A link between the swine flu and factory farms?

A pig on a farm in Mexico's Veracruz state. Whether the flu is called "swine flu" or not, the pig is not guilty of causing this current flu outbreak.  Factory farming is being implicated as one contributing factor.   (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Animal advocates, humane organizations, and health agencies are revealing a connection between the new swine flu and factory farming. 

Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, issued the following statement regarding the current global outbreak of the so-called swine flu, which is actually a virus that contains genetic elements of pigs, birds, and humans.

“For more than 23 years, Farm Sanctuary has warned that cramming thousands of animals into factory farms is not only bad for the animals. These stressful, filthy, disease-ridden confines are also bad for humans. Animals packed by the thousands in unnatural conditions suffer immensely and these unhealthy, overcrowded operations are a breeding ground for disease. For too long, agribusiness and the USDA have failed to adequately address animal and human health risks – swine flu, avian flu, MRSA, e-coli, salmonella, mad cow disease – the list goes on. Factory farms are nothing less than a prescription for disaster.”

The Animals and Society Institute (ASI) also reported in their online newsletter that the flu “has been traced to a region where hog factory farms are prevalent.” The first case of the flu was in an area where Smithfield, Inc., a U.S. company, has a large-scale factory farming operation.

The days of the family farm are behind us as modern farms become large, industrial, commercialized facilities. They are concerned more with volume than animal welfare, the environment or even food safety, it seems.  Factory farms, which the government refers to as Concentrated or Confined Feeding Operations (CAFOs), create perfect conditions for disease transmission.

Of course, health officials are still unraveling the origin and possible path of this recent, unusual outbreak, but the fact that factory farms pose health risks for animals and humans is no mystery.  It would be in the best interest of humans and animals if they were eliminated as a farming method. The confined spaces and the industrial handling of animals contribute to the development and spread of disease, posing threats, not only to animals, but also posing grave health risks to humans, too. 

Time and again we see that we simply cannot mistreat animals without hurting ourselves.