TheRealNews: Evidence points to an industrial pig farm as the source of the outbreak of pig flu in Mexico.
Independent: "At first glance, this seems wrong. All through history, viruses have mutated, and sometimes they have taken nasty forms that scythe through the human population. This is an inescapable reality we just have to live with, like earthquakes and tsunamis. But the scientific evidence increasingly suggests that we have unwittingly invented an artificial way to accelerate the evolution of these deadly viruses - and pump them out across the world. They are called factory farms. They manufacture low-cost flesh, with a side-dish of viruses to go.
In most swine farms today, 6,000 pigs are crammed snout-to-snout in tiny cages where they can barely move, and are fed for life on an artificial pulp, while living on top of cess-pools of their own stale faeces.
Dr Ellen Silbergeld is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. She tells me that her detailed, on-the-ground studies led her to conclude that there is 'very much' a link from factory farms to the new, more powerful forms of flu we are experiencing. 'Instead of a virus only having one spin of the roulette wheel, it has thousands and thousands of spins, for no extra cost. It drives the evolution of new diseases.'"
Another factor that increases risk is that tv channels want images and therefore visit stricken areas and farms, hovering over them with helicopters and blowing viruses miles away. Today I saw images of a sick child that was not allowed to leave the house, but camera crews simply entered the house hunting for pictures. When the cameramen leave the house they can easily carry the virus with them to the outside world. It's sheer stupidity. And concerns of loss of money will prevent authorities from closing down international traffic.
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FAS: "Last January 30, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed a secret Israeli government database on settlements in the occupied West Bank, and posted the Hebrew text of the database on their website. Last month, the ODNI Open Source Center completed an English translation of the 200-page document. Secrecy News obtained a copy of the translation (pdf) which we are publishing today."
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