El Dragón’s Recent Comments

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  For some reason I'm not able to reply to your post upthread, Johnnyappleseed, so I'll reply down here. My point is that global transport of live animals means a risk of globally transporting flu. Live chicks used as feeder stock are transported through the United Nation's FAO poultry programs -- that's my own pet theory about the spread of avian flu H5N1. As the outbreak popped up in Turkey and throughout Africa, the countries impacted read like an FAO client list (Turkey is a major FAO supplier of day-old chicks to African nations). Regardless of how and why live hogs are transported globally, quarantines are very limited in effectiveness. Smithfield imported enough livestock for 33 hog CAFOs in Romania in 2006, and, later, suffered an outbreak of classical swine flu that spurred a cull of 50,000 pigs and the shuttering of 20 farms. Did the company transport the virus with their hogs, or was the virus contracted in Romania? We'll never know. Smithfield guards literally pushed Romanian veterinary health officials away at the CAFO gates. I agree with Tom that we need laws about practices on CAFOs, heightened tracking and transparency being major parts of that.On Six months after the outbreak, who's investigating the CAFO-swine flu link? posted 2 weeks, 4 days ago 16 Responses

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  The 6 pigs in question were "show pigs." Show pigs are obviously treated very differently than a CAFO mob of pigs. http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=827507 But I don't think that fact undermines the rest of Tom's argument, namely, that for an ongoing source of flu problems, we have to examine the international live-swine trade, which is a river of stressed out animals and scrambling flu viruses. For a similar take on a similar virus, look at the 2006 GRAIN study of avian flu. http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=194 During bird flu's hyped up craziness, noted epidemiologist Michael Osterholm made the argument that wild birds were to blame for the spread of bird flu. The fact is that bird flu has spread, not on north-south migratory patterns, but in east-west trade patterns. (In that case, really, it's both -- wild and domestic birds infecting each other, with large and small poultry farms acting as reservoirs for viruses). That virus spread from Indonesia west into Africa, along industrial-scale poultry trade routes, instead of north into Alaska, and down into the States with migratory birds. We have no reason to believe the pig trade is any different -- a virus in one CAFO is likely to be found in another from which the swine in question was purchased. Along with increased testing, though, Tom, we need also heightened tracking if we're going to ship immune-compromised livestock all over the planet. It's waaaaay too easy for the industry to mask outbreaks internally, especially in countries like Mexico. Which is why, if Smithfield CAFO in Mexico did contribute in any way to that tragic outbreak, we'll probably never know.On Six months after the outbreak, who's investigating the CAFO-swine flu link? posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago 16 Responses

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  In that April meeting, Milner apparently said he doesn't have the money to make the reparations that the Pollution Control agency wants him to make. So it's hard to figure what the State gets out of Excel Dairy -- not taxes, anyway, if he has no revenue. Not jobs, since that operation is all but shut down. All Minnesota gets is the (correct) perception that they're completely ill-equipped to deal with a public health hazard. There's something in this story that doesn't add up. It would be a total joke if people's lives weren't being wrecked. Check out the YouTube videos made by families waging a stink-war with Excel Dairy: http://www.fairfoodfight.com/blog/el-dragón/dairy-dairy-quite-contraryOn CAFOs: 'Above the Law' like Steven Seagal? posted 1 month ago 4 Responses

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  I agree, there had to be ways to trim the budget and, especially in a market excited about food, maintain advertising. But at the end of the day, isn't it also about plodding, print-focused magazines trying to dance in an interactive media market? It's not enough to just throw articles up with photos, even if the photos are exquisite. Recipes, helpful you-can-do-it tips, food journalism? Not enough. What I'd love to hear from you or others at Grist, Tom, are your thoughts on why Grist swims but Gourmet sinks. That, in my mind, would be the definitive post-mortem.On What Gourmet's critics missed posted 1 month, 1 week ago 5 Responses

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  Dayyuummn...

   

  *grabs popcorn*

   

  When's Blake get here???

  On An 'agri-intellectual' talks back posted 3 months, 1 week ago 49 Responses