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Etheridge: PETA pork protest won't spread swine flu

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Comments (7)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

(Updated 8:50 am)

By
Associated Press

RALEIGH (AP) — A North Carolina congressman says police got their facts wrong when they denied a messy Capitol Hill protest against corporate hog farms out of concern about spreading swine flu.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported today that U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge scolded the reasoning of U.S. Capitol Police after they blocked the protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA wanted to fill thousands of buckets with pig waste to give politicians a whiff of what it's like near sprawling hog operations. When police said the protest could spread swine flu, Etheridge squealed.

The part-time farmer from the nation's No. 2 pork-producing state says hog growers are hurting from the mistaken belief that pigs or their meat spreads swine flu.

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GenghisKeef

November 18, 2009 - 9:24 am EST

Pig waste is not a health hazard, that's news to me. So I guess pig farmers can start dumping the waste back into the Neuse river again. Anyone ever heard of e-coli?

Beachwalk

November 18, 2009 - 9:31 am EST

Some people really don't know what they are talking about. Governments and Municipalities dump more human waste in rivers and streams than farmers who accidentally dump hog waste.

d_random

November 18, 2009 - 10:43 am EST

Sorry Beachwalk, but you can't support that statement with facts.
I will give you some facts:

-Livestock waste created by large livestock operations generate more than 30 times more waste than humans. Yearly, the industry produces a total over 1.375 billion tons of waste.

-Animal feeding operations annually produce about 100 times more manure than the amount of human sewage sludge processed in US municipal wastewater plants.

-One dairy farm with 2,500 cows produces as much waste as a city with around 411,000 residents.

Sources:
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/waste/
http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/wastedisposal.htm

d_random

November 18, 2009 - 10:49 am EST

I would be careful spraying the hog waste, the nitrogen in the waste converts to nitrates, chemicals that move readily into nearby streams and groundwater. Nitrates have been linked to a blood disorder called methemoglobinemia, which is especially harmful to babies.

d_random

November 18, 2009 - 11:04 am EST

The biggest environmental spill in United States history was in NORTH CAROLINA, more than twice as big as the Exxon Valdez.

"In 1995 an eight-acre Pig Manure Lagoon in North Carolina burst, spilling 25 million gallons of manure into the New River. The spill killed about 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing." -Natural Resources Defense Council (NHRC Reports)