The diseases possible in factory farms has alarmed many immunologists, who believe that a vaccine-resistant virus is not far from evolving in these areas. In factory farms, animals live in very close quarters, which encourages virus and bacteria transmission from one creature to another.
From this reason, the owners fed them with antibiotics and drugs to prevent infestations that never took place. This can only lead to the appearance of highly drug-resistant bacterias, as reports of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser show.
Michigan State University immunologist Ian York has written a story about chicken infected with Marek’s Disease Virus (MDV). The virus posed only a very small threat before industrial farming brought thousands of chickens together. A vaccine was developed, but it turned out to be ineffective, as the virus was very resistant to drugs.
These news are bad for the genetic and cloning homogeneity aiming at creating more uniform fillets or steaks, as a virus developing in a homogeneous population will most certainly lead to disaster.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:13 am
And yet if the birds are trapped then so is the virus. If they had a virus and ranged free they’d be spreading it. We do need healthier farms. If we had a National health care system it would be part of their job to keep a close eye on the food supply like this. Nutrition is a huge part of health. On the other hand fear mongering to sell advertising is very unhealthy, because it suggests new possible avenues of internal terrorism, instead of suggesting solutions.