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Mike Davis on The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu
We spend the hour with Mike Davis author of the new book, "The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu." Davis says, "2005 is the year in which avian flu, now has acquired a critical mass amongst birds that it won't be eradicated and it's unclear whether it can be contained. Most likely, avian flu will fly to every corner of the world. It will probably reach Alaska and Northern Canada, for instance, in the near future. Avian flu - the threat of pandemic avian flu - has become, like HIV AIDS, a fundamental test of human solidarity."
On Tuesday, European foreign ministers declared that the European Union was not prepared to deal with the global threat of avian flu. This follows statements made by U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt who said on Monday, that no country was prepared to combat a pandemic of avian flu. The deadly disease has been making headlines recently and Monday's discovery of the disease in a bird found on a Greek Island marked the first time that the virus had migrated across the EU's borders. It was also the third country in a week to identify its first case - the others are Turkey and Romania. Avian flu has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.
Also yesterday, Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company that makes the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, said it would consider granting other firms licenses to make the drug. Tamiflu is the most effective anti-viral drug currently available for avian flu. This announcement from Roche, came after organizations, including the United Nations, mounted pressure on the company to do away with commercial barriers to producing the drug.
We spend the hour discussing avian flu with Mike Davis, author of "The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu."
* Mike Davis, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. He is a renowned urban theorist, social historian and author of six books including "City of Quartz." His latest book, which has just come out is, "The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu."
LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/19/1332209
Also yesterday, Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company that makes the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, said it would consider granting other firms licenses to make the drug. Tamiflu is the most effective anti-viral drug currently available for avian flu. This announcement from Roche, came after organizations, including the United Nations, mounted pressure on the company to do away with commercial barriers to producing the drug.
We spend the hour discussing avian flu with Mike Davis, author of "The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu."
* Mike Davis, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. He is a renowned urban theorist, social historian and author of six books including "City of Quartz." His latest book, which has just come out is, "The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu."
LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/19/1332209
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The effects of overcrowded chickens in factory farms is now evident. While the corporate spin media is placing blame on small backyard farmers who raise & handfed chickens with love and migratory waterfowl like ducks and geese as vectors (transmitters of disease), the reality is that poultry factory farms are increasing illness in chickens from overuse of antibiotics (wears down immune system of birds while simultaneously increasing resistence of pathogens like virus/bacteria) and crowded conditions speeding rates of transmissions..
"The unregulated, widespread use of antibiotics in animals has led to bacteria that are resistant to older drugs such as penicillin and tetracycline, making them less effective in treating sick humans."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/mcdonalds_antibiotics.cfm
"Life is no picnic for chickens either. Industrial agriculture is continually looking for ways to increase production of chickens, whether they are produced for their eggs or for their meat. One way of increasing production is by increasing the amount of birds in the building or structure. Thousands of birds are stuffed in buildings, never able to see the sun or feel the earth beneath their feet, so cramped together they can scarcely move. "The hens incessantly strike out in frustration — pecking at the only thing available: each other," according to Bradley Miller, the national director of the Humane Farming Association (HFA). The birds are forced to undergo a painful procedure called debeaking in order to stop damage to the chickens that could cost farmers money, according to Miller. The hen's upper beak is cut off with a hot blade, without anesthetic. Debeaked birds still peck at each other, but they do not cause as much economic damage.
Okay, no beef, pork, or chicken. You'll be a lacto-ovo vegetarian. There's nothing like "the incredible, edible egg." Any problems there?
Well, some. The egg industry, which has seen some success in its efforts to promote egg consumption, is now trying to increase production. One way to increasing egg production is through forced molting, known in the industry as "recycling." Here's how it's done. Feed is taken away for days, or perhaps weeks, depending on the farm. Chickens lose their feathers. After the chickens molt, they begin producing eggs again. Obviously, not all chickens survive this process. But the monetary cost of a few dead chickens is nothing to the farmer compared to the money gained from the increased egg production.
Unfortunately, forced molting also is unhealthy to humans. A study on forced molting procedures published in Poultry Science, stated that "feed removal substantially increased the susceptibility of hens to an SE (Salmonella enteritidis) infection." In one of the experiments "SE was recovered from five eggs, each from a different hen....All of the isolations were from molted hens." Of course, contaminated eggs or poultry can then spread salmonella to humans.
The Threat of
Antibiotic Resistance
To reduce the incidence of infection due to forced molting, close quarters (and the resultant manure overload), and pecking injuries, most birds are pumped full of antibiotics. Many of us have heard in the news the growing resistance of people to certain antibiotics. Many are not aware that the food we eat is contributing to this problem. "Animal husbandry is a driving force for the development of antibiotic resistance in certain pathogenic bacterial species," according to Wolfgang Witte, in the journal Science. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, some of the diseases antibiotics are being used to treat in farm animals are the same diseases humans can become infected with, such as salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli. Another reason for the growing resistance is that some of the antibiotics given to farm animals are extremely similar to ones given to humans. Avoparcin, which is placed in animals' feed, is similar to vancomycin, which is a human medication. "Vancomycin and avoparcin have the same mode of action; resistance to one confers resistance to the other," according to Witte. The American Society for Microbiology "estimates that drug-resistant pathogens cost more than $4 billion per year in extra medical costs in the United States alone." This figure does not take into account the cost of human lives from people dying from antibiotic-resistant infections."
http://www.consciouschoice.com/1999/cc1205/industrialagriculture.html
Antibiotics are better used in crisis situations, not on a daily basis as practiced by the poultry corporations in their factory farms. Unfortunately the effects of antibiotic overuse often effect the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. After an epidemic with a newer resistant strain of a virus or bacteria, the people with the weakest immune systems don't survive or are more greatly effected. This is usually the lower income, elderly and other people who are unable to maintain a healthy lifestyle for various reasons, including affordability and availability of healthy foods. We are putting the lives of many people and other animals at risk by continuously allowing poultry corporations to overuse antibiotics to increase their profit from factory farmed chickens..
Small backyard poultry farmers and migratory waterfowl may be the solution to the resistant virus epidemic caused by corporate poultry antibiotic addictions for profit. People who desire to eat poultry birds can befriend a neighborhood poultry farmer, raise their own chickens or participate in waterfowl restoration and learn archery. Birds raised with love at home or who died living free lives in the wild would taste better also. Please don't sell yourself short on corporate myths, factory farming doesn't provide health or nutrition, only sadness and sickness. What it comes down to is people taking matters in their own hands and preventing corporate poultry factory farms from making everyone sick..
luna moth
"The unregulated, widespread use of antibiotics in animals has led to bacteria that are resistant to older drugs such as penicillin and tetracycline, making them less effective in treating sick humans."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/mcdonalds_antibiotics.cfm
"Life is no picnic for chickens either. Industrial agriculture is continually looking for ways to increase production of chickens, whether they are produced for their eggs or for their meat. One way of increasing production is by increasing the amount of birds in the building or structure. Thousands of birds are stuffed in buildings, never able to see the sun or feel the earth beneath their feet, so cramped together they can scarcely move. "The hens incessantly strike out in frustration — pecking at the only thing available: each other," according to Bradley Miller, the national director of the Humane Farming Association (HFA). The birds are forced to undergo a painful procedure called debeaking in order to stop damage to the chickens that could cost farmers money, according to Miller. The hen's upper beak is cut off with a hot blade, without anesthetic. Debeaked birds still peck at each other, but they do not cause as much economic damage.
Okay, no beef, pork, or chicken. You'll be a lacto-ovo vegetarian. There's nothing like "the incredible, edible egg." Any problems there?
Well, some. The egg industry, which has seen some success in its efforts to promote egg consumption, is now trying to increase production. One way to increasing egg production is through forced molting, known in the industry as "recycling." Here's how it's done. Feed is taken away for days, or perhaps weeks, depending on the farm. Chickens lose their feathers. After the chickens molt, they begin producing eggs again. Obviously, not all chickens survive this process. But the monetary cost of a few dead chickens is nothing to the farmer compared to the money gained from the increased egg production.
Unfortunately, forced molting also is unhealthy to humans. A study on forced molting procedures published in Poultry Science, stated that "feed removal substantially increased the susceptibility of hens to an SE (Salmonella enteritidis) infection." In one of the experiments "SE was recovered from five eggs, each from a different hen....All of the isolations were from molted hens." Of course, contaminated eggs or poultry can then spread salmonella to humans.
The Threat of
Antibiotic Resistance
To reduce the incidence of infection due to forced molting, close quarters (and the resultant manure overload), and pecking injuries, most birds are pumped full of antibiotics. Many of us have heard in the news the growing resistance of people to certain antibiotics. Many are not aware that the food we eat is contributing to this problem. "Animal husbandry is a driving force for the development of antibiotic resistance in certain pathogenic bacterial species," according to Wolfgang Witte, in the journal Science. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, some of the diseases antibiotics are being used to treat in farm animals are the same diseases humans can become infected with, such as salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli. Another reason for the growing resistance is that some of the antibiotics given to farm animals are extremely similar to ones given to humans. Avoparcin, which is placed in animals' feed, is similar to vancomycin, which is a human medication. "Vancomycin and avoparcin have the same mode of action; resistance to one confers resistance to the other," according to Witte. The American Society for Microbiology "estimates that drug-resistant pathogens cost more than $4 billion per year in extra medical costs in the United States alone." This figure does not take into account the cost of human lives from people dying from antibiotic-resistant infections."
http://www.consciouschoice.com/1999/cc1205/industrialagriculture.html
Antibiotics are better used in crisis situations, not on a daily basis as practiced by the poultry corporations in their factory farms. Unfortunately the effects of antibiotic overuse often effect the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. After an epidemic with a newer resistant strain of a virus or bacteria, the people with the weakest immune systems don't survive or are more greatly effected. This is usually the lower income, elderly and other people who are unable to maintain a healthy lifestyle for various reasons, including affordability and availability of healthy foods. We are putting the lives of many people and other animals at risk by continuously allowing poultry corporations to overuse antibiotics to increase their profit from factory farmed chickens..
Small backyard poultry farmers and migratory waterfowl may be the solution to the resistant virus epidemic caused by corporate poultry antibiotic addictions for profit. People who desire to eat poultry birds can befriend a neighborhood poultry farmer, raise their own chickens or participate in waterfowl restoration and learn archery. Birds raised with love at home or who died living free lives in the wild would taste better also. Please don't sell yourself short on corporate myths, factory farming doesn't provide health or nutrition, only sadness and sickness. What it comes down to is people taking matters in their own hands and preventing corporate poultry factory farms from making everyone sick..
luna moth
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