases like the new swine flu as part of its karmic cost.
Here’s Wallace’s blog. He has a tendency to speak in jargon, which is a pity, because what he is saying is of the essence.
Ambiance 
Donna B. said,
April 30, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The oddity is that this time around, no swine appear to be infected with their supposed flu, nor is it affecting workers at the pig farms. So far, it seems to be strictly human-human transmission. That the virus includes swine and bird flu proteins doesn’t mean they were mixed in animal farms. Humans are quite capable of mixing it up too.
Maxwell said,
May 1, 2009 at 12:59 pm
There’s a lot of good reasons to oppose factory farming, but this particular one seems like a stretch to me.