| In today's swine flu hearing, two messages were dominant: 1) The FDA is on track and full steam ahead to prepare for the worst, just in case and 2) It's OK to eat pork. Or, as Sen. Grassley put it, "U can't get swine flu fr eating pork. Eatup. Regardless of epidemic."
Utah Senator Robert Bennett drove this point home even further, specifying that you don't need to avoid bacon wrapped burgers from Wendys. I'd just like to remind Sen. Bennett that perhaps he should avoid bacon wrapped burgers, and not because of swine flu. After all, swine flu won't kill you but heart disease will.
The hearing was held by the Senate Ag Appropriations subcommittee, and there was no mention of any concern over unhealthy conditions on factory farms brought up. They noted that no swine are known to be ill in the U.S. or Mexico and that the sick pigs in Canada were infected by a human. Whether or not this particular flu outbreak came from factory farmed pigs, I think it's a good opportunity for us all to examine the health risks associated with factory farming, yet the Senate committee had no interest in doing that. Their only concern is that Americans and U.S. trading partners continue buying pork. |
