World's Largest Animal Welfare Charity Implicates Industrial Poultry Production in Emergence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu Viruses
WASHINGTON – Today's confirmation of Britain's first outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza—the strain that originated in Asia and has been slowly making its way around the world—highlights the dangers of industrialized poultry production. Thus far, 2,500 turkeys at a Suffolk factory farm owned by Bernard Matthews PLC, the largest turkey producer in both the UK and Europe, have died, and reports indicate that the 159,000 birds in the facility's 21 remaining sheds will be culled. The stressful, overcrowded, unhygienic conditions typical of intensive confinement have been implicated in facilitating the emergence of highly pathogenic avian flu viruses like H5N1.
"The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently reported that industrial poultry populations in Thailand, for example, seemed four times more likely to become infected than backyard, outdoor flocks," states Michael Greger, M.D., director of public health and animal agriculture for The Humane Society of the United States, and author of the recently released, acclaimed Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching.
The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, the world's largest animal welfare charity, today released An HSUS Report: Public Health Implications of Intensive Poultry Production and Avian Influenza, documenting the link between the intensification of the global poultry industry and the emergence of bird flu viruses that may have the potential to trigger a human pandemic. "It's not worth risking the lives of millions of people for the sake of cheaper chicken," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS.
The new HSUS report reviews how a virus that starts out as a benign waterborne intestinal infection of aquatic birds can mutate into highly pathogenic airborne strains that can be dangerous to both birds and humans alike. Modern industrial poultry practices can facilitate this transformation. In a joint consultation, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health noted that the sheer number of intense contacts between birds with increasing flock density serves to spread and amplify disease agents like avian influenza. This is supported by research showing that increasing stocking densities of chickens result in an increased burden of infectious disease agents.
"Cramming tens of thousands of birds into filthy, football field-sized sheds to lie beak to beak in their own waste is a perfect storm environment for the emergence and spread of new superstrains of influenza," says Dr. Greger.
The full text of Bird Flu, along with its more than 3,000 citations, is available free at BirdFluBook.org
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The Humane Society of the United States, with its international arm, Humane Society International, is the world's largest animal protection organization with nearly 10 million members and constituents. The HSUS and HSI are mainstream voices for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammals, animals in research, equine protection, and farm animal welfare. The HSUS and HSI protect all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices around the world. On the web at www.humanesociety.org.
