Factory Farms Fueling Avian Flu, Say Researchers
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UNITED NATIONS, Feb 22 (OneWorld) - UN efforts to control the spread of avian flu in the developing world could actually do more harm than good, warns a new study.
Both the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) continue to consider banning poultry production in affected areas the most effective way of stamping out the avian flu virus. But researchers associated with the U.S.-based Worldwatch Institute assert they have sufficient evidence to prove that indiscriminately banning poultry production is no way to deal with the threat of avian flu. Releasing findings from the forthcoming report "Vital Signs 2007-2008" at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Francisco this week, the researchers denounced the globalized poultry trade and large-scale industrial farms located close to big cities in the developing world as chiefly responsible for the spread of the avian flu virus. "They are the culprits," said Danielle Nierenberg, one of the Institute's research associates, adding that, conversely, the ones who suffer most from the UN restrictions are those who raise crops and animals for food, transportation, and income in back yards and on rooftops. Researchers say there are 800 million farmers around the developing world who make their living by producing poultry products on a small scale. "They have been targeted unfairly (by the UN agencies)," Nierenberg told participants at the AAAS event. So far, some 15 countries have restricted or banned free-range and backyard production of birds in an attempt to deal with avian flu, a move that may ultimately do more damage than good, according to the study. "The socioeconomic importance of livestock to the world's poor cannot be overstated," said Nierenberg, noting that last year global meat production increased by 2.5 percent (to 276 million tons). About 60 percent of this production, according to the report, occurred in the developing world, where half of all meat is now consumed, thanks to rising incomes and exploding urbanization. Researchers observed that rising demand for meat helped drive livestock production away from rural, mixed-farming systems, where farmers raise a few different species on a grass diet, toward intensive periurban and urban production of pigs and chickens. According to their findings, unregulated zoning and subsidies that encourage livestock production, chicken and pig "confined animal feedlot operations" (CAFOs), or factory farms, are moving closer to major urban areas in China, Bangladesh, India, and many countries in Africa. "Locating large chicken farms near cities might make economic sense," said Nierenberg, "but the close concentration of the birds to densely populated areas can help foster and spread disease." In Laos, for example, more than 40 outbreaks of avian flu in the spring of 2004 took place on factory farms located in close proximity to the capital, Vientiane. Similarly, in Nigeria, the study found the first cases of avian flu appeared in the industrial broiler operation of a 46,000-bird farm and eventually spread to 30 other large-scale farms. Within a few days, the virus had engulfed neighboring backyard flocks, forcing poor farmers to kill their chickens. Researchers said that the global poultry output barely rose last year (to 83 million tons), largely because of the fear of avian flu and the culling of birds. On the other hand, pig meat production grew by 3 percent (to 108 million tons), a shift that might be a result of concern about avian flu resulting from chicken consumption, they added. In Asia, avian flu existed among backyard flocks for centuries, the study's authors said, but it never evolved into highly pathogenic forms such as the deadly H5N1 virus. By contrast, in large-scale farms where animals are concentrated by the thousands, diseases erupt and spread quickly, all the way to small farms, they added. "While H5N1 may have been a product of the world's factory farms, it's the small producer who has the most to lose," said Nierenberg. The study suggests that rather than culling smaller, backyard flocks, the FAO, WHO, and other global institutions involved in avian flu prevention efforts should focus on large poultry producers. The industrial food system, according to the study's findings, not only threatens the livelihoods of small farmers, but also puts the world at risk for a potential flu pandemic. The study also noted that wastes from global livestock production are damaging the world's climate at a rate that surpasses emissions from cars and SUVs. "Intensive animal farming is not only deleterious to human health and economies, it is also responsible for a great deal of ecological destruction," said Nierenberg. |
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