That is, the evolution of disease organisms and the new drive to control all animals.
I have been watching the progress of bird flu with attention if not exactly alarm. Being I hope a prudent sort, and one who believes in self- sufficiency, I have laid in a supply of Tamiflu and have Relenza on order. But this story is becoming the hysteria of the week, replacing even hurricanes. Does anyone even remember West Nile hysteria? SARS?
The worst aspect may be that it strengthens the hands of the ever- eager and rather strange new coalition of animal rights activists, big ag, and ambitious congressmen (see here for a gushing article on Rick Santorum, the "conservative" presidential hopeful in bed with PETA) who want the iron hand of government to clamp down on pet keepers, breeders of small creatures, hunting dog owners, and practicioners of small- scale sustainable farming.
First, go here for a good biological and above all evolutionary perspective on why H5N1 flu is unlikely to be another 1918 pandemic. The author knows what she is talking about.
Dog Politics has good coverage of the Santorum and PAWS business.
I belong to a discussion group of ten people who talk about pigeons (originally) but also dogs, hunting, art, and science. Some of the best thinking I have heard recently on these issues has come from them. (Most of us are scientists or artists). I will keep them anonymous unless or until they ask otherwise.
From a Canadian member:
"Yes if things keep ramping up on the bird flu issue we may well have to hide some birds.There is talk in this country of making all outdoor poultry flocks illegal. Pigeons it is being said are suspect because they free fly thus making it more likely that they can contact infected wild birds and then spread the disease far and wide.
"What the hell is next I don't know exterminate all wild waterfowl to keep the dam factory farm chickens safe.
"Evidence from Asia suggests humans mostly get the virus from contact with the excretions of infected birds. And those, of course, include blood. Several countries have acted on the assumption that hunters run an increased risk: Saudi Arabia has halted falconry, and Turkey, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro have all suspended shooting."
From another artist AND scientist, in the US:
"Good article. I was just about to point out a quote from AberdeenUniversity microbiologist and bird flu expert Professor Hugh Pennington"
" "The bird flu has being doing the rounds of the Far East for about 10 yearsand it hasn't mutated yet into the form that we really fear - the form that could infect people on any scale at all - and it may never do that."
"The problem is that people love drama and the media will tend to feed into this. The factory poultry farms WILL use this to their advantage. This is what will lead to birds becoming illegal. I'm not too worried. There is plenty of land with thick as hell laurel understory here where no humans will ever find a bird. Hopefully this whole thing will go away at some point when the media finds something else to hype (how often do you
hear about SARS? It's still around, yet no one cares because the media isno longer hyping it.)"
Another zoologist (and falconer and saluki breeder):
"That would suit the factory farmers very well. It would rid them ofcompetition from "sustainable" folks like Joel Salatin's operation, wherethe chickens are confined outdoors in rolling pens and moved daily to fresh
ground .."
Another:
"That is what I understand as well. I think most of the hype, in this country at least, is that the government got caught with their pants down on Katrina and suddenly decided to look "active" on any potential (even if that potential is minor) threat to "security". Of course this plays neatly into the whole tracking of all animals bit. What a bizarre situation and could be a real blow the the sustainable etc. movement just as it gets going ...
"Mass media is *NOT* designed to keep people informed, it's designed to keep them coming back for more and being sensational (bus load of nuns flattens sports car carrying disabled children after high speed chase) or fear- mongering works like a charm.
" Of course if one were enterprising, you could take this info (packed, crowded conditions spawn intense strains of bird flu) and argue that factory farms are a threat to "national security" and small, healthy,
sustainable farms are much safer. Even add in the fact that most factory farms, because they are so
unhealthy, require mass use of antibiotics and, therefore, are responsible for creating resistant bacterial strains and you're really rolling -- what a health threat they are -- too bad no one can stand up with that one."
For a GREAT Joel Salatin essay go here.
For more on the subject of animal control on this blog go here.
5 comments:
Just thinking along these lines: What if every one in America raised, gathered or hunted 10% of his own food? Got one meal in ten on his own.
That percentage must fall short of the national norm, circa 1950 and earlier, no...?
Yet consider the net effect on the bottom line of our food production industries (not to mention McDonalds). Some faulty math:
This source cites $92.50 per week as the average household grocery bill. Do I read that right? Take 10 percent; multiply times 52; multiply again times 270 million Americans and you have about 130 billion dollars(?) a year NOT going to Big Ag.
Is that a lot of money? Hard to say these days. But if I'm Monsanto or Tyson or Wendy's Corp., I'm definitely behind any effort to keep people from feeding themselves. :-) And if there's a deadly virus out there you can possibly get from killing your own chickens, then I'm all for preventing people killing (raising or owning) their own chickens!
Small time breeders of organic livestock---hell, backyard tomato farmers like myself---could easily produce 10% of our own food. And who's easier to control than the little guy?
Sort of makes the Taliban rationale for bird-banning (mere religious fundamentalism!) seem wholesome by comparison.
I read somewhere, probably on a blog, that during the rationing caused by WWll people started victory gardens as a way to help out. The FDA tried to stop that from happening - but could not. See - the people can rule.
The family gardens and small farms are very likely to be the wave of the future - given the Peak Oil predictions.
Gary
First, my mother survived the flu pandemic of WWI -- she was about ten years old. Second, I survived the flu pandemic of 1958, my first year of college. I didn't even catch it -- spent the whole time carrying soup to those who did get it. I feel a bit "one up" on flu.
Third, West Nile killed nearly a dozen horses in Montana this year. I still don't "get" why the same virus affects both horses and birds, but not other species.
I'm told that there are logical reasons why a disease that spreads widely gets milder. They are a little complex and abstract, so no wonder the media leaves them alone. BUT we keep changing the rules by invading new previously isolated places and providing channels for entities to travel and imposing utterly bizaare living conditions on domestic animals.
Our assumption is that diseases have names, appearances, causes, and cures, but maybe they don't and our assumptions keep us from seeing what is a normal constantly flickering and flaring and shadowing of health. If viruses are simply snippets of DNA, then they are like code static in computers. They may be as much forces for improved mutations as for disease or maybe the difference between the two is just the way we relate to them.
We are far too quick to label and react to things we don't understand.
On the other hand, continents have been swept bare by subtle changes. Consider the Irish potato famine.
Prairie Mary
Considering the Irish Potato Famine:
This seems like an excellent example of why genetic diversity--not a notable trait of, say, Tyson chicken--is desirable. With only four types of potatos in Ireland, the mold could destroy all of them. Great diversity grants a greater chance of a resistant breed.
It's the small, self-sufficient farms that keep strange breeds alive (to say nothing of the strangenesses bred by pigeon fanciers). With a growth of factory farms has come a catastrophic loss of diversity. I think it was Peculiar who told me that all commercial turkey is now from a single breed, imaginatively named, "Large White".
Post linked to on O & P, by the way.
Exactly...
For predictably great essays on the importance of genetic diversity to national security (yes!) see Wendell Berry's Citizenship Papers and the slightly more difficult (my estimation) The Unsettling of America.
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