[R-G] Blame NAFTA for swine flu, experts say - Toronto Star

[Sid Shniad]

http://www.thestar.com/article/627157 






Blame NAFTA for swine flu, experts say 







Lax farming rules under free trade deal create breeding ground for virus, environmentalists argue 


May 01, 2009 04:30 AM 


Linda Diebel 
Staff Reporter 





MEXICO CITY–Sewage-filled lagoons at a pig farm in eastern Mexico – a product of the North American free trade deal – are suspected of creating ground zero conditions for swine flu in this country. 




Environmentalists argue lax regulations in the factory farming that boomed in Mexico right after the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and the U.S. are making people sick – and not just with swine flu. 




"You might call this the `NAFTA flu,'" said Rick Arnold, co-ordinator of Common Frontiers, a Canadian coalition focusing on Latin America and issues of economic integration. 

He argues multinationals are getting away with dire conditions not allowed north of the border. 




Environmental groups three years ago began protesting against operations at the Carroll Farms in Veracruz, jointly operated by U.S. pork giant Smithfield Farms. 





The first confirmed case of swine flu originated with a 5-year-old boy from the town of La Gloria, near the farm. He recovered. 

Medical officials have not pinpointed where the outbreak began. 





And from its Virginia headquarters, Smithfield officials insist there is no evidence linking their operations to the disease. 

Smithfield Farms, the world's largest pork producer with $12 billion in annual sales, opened Carroll Farms in 1994, calling it a "joint venture. 





At home, the company was fined $12.6 million (U.S.) in 1997 after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency disclosed it was dumping raw pig sewage into a river flowing into Chesapeake Bay. 




The health ministry, which earlier said 168 people were believed killed by swine flu in Mexico, yesterday would confirm only 12 of those deaths as being from swine flu and would not say how many more cases were suspected. 




The air in Mexico City, once called the "most polluted" by the World Health Organization, is loaded with human fecal matter, gases, dust and other toxic materials. 





"The pollution affects our eyes, throats and lungs," said Dr. Erendira Gallardo Lobera, a general practitioner. She said the Mexican government should take stronger measures to ensure residents of the capital aren't breathing in rat and dog feces with their oxygen. 




While Mexicans continue to wear masks and stay indoors in a country virtually shut down, people say the government should be more forthcoming with information. 




"I think the government isn't giving us the correct statistics about infected cases," said restaurant employee Jose Gutierrez Hernandez. "I fear there's not enough medicine to control this outbreak and there is no vaccine against swine flu." 




President Felipe Calderon promised his officials would provide timely information, adding as a "parent and as a person, there is nothing more important to me than the life and health of the Mexican people."