What is it with the Chinese and their particular disregard for anything considering the health and welfare of animals? From the way they fetishize body parts of endangered species for their purported medicinal properties in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to stuff like this.
And then some will brag about their country's deep Buddhist heritage- when Buddhists don't eat animals as the religion's central tenet is compassion for all living beings.
What a messed up culture.
22
How about discontinuing the consumption of pork?
Oops....too easy and humane for most thoughtless humans.
Seems this condition in China is nature's way of dropping a hint.
.
9
Smithfield Foods in tidewater Virginia is owned by a Chinese firm.
I expect officials of the parent firm in China are traveling back and forth to the VA plant and bring the disease with them. Look for it to appear first in VA and then spread to the massive hog farming operations in nearby NC.
19
The picture of the Wangaofa Animal Husbandry Development Company says it all. It's disgusting.
4
I don’t know if people realize how serious this situation in China is.
We may choose to not like the Chinese, but I don’t not think that we should wish this catastrophe on friend or foe. It is that serious.
We have been trying to deal and contain African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) since the times of the U.K. Empire in Kenya. We need to go back to 1904 to find the genesis of ASF. ASFV is endemic in the African wild hogs. The virus is a commensal within the African wild pig population. Then, the British introduced domesticated European Pigs into Africa and ASFV was able to jump species with devastating effects.
As it turns out, the scientific reason we don’t have a cure or vaccine is because the virus has evolved a kind of immune evasion mechanism reminiscent of what HIV does in humans, but much less understood. It is a biological paradox that we have been unable to figure out: ASFV can live happily within the body of a wild hog. However, when the same virus is injected into domesticated pigs, it causes a deadly hemorrhagic disease with very high mortality rates. Western European scientist have been trying since 1904 to figure out how to deal with ASFV and have failed. Only quarantine and containment works.
The Chinese will certainly find themselves in a situation when their only option will be to depopulate any regions with outbreaks, and repopulate afterwards. This in turn will take thousands of tones of animal protein out of the Chinese human food chain.
26
Last year China ate 60 million tons of pork, half the world’s total consumption of pork. There might be about a 25% shortage of pork this year leading to consumption of poultry, seafood, beef, etc., driving up prices of substituted commodities (until the pig population comes back).
In the meantime, dogs should be very quiet and careful.
16
Is African swine fever related to the issue discussed on "60 Minutes" this week regarding antibiotic-resistant infections? ("...pigs that were fed colistin developed a genetic mutation called MCR-1. It makes bacteria resistant to colistin...In 2017, 69-year-old Jeff O'Regan became one of the first Americans to be found with MCR-1.")
5
@InAZ
Viruses are not bacteria, the concept of antibiotic resistance simply doesn't apply. No doubt we'll be hearing about anti-viral resistance soon enough.
Simple Google query could have cleared that up for you. The comment section is neither your Quora nor Google. (Great job once again, comment moderators . . . )
4
Chinese imported seafood and poultry is impregnated with antibiotics. Just look at the FDA’s Refusal Reports under China (online).
2
Stop complaining. Our government do the same with Lyme disease.
1
@Lyme
Which government are you referring to? Apparently not US or NYS at least.
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html
https://medlineplus.gov/lymedisease.html
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm049298.htm
https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/lyme/fact_sheet.htm
8
I wonder if climate change has any effect on spreading the pig swine problem to all the places including China. I hold my breadth that this problem won't come here. It really bothers me that Chinese government cannot find a cure to this problem since they are a big pork eating country. On the other hand, we can see from the response of a local government employee that he is incompetent and doesn't care about farmers and their pigs.
5
Airport Customs and Border people rarely even make you take off your shoes or walk through Clorox (or whatever) when you return from countries with animal disease outbreaks. I not toss my shoes except for one pair I did not wear on the streets. I go to places where exposure to animal waste occurs on streets or in fields. It is only a matter of time before an outbreak of some kind in the U.S. City-boy and non reader Trump would not get it and is cutting funding. Iowa should be concerned.
5
Wake up! How long before this virus, or any of the millions of other viruses being incubated in the billions of livestock animals on the planet, mutates and poses a global pandemic? THis threat is real! How long can the environment be flooded with life-stock excrement? Some stats: There are 400 million plus cows in this country and each one produces six times the excrement of a human or 45 pounds a day and yet NONE of this is treated; there are 22 million pigs in the USA and each one produces 11 pounds of manure a day and none of it is treated. It goes right into our waterways. The environmental repercussions are profound. Human meat eating is the number one source of pollution in the world.
And, my god, all those sentient beings living the cruelest lives.
For heaven sakes, no for our sake, for their sake, go vegetarian.
34
Give that disease enough pigs to evolve through and it will eventually jump to humans.
17
@Green Tea, exactly my fear - if the virus is able to adapt so often (see a comment here) it is a matter of time that we will have it jump to humans - as HIV did.
I will stop eating pork.
2
African swine fever research and diagnostic funding is not sufficient. The disease is currently also decimating pig populations in Uganda. Where is the news coverage? When it impacts the more privileged, resource available nations, there is notice. I was on the ground when it hit Georgia (the country) in 2007, and I have seen it in the field in Tanzania. The common thread.....the people, the farmers, owners.....were devastated. It’s a public heath issue when people cannot feed themselves, regardless if it is with pork or with the money they earn from selling pork. No amount of becoming vegetation or vegan solves this.
11
Most of the comments on this thread indicate the truth of the old German adage, Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude, i e, that the greatest joy is that at the misfortune of others, (here, particularly, if those others are Chinese). Note that this disease, as the eponym indicates is not endemic to China, but rather to sub-Saharan Africa ; it would seem to be that it first spread to China and other Asian countries after 2007....
Rather than enjoying the plight of Chinese pigs and farmers, people in other parts of the world which have not yet been affected by the virus (Denmark, for example is building a wall on the border with Germany to stop the migration of wild swine which carry the disease) might do better to instead hope that the authorities in China and elsewhere can bring this epidemic under control before it becomes a pandemic and, not least, that an effective vaccination can be found against ASFV....
Henri
11
National Geographic devoted a special issue to “Blue Zones - The Science of Living Longer”. These places are where people live remarkably longer and happier lives. Their diets have a small amount of animal protein and large amounts of vegetables and some fruit. Daily protein is sufficient from non-meat sources. Not only sufficient, but healthier. Animal meat causes major health problems, plants do not. Last point - way, way back in the day our ancestors had minimum daily meat. Animals ran faster, saw further, heard and smelled better than hunters. They ran far away and fast. Meat was scarce, plants not so much.
We were and some of us are just healthier because we chose not to eat as much animal protein. You can create your personal ‘blue zone”. Eat right - mostly plants and fresh organic locally grown food, minimum animal protein, moderate exercise and many social friends.
Long and opaque international food supply chains do not care about your health - they disregard it, some (as in China) taint, mislabel and adulterate your food for bigger profits. The FDA and other agencies provide only poor protection from bad actors, some state-owned and corrupt. (Funding will never be adequate).
21
While I have immense respect for the Chinese people and their thousands of years old culture, ever since I saw a CNN reportage, about fifteen years ago, on the live animal markets in China, where the majority of animals had recently died, I will not eat any food product from China. Then came along the other scandals such as lead in toys and ceramics. So, I buy nothing concerning food, toys, home products coming from China.
I live in Italy and I will only buy food grown and produced in Italy, because I know that Italy takes its food sources very seriously. The only exceptions would be coffee, tea, chocolate, bananas, pineapples, other tropical fruits, as those are not grown in Italy. I can do without all, except coffee!!!!
20
Affluent westerners making universal declarations about the consumption of meat and the "mistreatment of animals" to people in another culture smacks of a moral superiority complex. This is situation is tragic for all involved and it is best to stay with this truth. There is plenty in our own culture its impact on global health and well-being to contemplate and address without going after the Chinese.
17
I was in China last year and my biggest challenge each day was to find food that was safe to eat. A peak inside the kitchen at a Chinese restaurant was enough to turn your stomach. Street food was prepared without any concern for hygiene. Meat usually came in balls and was covered in sauce. I am not a picky eater, and have traveled extensively, but found the food there frightening. On one excursion a lunch box was given to the guests, with 8 items. A lively conversation ensued about what we'd dared to eat from the box. I ate the rice and corn, no mystery meat for me. The saying is that the Chinese will eat everything with legs except tables, everything with wings except planes. Chinese will laugh and say yes that is true. I check labels and avoid Chinese products or processed foods that could contain them. While China has become factory to the world, their quality issues are systemic. This is just another example.
27
@thewriterstuff Ditto here. I took a stash of protein/nut bars with me. I was staying in a very high-end hotel and yet the shower water smelled liked sulphur and I was advised to use bottled water even for brushing teeth (with the caveat to always check water bottles for an intact seal; vendors were known to resell bottles with tap water). The people were lovely; China's environmental crisis on every level is extreme and catastrophic. When I returned to the U.S., I drove home from the airport along CA coastline and the contrast was surreal.
15
@thewriterstuff. Yes, the major number 1 concern of the Chinese public is food safety. It has been that for many years. I watch Chinese mainland shoppers in Taipei, Taiwan (democratic China) buying bulk food products to take back to their families in the PRC. Cases of the stuff for increasing middle class family members.
2
@InAZ worked in China for decades. The water quality from the tap isn’t fit for a dog in the US. Their rivers are their sewers.
I was there for air apocalypses where the 0,2 micron particle size was 300 times the WHO limit.
I was there 5 or 6 years ago for Pig Gate, when thousands upon thousands of pig carcasses floated down the Hung Po river in Shanghai. Actually made the front page of the Shanghai Daily every day for weeks.
That’s why I laugh when I hear about how China is becoming environmentally friendly. The Chinese government lets you see ONLY what they want you to see
18
It's heartbreaking to read about the fate of the animals. It's probably a better way to go for animals in a country with the worst record for animal treatment. Have you forgotten the Huangpu River with floating carcasses of pigs?! Business involving the exploitation and murder of animals should not exist, the pain they create is unspeakable and to the most, it seems, regreattably so, incomprehensible. The distruction of our planet (today is Earth day) goes also through these kind of businesses. Bon appetite!
15
It's hear tbreaking to read about the fate of the animals. It's probably a better way to go for animals in a country with the worst record for animal treatment. Have you forgotten the Huangpu River with floating carcasses of pigs?! Business involving the exploitation and murder of animals should not exist, the pain they create is unspeakable and to the most, it seems, regreattably so, incomprehensible. The distruction of our planet (today is Earth day) goes also through these kind of businesses. Bon appetite!
1
Unlike most of the commenters here, I extend my sympathies to the Chinese people who are suffering economic hardships as a result of this bureaucratic mismanagement and I do not vilify anyone for the problems befalling the farmers' pigs.
All countries that eat animal meat of any kind are "cruel to animals", including western countries. The sanctimony directed at China for their treatment of animals is very hypocritical considering the U.S. has corporations like Chick-Fil-A and Red Lobster whose advertising campaigns routinely glorify or make fun of the death of animals.
10
Readers here are all lecturing us about eating meat and that we should become vegan. The article is about the African swine fever, harmless to humans, not the Hong Kong H5N1 flu of 2002/2003. The majority (i.e., at least 700 million) of mainland Chinese enjoy pork as part of their diet, and they're not going to change any time soon. Neither will I. you're barking up the wrong tree.
11
A few years ago I was visiting a girlfriend of mine Bangkok; she was from Vietnam. She was adamant about checking the label on my toothpaste. "I don't want anything from China in my mouth," she said. Of course, the article is not about bad food per se, but it does constitute yet another illustration of the spectacularly sloppy Chinese production of anything we put in our mouths. This only anecdotal, but I've been to China about six times, most recently in 2014, and I always got sick from the restaurant food. Enjoy Cinese food? I do too--as long as it's not in China or among Malaysia's "hawker" stands.
7
@globalnomad
China’s suppliers tainted toothpaste and baby formula with melamine years ago and it made people very sick in the developing world. The stuff we know about - toxic heavy metals, carcinogens, pathogens, bacteria, salmonella, listeria are frequently found in food, cosmetics, vitamins and not just sea food and pork. Chopsticks mislabeled as from Japan are really from China and contain formaldehyde. Drywall, wood parquet flooring, heparin, pet food and snacks, toys, car tires - do you think China cares about our health and safety? The evidence is overwhelming that it does not.
13
A picture says more than one Million Words, here. Thank you, Zhong & Tang, for an excellent, and frighteningly telling Article. Your cover picture tells much.
I wouldn't put a Pig, or any living creature, in that cruel space for anything. And, with that over-crowding, and rampant disease, these Farmers are ... "wondering" why their Livestock is so sick ? What blind or cruel mentality would allow such a thing? That's not "feeding the hungry". That's gross profit over safety and public Health.
These types of Corporations want profit, and nothing more. Over-population. Greed. You name it ... The End justifies the Means. The World is My Dumpster. I shall not want ...
Pig, and Humans, deserve to be raised better than that. I sure don't need that kind of "food" on my table.
13
Hate to think what might happen to humans if an influenza virus were to co-infect one of these sick pigs. Influenza viruses that can infect both humans and swine are constantly reassorting themselves into potentially more virulent strains. Nothing good could come from a marriage of swine fever and swine influenza viruses.
4
If you substitute an actual contagious virus for African swine disease, you will have the makings of a pandemic. China waits too long and covers things up.
11
Great reporting. It is heart breaking to feel the loss and suffering of the farmers. They seem to be honest people who are brave to face the limelight and to speak the truth. I hope they won't suffer from that. We need drastic changes in farming and other agriculture practices. Take a walk in a natural forest, there are layers in each eco system together with complex micros which sustain abundance of animal lives. It might take us a long time to get to that level of sophistication in producing food. Before that, every country should at least development an efficient and transparent system of outbreak control and monitoring. There are strict censorship in Chinese media, even reporting a plane crash requires multiple layers of government approval. It is not just about money. No one want to be responsible in spreading news (telling the truth) without central government approval.
4
We need to acknowledge once and for all that our current way of factory farming of livestock is what is causing these devastating losses. The animals are getting sick because they're not in a healthy environment, to begin with. They're kept indoors, not allowed to forage and roam. That causes stress and lowers their immune system.
20
@Libby While I agree with you that factory farming is bad for the animals, most of the operations described in this article are small family farms.
5
@Libby
Absolutely!! Treating animals as if they're not living beings is horrible! Would you want to live in that photo? Horrible.
6
Don’t eat pigs and other animals, and don’t use their products. Then not only will such issues disappear but you won’t be supporting the torture and abuse of sentient beings. Humans do not need to eat and exploit other animals to survive. There is a glorious vegan world out there, it’s kinder, healthier, and more sustainable.
22
@Voice For Animals
Exactly! Don't eat them. Be kind to animals.
5
Reminds me of a joke by The Conchords.
The year is 2100. The bad news: there are no more elephants. The good news: there is no more unethical treatment of elephants.
3
How odd this is blowing up in the Year of the Pig no less ! Chinese and all people must wake up to the need for curbing meat consumption and ensuring humane treatment of animals. Ignorance will lead to a cross over of this virus into humans, what with Crispr-edited genes floating about now.
6
It is impossible to try and visualize the impact of this outbreak.
This is a hemorrhagic fever virus, has no vaccine and the only way is to eliminate all diseased swine. BUT, if the situation on the ground is as reported in this article and only a portion of the infected pigs are reported and disposed of, the epidemic will only run it course by infecting all the swine in the infected area thus eliminating them.
But there is a real problem here. Even China hog farms do not live in isolation. The disease is carried in all pork products that came from infected animals. This means that all of China as well as all of its trading partners are included in the 'ring' of infection.
What it implicates is that the Chinese diet is in for a huge change. Pork has been the mainstay meat for a long time. That is going to change. In many ways, this disease outbreak has the same implications as the Ireland Potato famine.
10
@Allen Hurlburt It is hard to understand your point about diet changing. It is not the case, obviously, that after the Ireland potato famine we stopped eating potatoes.
1
Humane treatment of animals and less polluted waters, will result in healthier food. I was at the store and observed the mass quantities of 'bad' food people consume. Pasture raised meat is more expensive but it tastes better and if people ate smaller healthier portions, their bottom line won't be much more
5
“Chinese authorities are scrambling to defuse public outrage over a safety scandal involving rabies vaccines, just one of a string of food and drug scares to hit the country in recent years.
Despite the country's stunning growth over the past four decades, many consumers in the world's second-largest economy still live in fear of consuming toxic food or dangerous or ineffective medicines.
July 2018: The Chinese manufacturer of the blood pressure medication Valsartan, which is widely used in the United States and Europe, launches a global recall after the active ingredient is found to have been tainted by a cancer-causing substance.”
Be careful and diligent about that you choose to consume. It is up to you - the Chinese people have long ago distrusted their food and drugs produced in China. We need to learn that lesson too.
9
When I go shopping I buy free range pork and free range eggs. It's more expensive but I can afford it, so I do. I notice that where I shop there are more and more shelves given to free range eggs and fewer to factory farmed hen eggs.
I notice also that there are some people who would rather save 50 cents on a carton of eggs than anything else. Then they'll go and spend $8 on a beer.
With the free trade agreements New Zealand has with various countries I think it is difficult for our govt to legislate to ban factory farming. I try not to buy US pork because I have seen the factory farming operations in North Carolina on video and the sewage lakes and overflows there when it floods.
The small towns in the countryside are emptying out throughout the world and some of the cause is industrial farming by large corporate landowners.
It should be possible to bring the world back to a more sustainable equilibrium if there were more small scale free range/compassionate farming operations and fewer large industrial enterprises.
The only way this will happen is if govts are allowed to legislate in favour of their small scale farmers and in favour of farming practices that are environmentally sustainable.
Right now the international system is not set up to allow this to happen.
13
@David Your shopping habits are not sustainable. There's not enough land on Earth to provide everyone free-range produce. The lowered land-use efficiency of your free-range habit results in less food. But I guess that's not a problem for those with money. The ethics of free-range are not as simple as we might assume. https://www.thoughtco.com/environment-free-range-organic-local-meat-127667
9
“When we eat factory-farmed meat we live, literally, on tortured flesh. Increasingly, that tortured flesh is becoming our own.” — Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
32
In light of this terrible outbreak one can only wonder if/when the virus will mutate and affect human population.....
After reading other NYT articles about fungus, antibiotic resistive bacteria which mutated-this does not seam so far fetched anymore....
And while xenotransplantation - placing animal organs into human bodies- can save lives, the CRISPR of pig gene editing for organ transplant will make the jump possibly easier. One can only speculate if in China where we had a deliberate editing of a human embryo (and where it is not illegal) this is already taking place...
In short-a complicated issue and possibly very explosive....please keep us informed!
6
Infected or not, pigs like other farm animals undergo tremendous cruelty just so we can have bacon or a hot dog. They are electrocuted and have their throats cut for our dinner tables. Go vegan!
20
Reminds me of a joke by the Conchords. The year is 2100. The bad news: no more elephants. The good news: no more unethical treatment of elephants.
I grew up on sheep and cattle farm but became a medical doctor. People die worse than farm animals die, and suffer more. Unlike animals, they don’t spend their life knowing they’re going to die. But only a small minority of people think that we should stop having kids.
4
The headline picture is haunting.
Further down row after row of buildings at the Sun Dawu "farm" that houses thousands of pigs.
Always inside, in cramped, filthy, disgusting pens.
Pigs deserve better, even if the end game is to eat them.
16
If you think life is tough for a pig in a hog farm in China, imagine being a Uyghur in a “re-education” camp in China (I wonder what’s on the menu).
9
Whomever develops a vaccine for this virus is going to be rich.
1
Watching helpless things suffer and die is probably only something humans recognize. Next time don’t ask to know. It’s not worth it.
2
I am in SE Asia and aware of the clout of giant China on all Asia, if China gets a sniffle, others here in Asia catch life threatening pneumonia. This outbreak is horror for many Asian nations but for Islamic countries, it might be a source of joy since Islam forbids all contact with pork. Furthering that chain, with the treatment of Muslims being so harsh in China of late, there is not much sympathy being shed.
But the truly greater problem is; all of the non-Islamic Asia is at risk. a 20% shortfall in reported shortages really means 30% or more is a real figure and that is huge. 2 things are obviously going to happen; #1. Farmers are going to succumb to quick disposal, illegal sales
#2. Cross border sales will spread the disease before it is checked.
It will take 12-18 months to gain control and heaven only knows how much damage to the food supply chain will be done by then. Will there be more prohibited fishing off the coast of Africa and the open seas? Only time will tell but people must be fed.
5
What is sorely missing is the virology.
This is a hemorrhagic fever virus very different from Ebola. It is unclear what restricts it to domestic pigs, but it is only a matter of time until a similar pandemic will occur in humans.
11
Food contamination either from China or U.S. or from our neighboring countries is a very serious problem. But, to focus alone on China's past history and current one on failure to control animal/bird epidemics is not seeing the full picture and cause.
We are now a connected world, we can never be sure where the seafood had come from, farmed or nature. However, we can reduce our chances of exposure by eating fresh everything, washed twice green vegetables, fresh meat and fresh seafood. Besides, eating too much preserved meat as hot dogs, ham, Salemi,etc may cause cancer.
For each new generic drug we import, FDA goes through the review process of manufacturing process and the ingredient. Food supplements carry no guarantee as companies lobbied U.S. government, (Sen. Warren Hatch, Republican) to deregulate the industry. His son had financial interest in it at the time. If you take food supplement, you'll have to pray a lot, or have good luck.
1
Another confirmation of the wisdom in avoiding the purchase of Chinese products if at all possible. Their government has a very long history of lapsed social responsibility and ethics. It's the path Trump would have us on if we didn't have an electoral option.
9
How about those changes in pork inspection in the US by the Trump administration cutting the federal food inspectors by 40%. The timing could be a perfect storm if it were to reach the US. The changes will save money for the government and the pork industry.
16
Pork prices up. Complaints about China's poor regulation. And invisibility and denial of such conditions in the US. Will our media pay as much attention to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that is not being contained? Perhaps the USA will pay attention if the outbreak slows mining of precious minerals needed for smart phones and other electronics. Perhaps the outbreak is related to the fact that DRC is so messed up because the US overthrew its first democratically elected leadership and replaced him with a dictator back in 1960 who got rich working for the CIA and transnational corporations while the people sank into ever greater poverty. Cheap minerals, toxic working conditions, poverty for the many and riches for the few. Time for the media to demonize China.
6
If we stopped eating animals we wouldn't have to worry about pumping them with tons of antobiotics, or catching incurable diseases unleashed by said antibiotics. It's not that complicated!
24
@Casey Penk Domyour homework. This a viral disease and antibiotics have no role in the or control of ASF.
13
@Casey Penk
Viruses rarely travel from pig to man. And for bacteria, it just takes dumb voters, like you Casey, fighting to make sure that our US campaign finance laws don't let rich agribusinesses donate UNLIMITED amounts to Congressional campaigns. Leading to weak laws against continuous antibiotics on megafarms. We can be healthy and eat meat, and do a thousand other reasonable things, as long as we don't have a corrupt congress. If you really think meat is a problem, then don't eat it. But don't push your minority philosophy on the majority. Rather, inspire your neighbors to join campaign finance reform groups, and zillions of harmful corporate manipulations can be undone.
6
@Casey Penk
Eating animal tissue promotes cancer in dose-specific fashion; the more you eat the more cancer you get, particularly cancer of the colon. It also promotes clogged arteries and diabesity. Animal production is at least the equal of transportation in CO2 and methane emissions. Living downwind of the manure lake of a cafe is no picnic, either. These are facts impervious to political beliefs.
5
And how long until it makes the inevitable jump to humans?
6
@Lee not soon enough...the way web treat them, I can never understand how we manage not to 'pay the price'...these poor creatures
5
Absolutely disgusting! As are the reports of Chinese agri-business bringing their unsafe food production methods to North America. Perhaps Mr. Trump should focus on these Chinese trade practices as well.
7
@Dan McC
Amen
3
@Dan McC
Actually the Chinese bought a major pork producer in Virginia, Smithfield, several years ago. So far there hasn't been any news of pig deaths in this country, but as he Trump administration removes regulations from business, including factory farms, we can probable expect diseased food soon to come to your local grocery!
4
@Dan McC
America does not import pigs from China. We have plenty from the Carolinas and other states in the south. They become the ham we eat and love so much.
1
As bad as our Dept. of Agriculture and the the USDA are, they pale in comparsion to the Communist Chinese authorities, especially of late with the dictator Chairman of the party trying to white wash and sterilize the actions of the Communist Party and that of the Chinese culture-mindset. Read the quotes from officials in this article. Clearly a denial/arrogant/bury-the-head-in the sand mentality. And those same officials want us to believe that they are a first-world modern country. Now that the best joke i've heard this year. I bet vegetarians are jumping for joy. Good for them.
11
@lou andrews
This article more so explains the pig epidemic as one of ignorance and fear from the pig farmers, and the reluctance of local officials to acknowledge the truth for either 1) financial reason for having to pay compensation to the farmers. 2) fear of retribution from higher up, that someone should take the blame, which usually falls on the lower rank officials.
Chinese society is not like America in anyway. American government agencies are accountable to people, not the other way around as in China. They have the top-down system where rank and file are concerned about punishment from up high. It is better to keep quiet and hope things will quiet down on its own, a typical survival strategy in totalitarian state.
3
I'm alarmed by the lack of understanding of science among the commentators.
The article decries the irrational behavior of the Chinese in facing this horrible epidemic — yet I suspect we might not fare much better if our time comes.
First off, if we all become vegetarians this will not stop the virus.
A virus doesn't care about your eating regime — it kills pigs anyway.
Other types of flu kill pigs, humans, birds, so, again — the virus do not care that you are a Vegan, The virus is not spread by eating meat. Hello? Have you got that. By all means stop eating meat if you wish. Great. Virus don't care. You will not be saving any pigs from the epidemic that way, because the two things are not related.
It spreads from animal to animal and might through mutation jump from species to species. The more pigs get it, the more it spreads. The more it spreads the more likely it is to mutate, though it might not be very likely with this particular virus.
Epidemics can only be stopped by adhering to the best practices of medical science. No pig should have to die such a horrible death as this. Yet hundreds of millions of pigs are dying here. The scale of it is unfathomable. Yet it can be stopped with medical science and best practices.
Reading all this erroneous subject matter tacked on here in the comments disturbingly reminds me of all the other epidemics which bring out the moralists eager to punish others that I've witnessed in my life. Let's stick to medical science.
32
@ArthurI can't help but think that the cramped conditions and mass farming methods may contribute to the disease..certain
ly the spread of it to such huge numbers...and if it does not affect humans, why not eat the meat?
8
@Jane Doole
That could help it jump to humans.
@Arthur
There were no errors in what I said. Perhaps you are being persecuted and punished by others. Eat all the meat you want. Great. Just don’t average in thin vegans (vegan is not a proper noun so is not capitalized as you’ve used it) with plus-sized carnivores’ health insurance rates. Also, were all people vegan there would be no hog production. With no hogs in industrial meat production there would be very little of this virus, if any. The hogs would never exist hence would never have to die horrible deaths and we wouldn’t have to grow mountains of diesel corn to stuff into those hogs and have the ensuing gagging manure lakes where a lot of the corn ends up just to butcher the hogs to feed to people to increase their cancer, heart disease and diabesity rates.
8
Monoculture’s are dangerous, pigs,bananas,chickens,chocolate, the results are the same one mutation kills them all.
8
“Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer. “
Formerly a U.S. company, it is owned by a Chinese company, WH Group.
I have some concerns about the transparency, integrity and safety of international food supply chains - not only in pork and seafood from China, but dietary supplements and medicine from China. Regulation must be more robust as China is now a strategic competitor transforming into a Cold War adversary. There is much animosity in China towards America that could manifest itself in widespread public safety risks.
17
@Charlie
Common, your imagination of China's influence to America in food and mediciane is not the reality. The pork produced in China is eaten locally and exported to neighboring counties, so is their generic drugs to 3rd world countries. America has the Food and Drug Administration keep a constant eye on imported food and drugs. I would suggest that the best way to avoid imported food is not to eat frozen food. Eat fresh meat (eating too much preserved meat as Salame, ham, hot dogs causes cancer), eat fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fruit, fresh, fresh, fresh! You'll be healthier in the long run.
3
@Agnes
I respectfully disagree that China does not import food, medicine, vitamins, spices, etc. that are contaminated, adulterated and dangerous. Less than 1% are inspected by the FDA. Yet read the FDA’s rejection reports online. The reports and statistic are scary. It is a health problem.
3
@Agnes
Smithfield ham is still sold in the US after being raised in the US, right in Virginia. Could be in your local supermarket right now. And did you know that most of the farm raised catfish comes from China?
1
Since the Chinese love pork Chinese businesses have been buying up USA big factory pig "farms" including Smithfield Hams why would we assume that they will follow US animal husbandry laws & meat processing regulations? We know how China has totally polluted their own country and now we allow them to come here? I expect their methods will get the same outcomes. This is dangerous and we know that China has low standards for exports and we also know that they lie about them....think about the baby formula scandal for a start. These meat factory farms are literal cesspools that pollute the water tables & air and affect the health of the neighboring communities. Take this very seriously because it is very serious.
16
@Sandra Garratt -- these factory farms whether here or in China disregard the basic respect one should give to animals. Yes, including the animals that we eat. We are the monsters.
15
@Sandra Garratt
Buying up Smithfield Ham business is about exporting more pork to China. As long as the factory is in U.S., it is under the regulations of the US FDA and US Agricultural Dept. It will get inspected from time to time. The pig epidemic in China will not affect American pork consumers. I would not be surprised that our pharmaceutical companies will come up with a pig vaccine soon enough. Meanwhile, we should eat fresh meat for health anyway.
1
@Sandra Garratt
Driven across Colorado or Nebraska lately? The stench of the manure is almost enough to make one vomit and people live there. Here in Wisconsin we have factory dairy farms milking 700 head three times a day. When we are downwind it stinks something awful. CAFOs are not just in China.
6
I hope a vaccine for this virus can be developed one day
6
Nature will put up with her own troublesome infection, mainly caused by the human species, for only so long before she takes matters into her own hands and rebalaces the planet. I’m surprised we’ve been tolerated for as long as we have. A plague or two, just a bit more global warming, and finally us lending a further hand by constantly trying to destroy one another should make her job as easy as a good long over due scratch.
14
The Chinese own the largest pork packaging firm in the USA and the world. Smithfield.
If the same kind of handling common in China gets going in the USA, this disease will run wild. Or, if it continues to spread unchecked across Asia and Africa, USA raised park will be heading offshore.
These animals raised in packed cages have no immunity. How long before this disease mutates and jumps to humans, as Ebola did from monkeys?
5
@John Harrington -- shameful to treat intelligent farm animals, such as pigs, in these deplorable conditions. Remember folks, you ARE what you EAT.
11
A major change to our way of eating is foreshadowed by the Impossible
Burger, which Burger King is trialing in St. Louis I was surprised to see how very favorably it's been reviewed.
The availability of vegetable-based meat substitutes which actually taste like meat will do more to make vegetarians than any amount of talk about animal welfare.
I stopped eating pork when I came to understand what close confinement facilities were like. I don't expect that to persuade enough people to make a difference, but if vegetable-based bacon and other pork products can be developed that taste like the animal version -- and I think it's only a matter of time -- we will be on the way to ending the consumption of pork and other meats by humans. (It may take longer for cat food.) It will just be a matter of getting the price down.
Meanwhile, I won't consciously buy food products from China. And I think we need to be very watchful about what our own government is doing where food inspection is concerned.
31
@writeon1 -- people don't care to know that pigs are highly intelligent animals. To confine them in these close quarters is beyond cruel.
How dare we treat animals that we are entrusted to live a live of horror. I can only hope that those who eat these torture animals endure some equal horror in their lives. It's only then that they may begin to realize how cruel they have been.
12
@writeon1
Reading your comment made me think of that famous novel by Orwell, Animal Farm. Pigs are highly intelligent and make excellent pets and we, as humans, have an obligation to treat them with care. The way we treat these creatures is deplorable.
7
@DonJuan - OMGoodness, that’s pretty harsh. Wishing the worst of pig farms on humans? Geez-o-Pete.
2
“There’s no way to control something that you don’t acknowledge exists....”. Typical behavior, but not just the Chinese. Think of all the problems and outrages being ignored, denied and unacknowledged here in the USA. We’d rather swoon over stupid conspiracy theories and the latest addiction in popular culture while thinking it’s all making us great, again.
Not.
5
I will not buy or eat any food product that came from China.
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@judy dyer -- nor should we send our resources, and that includes life animals, to China. We are not a third-world country fouling our country to make a buck in China, or are we?
For those who love pork, do remember, a lot of these animals endure a hellish existence, something you would not wish on your worst enemy. And you enjoy eating such a tortured animal? Do remember: you are what you eat!
11
@Don Juan
The US sends Alaskan salmon, cod and halibut to China where it is processed and exported back to your grocery store.
8
@judy dyer you would need to avoid processed foods: country of origin not on ingredients.
apple juice etc
3
TUCSON, Ariz., June 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new food science book is warning that many foods, superfoods and dietary supplements imported from China are contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury.
The warning comes from the lab science director of an internationally accredited science lab (CWC Labs) and author of a new book “Food Forensics” which details the heavy metals analysis of over 800 foods, spices, superfoods, pet treats and dietary supplements. Mike Adams, who conducted the groundbreaking research for the book, says that many dietary supplements imported from China are heavily contaminated with lead and other toxic elements.
Buyer beware.
16
Stop with acting pork. Factory farming is gruesome and unhealthy.
14
Not a single comment yet about provenance in the food chain, so honorary mention goes to OwlTing. A pig parmer who built a immutable ledger which, I think will now be taken very seriously. He did this after the milk tainting scandal- and it works very well. Intractable issues still abound about the data entry and cultural confines of specific countries, but it's a problem that has been solved and will be soon second nature. Do solutions like Agridigital , Provenance, OwlTing , IBM Blockchain and others stand a chance until the end user demands it? Maybe. Walmart operates in China and has the means to make this work, they use it currently and it could be a model for other supply chains- the cold chain in Asia should adopt this pretty soon and build an immutable ledger system to give the end user a safe product, somehow.
1
While everyone of late is focusing on African swine fever, infections of avian flu in China that could trigger the next global pandemic seem to be flying under most peoples' radars.
Just days ago, China confirmed the world’s first human case of a virulent bird flu strain, H7N4, in Jiangsu province.
And also earlier this month, China’s Inner Mongolia region reported a case of human infection with the H7N9 bird flu virus, the same strain that killed almost 300 people in the country about two years ago.
Beyond that, poultry farms and zoos in China this month also reported outbreaks of various strains of avian flu.
Raising animals for food in cramped and squalid conditions, be it pigs or poultry, is basically inviting viral mutations that have the potential to jump to humans.
Many prominent experts in the field say they go to sleep at night terrified as it's not a question of if, but when, as the conditions are all ripe for the perfect storm to trigger a modern version of the 1918 flu pandemic.
We had a warning of the potential with SARS back in 2003, also out of China, which was extremely deadly but not highly contagious compared to a flu virus.
The only real solution is a wholescale overhaul of food production away from the factory farming of animals, although with hungry people to feed, it's a step Chinese authorities, or even U.S. authorities for that matter, won't consider. Too politically costly.
So like climate change, it remains an "inconvenient truth."
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@JHM
I completely see what you are talking about. I am afraid that a few million will need to die before others get the message. Sadly it may be more than a few million.
14
@JHM hungry people? rather, affluent people demanding meat
3
@JHM The only real solution is to reduce the human population to more sustainable levels. We will never solve our environmental problems such as factory farming and all the problems that accompany it until we solve our overpopulation problem. Now there's an inconvenient truth.
5
"Chinese officials have blamed poor hygiene at small farms for the disease’s spread."
In the big picture, it doesn't matter what Chinese officials blame a disease outbreak on as long as they convince themselves they are blameless. Who knows, maybe climate change is a factor in making the emergence of pathogen outbreaks more frequent or more deadly.
Whether in China, Russia or now sadly, the U.S., the disregard for science and intellect will cost life on Earth even more dearly. We are having to confront growing environmental crises with Trump at the helm.
11
This is what a concentrated animal feeding operation looks like. If China can't feed itself via smaller, healthier farms, they are in deep, deep trouble.
20
I get the feeling our manipulation of earth and earthlings may be coming to its conclusion.
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@Marilyn
Yes, but what do we do about it Marilyn?
3
@Charlie Well, that's the thing, isn't it. My thoughts are to have zero to one child, preferably zero for awhile. Reduce our impact, seeing how we seek creature comforts at the expense of other creatures. Less of us is key, but it doesn't fit the economic model of growth and consumption, hence it gets very little attention. There does seem to be a growing sentiment in that direction, however, but is there enough time?
15
@Marilyn
The ascension of modern humans is the death of life as we know it on earth. We have the intelligence to devise all manner of technology, both beneficial and frighteningly dangerous...but not the foresight to use them wisely
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have been steadily destroying the very resources and life that we need to survive. While population control would have helped at one point, I think we have passed the point of no return. If you look at the inaction on climate change, you need no further proof that humans are woefully unprepared to face a disaster of our own making.
8
“U.S. consumers are eating Asian seafood raised on pig feces.
A news report published in Bloomberg Markets about food poisoning suggests that U.S consumers are eating seafood from Asia raised on pig feces and antibiotics. In the starling report, seafood in baskets at the factory processing shrimp has flies crawling all over it.
Seafood Is Packed With Ice from Water Containing Bacteria
According to AbcNews.com Asia is known for unsanitary conditions with pig feces fed to fish. Seafood, including shrimp, is packed in ice, while this is a sanitary condition, what people do not realize is where the ice comes from. Generally, it is has been made from water packed with bacteria that human beings should not touch. This bacterium gets transferred to the fish or seafood as the ice melts.”
I have known of this problem many years ago as a research analyst for a top international law firm that had three offices in China. The task was to predict cross-border product liability issues. The U.S. inspects a minute sample of food products from China, bad products sneak in, and China is ingenious at thwarting regulations. Example, it falsely labels its products as coming from Japan because Japan has high safety and quality standards. Secondly, U.S. inspectors in China are prevented by its officials at the local and provincial levels from diligently assuring the integrity of supply chains.
It is just a matter of time before there are serious health consequences here.
38
@Charlie
Go to any US supermarket. Look what they have for sale as frozen Tilapia. Tilapia could be grown anywhere on the planet. Yet all of it in any US supermarket, in my experience, comes from China. Any that is raised in China is fed nothing but sewage. Why does any US supermarket sell it?
24
@sguknw
Agree with you.
4
@sguknw
Agree with you. Do not eat tilapia.
5
Not to just invalidate every farmer/worker affected by this tragic economic event, but everyone should stop eating meat all the time every time. It’s barbaric, unsustainable, and a breeding ground for antibiotic resistance!
46
@Drew
Ironically, your suggestion is the conclusion of the most seminal and singular study of nutrition in history, called “The China Study”, a collaborative effort by Cornell, Oxford and China’s state health organization following Chou en lai’s Cancer diagnosis. It is irrefutable that animal protein is the villain. Conclusion - consume a plant-based whole food diet with minute amounts of non-animal protein. Not only does it prevent cancer, it reverses it in its early stages.
21
@Drew
The same can be said of fruit and vegetables contamination, so you gonna stop eating them too?
3
@Wolfgang
Have a garden. It is so satisfying working in it, and so satisfying eating from it!!!!
5
The more pervasive and viral the better!
What better way for the reprehensible practice of raising animals for slaughter than natural selection, in the form of a virus, to put an end to such madness!
Poetic justice personified!
25
I don't know how people could eat pigs. They're so friendly, and smart, and they're abused and tortured to satiate bacon cravings. It's very wrong, and the smell of bacon and memes are not enough to stop this inhumane torture.
As Americans we wouldn't do this to dogs, and yet pigs are just as intelligent.
79
@Dave There's no comparison between dogs (who have evolved alongside humans to be their companions) and pigs (who have been domesticated to be very tasty). Mmm, I think I'll have a spinach salad with bacon bits for dinner...
6
@Steve - There are many people in Asia who would tell you that dogs are quite tasty. They are a delicacy in Vietnam, and the Chinese people also have no qualms about eating dog.
"Meat dogs" are seen as different from domesticated pets, in those cultures, but they are still the same animal.
Full disclosure: I am vegetarian :)
26
@Steve. Pigs are actually more intelligent than dogs and many people keep them as pets, they are smart and very funny. They are sentient beings....and you want to eat their flesh? Geeze.
23
Cars must be registered and taxed in various ways to cover the costs of driving one. Firearms should be taxed to cover the costs of having so many guns in our society. People who want to own guns should know the full-cost of weapons to their community and pay it themselves. Extra police coverage, insurance, trauma center operations, prison costs for mass murderers, lost wages for gunshot victims, account for it all and make them pay the full-cost to play their potentially deadly hobby, annually. I’m tired of subsidizing Armalite owners, especially the school shooters.
4
@TH Williams
What does this have to do with pigs in China?
8
I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg of a poorly regulated factory food system in China (U.S. factory farms have their own issues). The culture of secrecy and fear long cultivated in a punative totalitarian country certainly isn't helping. Let's not forget that China uses copious amounts of the "last resort" carbepenem antibiotic in its factory food system and the first cases of carbepenem resistant bugs have already hit the U.S. The fact that this disaster happened in a system rife with antibiotic overuse and abuse doesn't bode well for anybody. But hey, whatever the market will bear for those extra pennies and yuan of profit...
43
@BK. Look out, North Carolina !
4
Bad enough for the animals and the farmers. I'm sure our CDC and Virus specialists are wondering: will it mutate and jump to humans, and if so, keep the high mortality rate?
Bears close watching.
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@William Neil
Doesn't look likely. The virus was first described in the 1920s and is endemic in subsaharan Africa.
2
This article glosses over how pigs are killed, especially pigs that are not sick. I believe that China does bury pigs alive in cases like this - such horrible treatment of animals should be mentioned.
55
@Greg Richards All countries that eat animal meat of any kind perpetrate "horrible treatment of animals", including western countries. The sanctimony directed at China for their treatment of animals is very hypocritical considering the U.S. has corporations like Chick-Fil-A and Red Lobster whose advertising campaigns routinely glorify or make fun of the death of animals.
3
With probably billions of pigs in captivity in close contact with humans it's just a matter of time before this virus mutates and jumps to people. It may be harmless in humans (or not).
30
more reason than ever to stop eating meat.
Animals have terrible lives, suffer in misery.
And you do not need it to be healthy.
83
The suffering of these intelligent creatures from disease pales in comparison to their suffering in factory farms, especially Chinese ones. They had a merciful death.
33
China could temporarily suspend its acrimony towards Taiwan and responsibly cooperate together to prevent this disease from spreading to the Taiwan’s six million pigs.
Already infected pork products are detected at the airports in Taiwan from China and the corpses of infected pigs are washing up on Taiwan’s beaches from China.
China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Japan could try to work together, putting aside other issues for the time being. Taiwan has much to offer to prevent further contamination. Work together.
8
How long before this virus reaches the US. Ah the magical wall will save us from human hubris.
9
China is the world’s source of new human influenza viruses. This is because ducks and chickens are raised in close proximity to pigs. Pigs are readily infected by avian viruses. Pigs then transmit the viruses they cultivate to humans.
If all the pigs in China died the planet would be safe from new influenza viruses for, who knows, six months maybe.
14
This is a cultural issue for China and for their entire trading world. As we become more interdependent economically and socially, effective governance requires elevating public trust. For those in power, it is unwise to underestimate and fall short in this way. Of course, it requires companies in partnerships with governments in the east and west to establish strict and transparent multilateral quality controls in manufacturing processes. When people see good reasons to lose confidence, politicians and business leaders can have a hard climb on a slippery slope to regain that trust.
7
”On March 15, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that it intercepted a large shipment of illegal pork products from China before it could enter the United States. The contraband shipment, which will be safely and securely destroyed in accordance with U.S. government policy, reportedly contained products derived from pork, such as flavorings in ramen noodles, and did not include fresh meat.
It is illegal to import pork products from countries, like China, that are positive for African swine fever, a disease that only affects pigs and that poses no human health or food safety risks, to the United States.”
Still, Chinese businesses are attempting to sell contaminated pork to other countries. This must be stopped in China and at the borders of other countries.
82
@Charlie is trump cutting our food and safety budget?
5
No surprise based on the living conditions for these animals. Breeding ground for mass outbreak. Plus the vertical processing plants? The culture needs to change. Vegan is the future. As one can see by this story, there are never-ending accounts of outbreaks around the world of some sort or another. I've seen videos. How do you think they culled the infected?
35
How about we stop eating pigs (and other animals)? Then we won't need to worry about diseases and we can convert the farmland being used for animal feed (corn, soy) to grow food for people instead. Seems like a win-win to me.
115
@Carol Not to mention that the livestock industry plays a major negative role in our changing climate.
29
@Carol Guess what, plants get sick too. It's our factory farming and monoculture systems that breed disease.
14
@Carol
1) Not all humans are able to take sufficient protein from plant sources.
2) Approximately 30% of arable land is suited to only growing grasses. The grazing of animals is the only way to make use of this land.
9
famine and starvation is one those things all governments fear since they lead to civil unrest and break down in civil order.
That is the same thing that causes most Chinese Dynasties of the past to fail.
14