meat is murder

The meatismurder admin team have been avoiding writing a post about swine flu. The story is so massive it doesn’t need reporting here - even the man on the moom must now be aware of events. However perhaps it does. The mainstream media have been focusing on the human tragedy whilst straying away from the obvious…the inevitable hand of humans in causing the problem.
Oddly however the job has been done for us. No less than the Times have an online article that talks about mass-production farms, poor animal husbandry, and low genetic variation as the contributing factors of the outbreak.

There is a tendency to see a flu outbreak, like the plagues of old, as an unstoppable natural event, a scourge visited on Man from above. But there is nothing natural about this form of disease: indeed, it stems from an abuse of nature.

Vast modern pig farms, like the huge poultry plants across the globe, are ideal incubators of disease, and many scientists believe that viral mutation can be directly linked to intensive modern agricultural techniques. With enfeebled animals packed into confined spaces, pathogens spread easily, creating new and virulent strains that may be passed on to humans. When dense populations of factory-farmed animals exist alongside crowded human habitations, the potential for disaster is vastly greater.

The stress of such vile living conditions makes mass-produced animals more vulnerable to contagion, while the concentration on a few, high-yield breeds has led to genetic erosion and weakened immunity. We have created an environment in which a mild virus can evolve rapidly into a much more pathogenic and contagious form.

Please read the article.