- If we are to believe what our trusted international media
report, the world is on the brink of a global pandemic outbreak of a new
deadly strain of flu, H1N1 as it has been labelled, or more popularly,
Swine Flu. As the story goes, the outbreak of the deadly flu was first
discovered in Mexico. According to press reports, after several days, headlines
reported as many as perhaps 150 deaths in Mexico were believed caused by
this virulent people-killing pig virus that has spread to humans and now
is allegedly being further spread from human to human. Cases were being
reported hourly from Canada to Spain and beyond. The only thing wrong with
this story is that it is largely based on lies, hype and coverup of possible
real causes of Mexican deaths.
-
- One website, revealingly named Swine Flu Vaccine, reports
the alarming news, æOne out of every five residents of Mexico's most
populous city wore masks to protect themselves against the virus as Mexico
City seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak. As many as 103 deaths have
been attributed to the swine flu so far with many more feared to be on
the horizon. The health department of Mexico said an additional 1,614 reported
cases have been documented.Æ We are told that the H1N1 æshares
genetic material from human, avian and swine influenza viruses.Æ*
-
- Airports around the world have installed passenger temperature
scans to identify anyone with above normal body temperature as possible
suspect for swine flu. Travel to Mexico has collapsed. Sales of flu vaccines,
above all Tamiflu from Roche Inc., have exploded in days. People have stopped
buying pork fearing certain death. The World Health Organization has declared
a æa public health emergency of international concern,Æ defined
by them as æan occurrence or imminent threat of illness or health
conditions caused by bioterrorism, epidemic or pandemic disease, or highly
fatal infectious agents or toxins that pose serious risk to a significant
number of people.Æ*
-
- What are the symptoms of this purported Swine Flu? ThatÆs
not at all clear according to virologists and public health experts. They
say Swine Flu symptoms are relatively general and nonspecific. æSo
many different things can cause these symptoms. it is a dilemma,Æ
says one doctor interviewed by CNN. æThere is not a perfect test
right now to let a doctor know that a person has the Swine Flu.Æ
It has been noted that most individuals with Swine Flu had an early on
set of fever. Also it was common to see dizziness, body aches and vomiting
in addition to the common sneezing, headache and other cold symptoms. These
are symptoms so general as to say nothing.
-
- The US GovernmentÆs Center for Disease Control
(CDC) in Atlanta states on its official website, æSwine Influenza
(swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza
viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get
swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have
been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission
was limited and not sustained beyond three people.Æ Nonetheless they
add, æCDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus
is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time,
it is not known how easily the virus spreads between people.Æ*
-
- How many media that have grabbed on the headline æsuspected
case of Swine FluÆ in recent days bother to double check with the
local health authorities to ask some basic questions? For example, the
number of confirmed cases of H1N1 and their location? The number of deaths
confirmed to have resulted from H1N1? Dates of both? Number of suspected
cases and of suspected deaths related to the Swine Flu disease?
-
- Some known facts *
-
- According to Biosurveillance, itself part of Veratect,
a US Pentagon and Government-linked epidemic reporting center, on April
6, 2009 local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory
disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico.á
-
- They reported, æSources characterized the event
as a æstrangeÆ outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which
led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases. According to a local
resident, symptoms included fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm.
Health officials recorded 400 cases that sought medical treatment in the
last week in La Gloria, which has a population of 3,000; officials indicated
that 60% of the townÆs population (approximately 1,800 cases) has
been affected. No precise timeframe was provided, but sources reported
that a local official had been seeking health assistance for the town since
February.Æ What they later say is æstrangeÆ is not the
form of the illness but the time of year as most flu cases occur in Mexico
in the period October to February.
-
- The report went on to note, æResidents claimed
that three pediatric cases, all under two years of age, died from the outbreak.
However, health officials stated that there was no direct link between
the pediatric deaths and the outbreak; they stated the three fatal cases
were "isolated" and "not related" to each other.Æ
-
- Then, most revealingly, the aspect of the story which
has been largely ignored by major media, they reported, æResidents
believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding
farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas
Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn
led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied
responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to "flu."
However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations
indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in
pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms.Æ*
-
- Since the dawn of American æagribusiness,Æ
a project initiated with funding by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1950Æs
to turn farming into a pure profit maximization business, US pig or hog
production has been transformed into a highly efficient, mass production
industrialized enterprise from birth to slaughter. Pigs are caged in what
are called Factory Farms, industrial concentrations which are run with
the efficiency of a Dachau or Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They are
all conceived by artificial insemination and once born, are regularly injected
with antibiotics, not because of illnesses which abound in the hyper-crowded
growing pens, but in order to make them grow and add weight faster. Turn
around time to slaughter is a profit factor of highest priority. The entire
operation is vertically integrated from conception to slaughter to transport
distribution to supermarket.
-
- Granjas Carroll de Mexico (GCM) happens to be such a
Factory Farm concentration facility for hogs. In 2008 they produced almost
one million factory hogs, 950,000 according to their own statistics. GCM
is a joint venture operation owned 50% by the worldÆs largest pig
producing industrial company, Smithfield Foods of Virginia.* The pigs are
grown in a tiny rural area of Mexico, a member of the North American Free
Trade Agreement, and primarily trucked across the border to supermarkets
in the USA, under the SmithfieldsÆ family of labels. Most American
consumers have no idea where the meat was raised.
-
- Now the story becomes interesting.
-
- Manure Lagoons and other playing fields
-
- The Times of London interviewed the mother of 4-year-old
Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria in Veracruz, the location of the giant Smithfield
Foods hog production facility. Their local reporter notes, æEdgar
Hernßndez plays among the dogs and goats that roam through the streets,
seemingly unaware that the swine flu he contracted a few weeks ago ù
the first known case ù has almost brought his country to a standstill
and put the rest of the world on alert. æI feel great,Æ the
five-year-old boy said. æBut I had a headache and a sore throat and
a fever for a while. I had to lay down in bed.ÆÆ
-
- The reporters add, æIt was confirmed on Monday
(April 27 2009-w.e.) that Edgar was the first known sufferer of swine flu,
a revelation that has put La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms
and æmanure lagoonsÆ at the centre of a global race to find
how this new and deadly strain of swine flu emerged.Æ *
-
- ThatÆs quite interesting. They speak of æLa
Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and æmanure lagoons.ÆÆ
Presumably the manure lagoons around the LaGloria factory pig farm of Smithfield
Foods are the waste dumping place for the feces and urine waste from at
least 950,000 pigs a year that pass through the facility. The SmithfieldÆs
Mexico joint venture, Norson, states that alone they slaughter 2,300 pigs
daily. ThatÆs a lot. It gives an idea of the volumes of pig waste
involved in the concentration facility at La Gloria.
-
- Significantly, according to the Times reporters, æresidents
of La Gloria have been complaining since March that the odour from Granjas
CarrollÆs pig waste was causing severe respiratory infections. They
held a demonstration this month at which they carried signs of pigs crossed
with an X and marked with the word peligro (danger).Æ* There have
been calls to exhume the bodies of the children who died of pneumonia so
that they could be tested. The state legislature of Veracruz has demanded
that SmithfieldÆs Granjas Carroll release documents about its waste-handling
practices. Smithfield Foods reportedly declined to comment on the request,
saying that it would ænot respond to rumours.Æ*
-
- A research compilation by Ed Harris reported, æAccording
to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed
the cases to æflu.Æ However, a municipal health official stated
that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a
type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked
to the pig farms.Æ* That would imply that the entire Swine Flu scare
might have originated from the PR spin doctors of the worldÆs largest
industrial pig factory farm operation, Smithfield Foods.
-
- The Vera Cruz-based newspaper La Marcha blames SmithfieldÆs
Granjos Carroll for the outbreak, highlighting inadequate treatment of
massive quantities of animal waste from hog production.*
-
- Understandably the company is perhaps more than a bit
uncomfortable with the sudden attention. The company, which supplies the
McDonaldÆs and Subway fast-food chains, was fined $12.3 million in
the United States 1997 for violating the Clean Water Act. Perhaps they
are in a remote tiny Mexican rural area enjoying a relatively lax regulatory
climate where they need not worry about being cited for violations of any
Clean Water Act.
-
- Factory Farms as toxic concentrations
-
- At the very least the driving force for giant industrial
agribusiness outsourcing of facilities to third world sites such as Veracruz,
Mexico has more to do with further cost reduction and lack of health and
safety scrutiny than it does with improving the health and safety quality
of the food end product. It has been widely documented and subject of US
Congressional reports that large-scale indoor animal production facilities
such as that of Granjos Carroll are notorious breeding grounds for toxic
pathogens.
-
- A recent report by the US Pew Foundation in cooperation
with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health notes, æthe method
of producing food animals in the United States has changed from the extensive
system of small and medium-sized farms owned by a single family to a system
of large, intensive operations where the animals are housed in large numbers
in enclosed structures that resemble industrial buildings more than they
do a traditional barn. That change has happened primarily out of view of
consumers but has come at a cost to the
-
- environment and a negative impact on public health, rural
communities, and the health and well-being of the animals themselves. *
-
- The Pew study notes, æThe diversified, independent,
family-owned farms of 40 years ago
-
- that produced a variety of crops and a few animals are
disappearing as an economic entity, replaced by much larger, and often
highly leveraged, farm factories. The animals that many of these farms
produce are owned by the meat packing companies from the time they are
born
-
- or hatched right through their arrival at the processing
plant and from there to market.Æ *
-
- The study emphasizes that application of æuntreated
animal waste on cropland can contribute to excessive nutrient loading,
contaminate surface waters, and stimulate bacteria and algal
-
- growth and subsequent reductions in dissolved oxygen
concentrations in surface waters.Æ*
-
- That is where the real investigation ought to begin,
with the health and sanitary dangers of the industrial factory pig farms
like the one at Perote in Veracruz. The media spread of panic-mongering
reports of every person in the world who happens to contract æsymptomsÆ
which vaguely resemble flu or even Swine Flu and the statements to date
of authorities such as WHO or CDC are far from conducive to a rational
scientific investigation..
-
- Tamiflu and Rummy
-
- In October 2005 the Pentagon ordered vaccination of all
US military personnel worldwide against what it called Avian Flu, H5N1.
Scare stories filled world media. Then, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
announced he had budgeted more than $1 billion to stockpile the vaccine,
Oseltamivir sold under the name, Tamiflu. President Bush called on Congress
to appropriate another $2 billion for Tamiflu stocks.
-
- What Rumsfeld neglected to report at the time was a colossal
conflict of interest. Prior to coming to Washington in January 2001, Rumsfeld
had been chairman of a California pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences.
Gilead Sciences held exclusive world patent rights to Tamiflu, a drug it
had developed and whose world marketing rights were sold to the Swiss pharma
giant, Roche. Rumsfeld was reportedly the largest stock holder in Gilead
which got 10% of every Tamiflu dose Roche sold. * When it leaked out, the
Pentagon issued a curt statement to the effect that Secretary Rumsfeld
had decided not to sell but to retain his stock in Gilead, claiming that
to sell would have indicated something to hide.Æ That agonizing decision
won him reported added millions as the Gilead share price soared more than
700% in weeks.
-
- Tamiflu is no mild candy to be taken lightly. It has
heavy side effects. It contains matter that could have potentially deadly
consequences for a personÆs breathing and often reportedly leads
to nausea, dizziness and other flu-like symptoms.
-
- Since the outbreak of Swine Flu Panic (not Swine Flu
but Swine Flu Panic) sales of Tamiflu as well as any and every possible
drug marketed as flu related have exploded. Wall Street firms have rushed
to issue æbuyÆ recommendations for the company. æGimme
me a shot Doc, I donÆt care what it isàI donÆ wanna
dieàÆ
-
- Panic and fear of death was used by the Bush Administration
skilfully to promote the Avian Flu fraud. With ominous echoes of the current
Swine Flu scare, Avian Flu was traced back to huge chicken factory farms
in Thailand and other parts of Asia whose products were shipped across
the world. Instead of a serious investigation into the sanitary conditions
of those chicken factory farms, the Bush Administration and WHO blamed
æfree-roaming chickensÆ on small family farms, a move that
had devastating economic consequences to the farmers whose chickens were
being raised in the most sanitary natural conditions. Tyson Foods of Arkansas
and CG Group of Thailand reportedly smiled all the way to the bank.
-
- Now it remains to be seen if the Obama Administration
will use the scare around so-called Swine Flu to repeat the same scenario,
this time with æflying pigsÆ instead of flying birds. Already
Mexican authorities have reported that the number of deaths confirmed from
so-called Swine Flu is 7 not the 150 or more bandied in the media and that
most other suspected cases were ordinary flu or influenza.
-
- (To be continued)
-
- *F. William Engdahl is author of Seeds of Destruction:
The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation (* HYPERLINK "http://www.globalresearch.ca"
**www.globalresearch.ca*.) and A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics
and the New World Order (Pluto Press). His new book, Full Spectrum Dominance:
Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order (Third Millennium Press)
is due out end of May. He may be contacted through his website: * HYPERLINK
"http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net" **www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net*.
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- * Health Advisory, accessed in * HYPERLINK "http://www.swine-flu-vaccine.info/"
**http://www.swine-flu-vaccine.info/*.
-
- * Ibid.
-
- * Centers for Disease Control, Swine Influenza and You,
accessed in * HYPERLINK "http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm"
**http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm*.
-
- * Biosurveillance, Swine Flu in Mexico- Timeline of Events,
April 24, 2009, accessed in * HYPERLINK "http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/
- 2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html"
**http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/
- 2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html*.
-
- * Smithfield Foods website, accessed in * HYPERLINK "http://www.smithfieldfoods.com/our_company/our_family/Norson.aspx"
-
- * Ruth Maclean in La Gloria and Chris Ayres in Mexico
City, I had a headache and feverÆ says boy who survived, London Times,
April 28, 2009.
-
- * Ibid.
-
- * Ibid.
-
- * Ed Harris, Bloggers Examine Environmental Role in Mexico
Swine Flu Outbreak, April 27, 2009, accessed in * HYPERLINK "http://www.planetthoughts.org/?pg=pt/Whole&qid=2870"
**http://www.planetthoughts.org/?pg=pt/Whole&qid=2870*.
-
- * Ibid.
-
- * The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production,
Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm
-
- Animal Production in America, accessed in * HYPERLINK
"http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf" **http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf*.
-
- * Ibid.
-
- * Ibid.
-
- * F. William Engdahl, Is Avian Flu another Pentagon Hoax?,
GlobalResearch, October 30, 2005.
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