A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

How Factory Farms Make You Sick

What to make of half a billion eggs and 380,000 pounds of deli meat recalled? And what happens when bird flu meets swine flu? Why is this allowed to go on?

An article in Counterpunch quotes David Kirby, the author of the book Animal Factory:

“Ultimately when you cram thousands of animals into a single confined space without access to fresh air, outdoor sunlight, pasture, natural animal behaviors – you are asking for problems in the form of diseases that attack people.

“Mother nature will have the last word. Mad cow disease was a warning. Swine flu was a warning. MRSA was a warning. The egg recall was a warning. But we haven’t hit the big one yet.

“Things are changing. Consumers are waking up. I understand that there are lines around the block at farmers markets where eggs sell out by noon … But for a massive shift away from factory farming, it will probably take some new super-virus combining the killer bird flu and some killer swine flu.

“And that could happen. These chicken farms in Iowa are just down the road from the hog farms.”

Read the article here. And see Michael Mountain’s comment “Putting the Egg Together Again.”