Journal of the American Medical Association Commends Book That Implicates Factory Farming in Emerging Human Diseases

This week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association describes as "timely" and "incisive" the book Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, which implicates factory farming as a primary cause of the emergence of the H5N1 bird flu virus threat.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) welcomes the favorable review by this prestigious journal. Such recognition serves to further the important discussion of how factory farming—specifically poultry production—may have created conditions ripe for a severe influenza pandemic, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate could cause millions of American deaths. Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching is written by Michael Greger, M.D., director of public health and animal agriculture for The HSUS.

The JAMA review points out that "[t]he human tragedy and economic upheaval would be unprecedented" and that Dr. Greger "argues convincingly that the right environment for a virus such as H5N1 to thrive now exists."

"Confining tens of thousands of birds in massive sheds, standing and lying in their own waste, is a breeding ground for both animal and animal-to-human diseases. With avian influenza strains threatening to trigger a human pandemic, it's not worth risking millions of human lives for the sake of cheaper chicken," stated Dr. Greger.

The Journal of the American Medical Association is the world's most widely-circulated medical journal.

The review concludes, "The book is timely, well-researched, and particularly incisive on farming methods worldwide, especially those for poultry."

Facts

• The possibility of an influenza pandemic triggered by a bird flu virus such as H5N1 is considered the greatest threat to global public heath. The strain has killed approximately 200 people and 200 million birds since its emergence a decade ago.
• Worldwide, 55 billion chickens are reared every year. Spread wing to wing, the number of chickens killed every day would wrap more than twice around the world's equator.

Timeline

• August 2007—The World Health Organization's annual World Health Report notes that new infectious diseases are now emerging at a rate unprecedented in the history of medicine—in part because of intensive poultry production.
• June 2007—A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations report suggests that the industrialization of animal agriculture in recent decades is increasing public health risks on a global scale.
• February 2007—A report on the potential role of factory farming in human infectious disease epidemics is published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
• November 2003—The American Public Health Association passes a "Precautionary Moratorium on New Concentrated Animal Feed Operations" that urges all federal, state, and local authorities to impose an immediate moratorium on the building of new factory farms out of concern for the health of workers and local communities, given the land, air, and water pollution associated with these industrial facilities.

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