The illness started in a part owned U.S. pig farm company called Smithfield Foods. Very recently, they have tried to clean up their act, putting on a real show hosing down visitor's cars and requiring visitors to wear white smocks etc. but the people of La Gloria know better. One sixth of their population of 3,000 have been suffering from severe respiratory problems for years. The other part of this pig farm is owned by Granjas Carroll of Mexico, a mega farm that employs an industrial technique known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations which produces and processes as many as a million pigs a year. Residents of La Gloria, have spoken of the 'manure lagoons' emanating from the facility which they blame for a range of illnesses.
In North Carolina in the U.S.A. near Raleigh, there is a river called the Neuse. Suddenly fish were dying of the most terrible diseases and people were becoming sick. After an intense study of the causes, they found the problem was coming from all the pig farms stationed around it.
There is a film I recommend called ' Pig Business' : Behind the film they tried to ban by Tracy Worcester. It is a ground braking expose of U.S. industrial pig farming conglomerate Smithfield Foods. The film has met with repeated attempts at censorship by Smithfield's company lawyers. In here, she explains how England's libel laws have helped stall the film's general release and stop the world learning more about the environmental realities of intensive livestock rearing.
After a showing of her film 'Pig Business' at the Royal Society of Arts on the 13th of November 2008, Channel 4 which was scheduled to broadcast the film in the New Year, received two letters from lawyers acting for Smithfiled Foods of America the world's biggest pig producer and processor. Fearing the legal might of a $12 billion company threatening to sue, channel 4 pulled her film just before broadcast on February 3rd 2009.
To prepare for the worst, Channel 4 made changes to accord with England's business-friendly libel laws and the U.K. T.V. standards administered by OFCOM. Despite a further two threatening letters channel 4 broadcast the film on its More 4 Channel on June 30th. Not even the tabloids are immune from Smithfield's threatening letters, both the Daily Mail and The Evening Standard have received warning letters for reporting about the film. So did the Polish T.V. station Szczecin T.V. and the Polish National Geographic magazine - the latter was requested unsuccessfully - to apologize for an article that reported on water and air pollution near a pig farm or face legal action.
On the day of a showing at the Barbican Arts Centre in London on 27th May 2009, Smithfield's lawyers told the Barbican management that the film was 'defamatory' as a result, the audience was made to wait half an hour whilst the executive producer and the film producer were told that the showing would only go ahead if they signed a document agreeing to indemnify the Barbican, putting it in her website would apparently expose Tracy Worcester to Smithfield's litigation in every jurisdiction. So the message will have to be spread guerrilla - style i.e. below Smithfield's radar.
For another nine days, the film will be on Channel 4's website there is only one way for you to make up our own mind on whether this film is defamatory or fair and balance reporting - you will have to watch it
Tracy Worcester is an environmental campaigner and filmmaker. Visit the pigbusiness website here.
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42 comments:
Manure lagoons??? Blimey, it's like something from the Third World.
Manure lagoons??? It sounds like something from the Third World.
Hi Robert,
Intensive farming is something that is practised here as well. I don't know if you had the chance to see the film of the Marchioness of Worcester's four year exploration of intensive pig farming in which she argues that this type of systems can harm human & environmental health and is pushing traditional farmers out of business. In the film, she travels from the U.K. to the U.S. and Poland to meet local people who claim to have been adversely affected by the new industrial pig production methods, as well as leading politicians and environmental campaigner Robert Kennedy Junior.
Companies like Bernard Matthews also do intensive farming with chickens and turkeys. Dead birds are left outside the premises for days. Lately, animals are being treated like if they are things in a production line in confined spaces.
The U.K. was the first country to suffer from Mad Cow disease, simply because the cows were not fed with grass which is what they have eaten since inmemorial times.
I remember at the time of the mad cow disease, the scientists couldn't tell the difference between a sheep's brain and a cow's. One has to be wary of scientists. My rule of thumb is that the ones I most trust are the ones working in the most life-free, most mathematical and least political areas, like astrophysics and so on, and that as we get closer to life and humans and politics, the scientists become more and more untrustworthy.
I remember a scientist who was working on Mad cow disease he found that the illness did travel from cows to humans but when he disclosed this to his bosses they told him he was wrong. He knew he was right and did the unthinkable-he contacted the press to tell them about his findings. Needless to say, the scientist was fired from his place of work but soon after he was proven right when the first victims of Mad cow disease started to appear. Despite this, the scientist was not reinstated in his government run post but he says he does not regret it, because he was right and he was true to himself and his conscious. If you give the cows rubbish to eat and then you consume that rubbish nothing good can come out of it.
I don't understand why people in the know are so reticent. What is wrong with communicating everything they know ? This is after all, the food we eat, it has no barriers as this swine flu has proven. Its not just something that happened in a third world country and therefore, we should forget it because is not going to come here, but it has come not only here but also around the world, what goes around, comes around. This is again, the short-sighted view that because a problem is happening miles and miles away, we shouldn't be concerned.. until it happens here. Its a taboo subject, no one wants to talk about it. In the hope that it will only happen to other people in far flown country.
At first, they were saying: Swine flu only happens to those who have other illnesses as though to say: "That's alright then, it won't affect you" Now.. the lie has been exposed! since it has attacked healthy people who have died of this swine flu as well but no one has noticed this discrepancy ! Women who are expecting babies seem to be most vulnerable to swine flu, b) small children, c) young men and women as well as d) middle age persons, the illness attacks EVERYONE its not just a certain group, as they were making out to be the case.
Yes, we should be told the truth at all times. But we hardly ever are.
Mind you, I don't really stop, when I'm shopping, and read the labels on these things. I'm not really interested in fat, protein, E numbers and all the rest of it.
i don't even squeeze bread when I buy it. All the women are busy squeezing all the loaves, I just pick one up, look at the date and put it in my basket. No wonder the bread sometimes falls apart when I try to make a sandwich - it's probably been squeezed ten or twenty times by the time I get it.
I have never heard of this loaf squeezing that you are talking about Robert, that is news to me.
One thing I do is gently squeeze the avocados, just to see if they are ready to eat or not, and if I do not plan to use them too soon, then I still buy them and let them ripe naturally in the window ledge.
You can tell if the melons are ripe by the way they smell. If they don't have a nice smell then these are not ready to eat. Sometimes by the smell you can tell if they are rotten because they smell rotten.
Going back to the pigs, in my home in the future we won't be eating any bacon nor ham. If people boycott them and the big businesses saw that their revolting methods are not making them any profits, then they will have to change the way they treat the pigs.
Well, I don't eat much ham or bacon anyway. Ham used to be cut with a gleaming metal circular slicer. Now it is tasteless stuff that comes in those plastic packets that you need an oxy-acetylene burner to open.
Sausages would be a bit of a sacrifice though.
Well, there's still beef. It's got to be better than shark.
Robert, you could also experiment with cocodrile sausages, I believe there are also kangaroo sausages too. Hector has tried them all. Did you know that gypsies eat foxes ?
Also, I have just learned that it was Smithfield who has stopped using the name: Swine Flu to this new strain of flu.
The T.V. channels have been prohibited from naming this flu as Swine Flu, because Smithfield fears losing profits with the pork sales. So now the flu is called; N1H1 ( God only knows what that means ) Maybe it means: Nobody Hear should know.
Maria, I suppose in the old days gypsies would have eaten anything they could catch, but they don't eat foxes now, do they? Not in this country anyway.
Oh no, I could never eat crocodile sausages. If I had too many of those, I might start snapping at people.
There is joke about it. A man goes into a cafe, where they serve sandwiches he asks for a cocodrile sandwich and says: Make it snappy !
Oh yes, Robert. Gypsies eat foxes in this country in this day and age. Except the brain of the fox because this where rabies is found, you can cook it with onions, carrots, courgetes, pepper corns, three lemons and three large eggs. You serve it with three large pieces of bread.
Also, there is a Scotsman who shoots grey squirrels for a living. He has a van full of grey squirrels which he sells to the best restaurants in Scotland. Apparently, they are delicious to eat.
Hi Maria
Someone once gave me a squirrel sandwich. I buried it for the winter.
Re the swine flu, I've been looking at the BBC Ceefax news stories today, and they're still calling it swine flu. Normally the BBC are the first to snap into line when a message is passed down from on high. So it's looking to me as if it will continue to be known as swine flu.
Hi Robert,
Well I hope so. Maybe we are not seeing the same news. Where I saw it, they call it: H1N1 or something similar.
Here is a question for you Robert. Why did the Irish die of hunger during the potatoe famine ?
Hi Maria
Well, as far as I know they put all their eggs in one basket by growing nothing other than potatoes. Then, when the crop became infected and failed, there was nothing else for them to fall back on.
Answer:
Because they were too dumb to go fishing !
Ha,ha,ha,ha, if you think about it. Ireland is an Island just like us, so there was NO excuse to go hungry. Also, they could have taken up hunting, plenty of rabbits around. In our case, when the revolution comes, I will make sure I can hunt for the Grey American squirrels apparently, they have a delicious nutty flavour. I will stay away from the local pretty red squirrels because these have been practically been wiped out and are nearly extinct in the British mainland apart from some parts, as the more aggresive grays have impinged in their natural habitat. I'm not sure whether there is still a bounty of a pound, for each dead grey American squirrel.
Here is another question:
Do you know what is the difference between Americans and British ?
Well, let's see. I'd say there is a slight colour difference. One is led by a man who is black, and the other is led by a man who is Brown.
Ha,ha,ha, I like that one !
Okay, here is mine:
British people bring up their children, whilst Americans raise them up... as chickens !
Have you noticed ? How an Englishman would say: 'I was brought up in London' whilst an American would say: 'I was raised in St. Louisiana'
Hi Maria
That's right. It may have something to do with the fact that "brought up" has two syllables while "raised" has one. I get the feeling that the Americans like the quickest possible way of saying something, and I think they are usually more snappy than us in their language. But not always, e.g. we say "lift" but they say "elevator."
Americans are more snappy in their language you mean... like Ally-gator from Jack the Ripper Casebook ? She's real snappy !! this is why she is dubbed: Ally-gator, Ally-gator.
Okay, here is another one...You know how politicians always try to distract the public's attention when there are difficult issues to answer ? The question is... How do American politicians dodge the public's attention ? But I also want to point out that there were 26 posts this morning on this thread and now... there are less...I did not delete them
Hi Maria
Posts missing? Can you remember what they said?
I give up : how do they distract attention?
Over here they just publish something on a day where there is a much bigger story. Remember that remark "A good day to bury bad news."
Answer:
Americans go to the Moon ! Around 40 years ago, it was to cover up the Kennedy sex scandals of Jack and Bobby Kennedy. Now after 40 years they want to go to the moon again to bury their economic woes.
It doesn't matter that is going to cost billions of dollars to get there. It doesn't matter that there is no oxygen and maybe only a few puddles of water but hey ! It will catch their imaginations and make them feel better at home from the real problems on planet earth. The only thing that its in the moon right now, is their flag and a rusty golf cart. Other than that.. there is nothing there to be excited about. But the dumb masses will go for it, hook, line and sinker in a big way. It worked in the past, its going to work nowadays too.
I always advice young inexperienced women, when a man offers you the moon... stay away from him, he is either a Looney or he wants your body. NEVER trust anyone who offers you the moon! Its barren, its cold and it lacks oxygen. Would you believe that there are conmen who are selling castles in the moon ? There are a few dumb people, who have actually bought parcels of land in the moon. I would sooner buy property on earth.
Hi Maria
Are they talking of going to the moon again, then? I thought Mars was next on the list.
The original moon programme was an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of American capitalism over soviet communism, because at one time the Russians were ahead in the space race. I'm not sure that I see the point of going on to land on Mars - which I think is just about the only other planet they could land on - when you compare other possible uses for space money, e.g. look at the splendid Hubble telescope.
It would be nice if we could one day get some astronauts out of this solar system but with the nearest star apart from the sun about 4 light years away, they are going to have to develop new sources of power.
Robert,
How many years are in a light year ?
I find that travelling 24 hours by plane to Australia would be the absolute maximum longest trip Peter and I will ever travel and I could not imagine ourselves travelling for a whole year in a plane, let alone FOUR light years ! with no food nor oxygen. On the other hand, it would be a fitting punishment for Tony Blair and George Bush to travel in suspended animation over there for ever. Throw them both in a rocket, not to come back ever again, for the rest of their natural lives.
Hola Maria
Ha, ha! Well, I have seen it suggested that black holes may one day be used as dustbins. This would solve the problem of what to do with politicians. I think the idea is that a rocket could go near to a black hole (but not too near!) and jettison waste matter in a capsule into the black hole.
A light year is a measure of distance. It's the number of miles that light travels in a year. Since light travels at about 186,000 miles PER SECOND, one light year is a hell of a long way, and four of them is four hells of a long way. Nothing can go as fast as light, but if Bush and Blair went CLOSE to the speed of light they'd reach the star in around 4 years, If they then turned round and came back, they'd arrive home in around 8 years. However, at that speed there might be relativistic effects - they might come home to find that everyone they knew has aged far more than them, or even that they'd died.
Robert maybe I have become too cynical but I cannot believe that the Russians and the Americans where competing in a silly race to.. nowhere !
But then again, I do not understand why anyone would want to race to the North Pole either specially when everyone can fly there. I do not understand mountainers either. Clinging from their nails like a cat for dear life looking down into abyss is not my idea of a good holiday. When they do fall, I have no sympathy if they end up dead.
The trains in the continent and Japan, travel at 350 miles and hour and I can tell you from experience in the European trains, everything passes in a blur, it is too fast to enjoy the scenery ! faster than that, (at the light of speed) for 4 years and back I think if Blair and Bush returned, they would come back as dust ! And hopefully miss the re-entry.
The ideal way to see the planets and stars is through a telescope and I had the marvelous experience of seeing the butterfly constellation in Chile, in a place where the sky is clear 340 days a year. Britain, France and the U.S. have telescopes there. I also saw the Scorpio Costellation really magical. What we call here The Plow is just a tiny part of the whole picture of the Scorpio constellation, it really looks like a scorpio, with both claws at the front, the body, the tail and the sting ! The telescope kept rotating as the earth is moving, even though we cannot feel it moving. That is for me, the perfect way of travelling through the firmament. Earth is the perfect vessel to travel in and I was born here. Others can go in their rickety capsules with limited air and food in their cumbersome ugly suits. I can stay here beside a swimming pool sipping my margharitas in the sun, thank you !
Ah, Maria, well it depends on individual temperament, and of course one doesn't have to be literally an explorer like Captain Scott. Einstein was a kind of explorer. It's difficult to describe. I guess one way of putting it is, some people just feel driven to do these things. It's partly to do with power, power over oneself.
Take all those pioneering flights to get the mail through, in the days when the engines would sometimes drop out of the planes. Well, as far as the pilots were concerned, it wasn't really about the mail.
Robert, that's different! There is and there was the need to communicate.
There isn't anyone to communicate with, in the moon or Mars for that matter. We are alone. The nearest planet close to our atmosphere, is several light years away. We live in a world where we do not even accept people who are EXACTLY the same as us genetically !!! or that we discriminate for their religion (Muslims) or just for the colour of their skin. Why do they want to communicate from beings from out of earth? If we are still unable to get on well, with our OWN kindred? If we are unable to communicate with others here on earth, except with a barrel of a gun. Are we going to have inter-gallactic wars like star wars? with different beings from out of space? at a time when there isn't money to squander? when there is still extreme hunger and poverty in our own planet? Please... We would have to start teaching our children in schools not to be prejudiced against our own kind. The only thing that separates us, is language, religion and our reaction is that Muslims are beings that need to be destroyed. Look at all the discrimination in Australia right now, over the Indian student population there, where they have been injured with wounds that have ended them up in hospital. Why? answer: just because they have a darker colour of skin! Anyone can have a darker colour of skin if they stay out in the sun long enough..it is called melanine. Its normal.
If we cannot accept these normal differences in opinion, religion and colour of the skin in our own humanity..if we are intolerant to superficial things like this, how much more intolerant will we be, with another being from out of space? when they are bound to look completely different to us. Where probably their skin will be green or blue, or probably it will be scaly like a snake? No. it won't work. There is enough here on earth that still needs to be discovered and which is being destroyed (like the Amazons) even before we have the chance to learn what's in there.
Hi Maria
Well, I wasn't talking about trying to find life on other planets.
There are still differences between people, and good job too. I don't want everyone to be the same.
But at a deeper level, there is something in what you say - there is a depressing repetitiveness about most of humanity. They're born, grow, eat meals, go to the toilet, procreate and die. The next generation does the same. and the next. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow....
I think it does people good to learn about something that's different from them, whether it's trees and plants, animals, geology, or the stars.
What's more, it's our destiny to do it. Our bodies might be chained to this planet, but our thoughts can go wherever we choose. Einstein used to imagine what it would be like to be riding on a wave of light.
About the communication : Captain Scott wasn't expecting to find anyone at the South Pole, and the pioneer pilots weren't all that concerned about the letters. A cargo of pincushions would have done just as well.
Robert, I don't think I have said that there is a depressing thing about being born, die and procreate. We can look for different things to discover right here on earth. Even if there is the strange need of being in an in-hospitable place, our explorers could try the Goby dessert or the North or South Pole. We have it all, right here on earth. There is no need to travel to light years away. I prefer to look at the stars and the constellations from the safety and comfort of a telescope. Jules Verne dreamed about the submarine which became a reality and that is more exciting than going to the moon because anyone can do it now. The only ones who wish to go to the moon are the loonies ! they belong there.
Hi Maria
But there's no substitute for actually being there. Thanks to man's brains we can deduce a lot from experiments here plus some very sophisticated mathematics, but science is an empirical subject and we really need to be out there.
When are you leaving then ?
Four light years means you would have to travel at the speed of light which is, at the moment impossible!!!
There have been air-planes that have flown braking the sound barrier like Concord the Anglo-French airplane but I have never heard of an airplane that travels at the speed of light.
Maria, it's not just impossible now to travel at the speed of light. It's impossible for all eternity, if Einstein is right.
I'm in no hurry to go, myself, but one day they might have a speceship like the Enterprise from Star Trek. Then folks could travel in comfort.
Actually, Richard Branson is going to start in a new venture doing commercial flights to orbit around the earth. The flights are very expensive and only the very wealthy who go for that kind of thrill will be able to afford it. Personally, I would sooner buy an apartment with a swimming pool in Spain than pay for a flight that is going nowhere.
Let's hope they don't find that their luggage is orbiting Mars.
No worries about that, since they will all be wearing those ugly bulky space suits, I hope that by now, they have toilets. They didn't have any, in the old days. And eating space cookies with dihydrated food. Whilst I will be sipping a margharita, eating lobsters and strawberries with ice-cream enjoying the breeze of the balmy sunshine in the beach. watching the sea-gulls beguiling cries and the white waves of the aquamarine colour of the sea. For all I know, these space passengers will get stuck over there, with no one to go and rescue them, just like rats orbiting around the earth.
Still, it will be an experience for those who sign up for it.
I agree there's no need to report these things. Someone orbits the earth, someone sails round the world, someone reaches the south pole, someone clinmbs Everest....it's all been done.
The first Swine Flu death has been recorded in Saudi Arabia. Most of the deaths have been in the U.S. so far.
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