I have to say I feel bad for the public officials around the world that have to go to bat for nasty food products. Right now, Vilsack's apparently on an all-pork diet, or something like that. Because he's not at all worried about the swine H1N1 flu that you totally 100% can't get from pigs.
"This morning I had pork for breakfast. Last night I had pork. I'm going to continue to eat pork and I'm going to encourage American consumers to do the same," Vilsack said in an interview on CNN this afternoon from the White House.
I'd just like to remind him about the recent study that showed that daily consumption of beef and pork leads to increased chances that you will die in the next 10 years. That makes his pork consumption only slightly better than this photo op of a British politician and his 4 year old daughter taken during the mad cow scare:
Vilsack wants the news media to switch to using the scientific term for the virus, H1N1, rather than swine flu.
Vilsack's request comes on the heels of a similar request by several meat industry lobby groups. If I were Vilsack, I'd just cross my fingers that the next food scare happens over a food I'd prefer to eat. Chocolate perhaps? Microbrewed beer? I'd gladly drink a nice ale or a stout to prove that the country's beers are safe.
On a more serious note, this is all pretty ridiculous. Whether or not this flu came from a factory farm, I don't think the fact that factory farms are a problem is really up for debate. Vilsack comes from a state totally overrun by them so he should know best. No, the flu doesn't come from pork, but that doesn't mean that Vilsack or anyone else should be promoting an unsustainable industry with a product now shown to lead to increased mortality if consumed frequently. |
