On June 11, 2009, two months after the first reported human infections of H1N1 flu (originally called swine flu) in North America, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the pandemic alert to phase six—the highest level—as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America, and elsewhere. Worldwide, the H1N1 flu has cost 2,594 lives since April 2009, out of 254,947 officially reported cases in about 180 countries as of August 25th with the number of fatalities rising continually. About half of the people who died were young and previously healthy, and not usually susceptible to flu. This is the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. The last pandemic, the Hong Kong flu of 1968, killed about one million people worldwide.

Mr. Paul Stamets

In November 2008, well before this devastating flu epidemic had emerged, mycologist Mr. Paul Stamets, an advisor to the University of Arizona College of Medicine, USA, spoke to Supreme Master Television anticipating the threat of a global pandemic arising from the raising of pigs. Mr. Stamets stated, “This is the scariest scenario that most virologists are extremely concerned about: A pig and a bird will infect a pig, both with flu viruses. In the pig, then the flu viruses can recombine and that pig then can have a novel virus that will spread human to human. It’s not just likely; it’s extremely probable that pandemic flu will go human to human in the next ten years. This is the biggest threat to the ‘bio-security’ of nations throughout the entire world!”

H1N1 flu is a new strain of the influenza virus first detected in people in the United States in April. It was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that its genes were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. However, a further study has shown that this new virus is actually an unusually mongrelized mix of genetic sequences from four different flu viruses—North American swine flu, North American bird flu, human flu, and Eurasian swine flu. The new virus was produced when a pig was infected at the same time by all these viruses, which recombined in the pig's body.

By comparison to ordinary flu that kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year, this pandemic appears to be moderate at the current stage, especially in developed countries, according to WHO, but it is prudent to anticipate a bleaker picture as the virus spreads to areas with limited resources, poor health care, and a high prevalence of underlying medical problems. Moreover, it’s uncertain at this time how this new virus may affect people during the upcoming influenza season in the fall and winter.

Dr. Margaret Chan

Experts fear that the current virus could mutate into a much deadlier form and re-emerge with greater force in subsequent waves. The results of these infections could eventually resemble, or be even worse than, the 1918 flu pandemic that claimed between 50 and 100 million lives. WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan recently reported on August 29th that this latest outbreak of swine flu is spreading at shocking speed—four times the rate of other viruses. “This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed. In six weeks it travels the same distance that other viruses take six months to cover... Forty percent of the fatalities concern young adults—in good health—who die of a viral fever in five to seven days. This is the most worrying fact.”

Scientists differ in their opinions about the origin of this new virus and no direct evidence has been found. It is commonly believed that the human, chicken, duck, and pig cohabitation conditions found in the farms of developing countries provide a breeding ground for new hybrid strains, and favors trans-species virility. Modern factory farms where thousands of animals are crowded into filthy football-field-size sheds, to lie snout to snout in their own waste, can also be a breeding ground for disease, according to Dr. Michael Gregor, a physician and the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture for the Humane Society of the United States. He also said, “The only other time we’ve ever seen a swine flu virus like the one we now face—a triple-hybrid mutant containing pig, human and bird’s genes—was on a factory farm in North Carolina in 1998.” The sheer volume of animals confined to a small space in stressful and inhumane conditions means that once a virus enters a population, it is more likely to spread than in a free range setting. Moreover, these abused and tortured animals that are being raised for meat have extremely weak immune systems due to being fed an improper and unwholesome diet, being given little to no freedom of movement, and being subjected to non-stop high levels of stress. Thus viruses thrive as these animals have little resistance to illness. As the animals are kept mostly in dark conditions, viruses can replicate quickly because sunlight, which possesses UV rays that can neutralize viruses, is simply not present. In addition, the massive overuse of antibiotics by farmers to try and stem illnesses in the animals only makes things worse, because “it suppresses the bacterial infections but that also allows for the environment to be in place for rapid evolution or mutation of viruses,” said Robert P. Martin, former Executive Director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. The transport of animals during the meat production process, especially in modern times, also increases their exposure to other animals and humans, and thus multiplies the chance for new strains of viruses to combine and thus enable flu to become even more virulent.

Raising animals for meat is not only a cruelty for animals but also enhances the probability of producing new viruses. A study indicates a 99-percent correlation between the number of pig farms and the number of human swine flu cases at a provincial level. In other words, swine flu is far more common and severe in areas with pig factory farms. Two recent US-based Huffington Post articles highlighted the need for more government and media attention to swine flu’s suspected origin in industrial-scale animal farms, stating, “this pandemic reminds us that the current method of raising farm animals is fraught with risks to human health… As part of its efforts to mitigate the risk of a catastrophic flu pandemic, Congress should adopt a national moratorium on industrial animal operations.” The articles urged for investigations into “these toxic disease breeding grounds.”

As we pray for the virus to diminish, we know that the root solution remains in the adoption of an organic, vegan lifestyle, to eliminate the risk of animal-related infections and to restore the vitality of all humanity. May the day come soon that fatal, animal-originated diseases such as these no longer exist, as society turns more and more to the life-saving and immunity-boosting organic vegan diet.

Source:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/
h1n1_pandemic_phase6_20090611/en/index.html
http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2009/june/h1n1-swine-flu-has-infected-an-estimated-1-million-in-u-s.html

To watch Supreme Master TV interviews on the threat of a global pandemic caused by pig factory farms, please visit: http://video.Godsdirectcontact.net/magazine/AW999.php

Save Animals from Exploitation (SAFE): New Zealand’s Love Pigs Campaign:
http://video.Godsdirectcontact.net/magazine/AW1034.php

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