No matter what you call it, swine flu is still swine flu

Swine flu by any other name is just as dangerous and worrisome. But because the pork industry is concerned that swine flu will hurt U.S. pork sales, government officials are now referring to it as the "H1N1 virus." It's a combination of pig, bird and human influenzas. But swine flu is called "swine flu" for a reason—because it afflicts pigs. The virus thrives on pig farms, where tens of thousands of pigs are packed in filthy, damp sheds that stink of urine and feces.

By removing "swine" from "swine flu” to help pork producers sell more bacon and sausage, officials are essentially letting the pork industry off the hook for fostering life-threatening diseases. Factory farms are breeding grounds for disease. Because animals are kept in such close proximity, and in such putrid conditions, the viruses that cause swine flu, bird flu and other illnesses often mutate into a pathogenic form and sicken humans.

Lawmakers in Veracruz, Mexico, where the current swine flu outbreak is believed to have originated, have acknowledged that the conditions on chicken and hog farms allow infections to incubate and spread to humans. Residents in Veracruz have repeatedly complained of respiratory problems. They claim the waste from area pig farms is causing their health problems, contaminating the air and water and attracting swarms of flies.

Swine flu has now spread to at least 22 countries; two people in the U.S. have died from the disease. The prevalence of animal-borne illnesses like swine flu and bird flu indicates that we must change our intensive farming practices—not just in Mexico or Asia, where bird flu began, but in the U.S. as well. Not only has the swine flu virus spread to our shores from Mexico, but between 30 and 50 percent of pigs in the U.S. have been infected with some strain of swine flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

An H1N1 avian flu virus jumped from birds to humans in 1918 and killed as many as 50 million people. We passed the virus to pigs and it's become one of the most common causes of respiratory disease on North American pig farms. In 1998, a new pig/human virus was identified on a hog farm in North Carolina. Within a year, a hybrid of a human virus, a pig virus and a bird virus had spread throughout the United States. Some experts believe the new swine flu viruses are on an evolutionary fast track, jumping between species at an unprecedented rate.

If we don't want pigs, chickens and cows to be our downfall—either through animal-borne disease or through heart disease, diabetes or cancer—it's time we reevaluate the way we treat these animals and ultimately, the way we eat.

Heather Moore is a research specialist for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; http://www.GoVeg.com.