Feeding Pig to Pig - Not the Only Risk

The pig health situation becomes ever more depressing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Britain's pig industry, with their accompanying band of veterinarians, continue to issue media releases insisting that the risks to pig health are swill (ie including pig meat -which is banned anyway) and ham sandwiches accidentally fed to pigs by the East Europeans that provide the cheap labour keeping a low productivity industry afloat.

The occasion is the anniversary of the 2001 FMD epidemic, which they continue to suggest was caused by swill. (It wasn't 2001, but 2000 and it wasn't swill!) Media Release here

America, at the same time, faced with PEDv, is feeding bits of piglets to sows in the desperate hope it will provide some kind of immunity. New York Times article here

So, one side of the Atlantic sees pig meat fed to pigs as the hazard, the other as the salvation. They are both wrong with no science anywhere, just bluster in an ever deteriorating international situation.

And no mention anywhere of the ever increasing volume of live pigs, semen and embryos crossing borders accompanied by recklessly issued health certificates: and little mention of the health risks to people and pigs arising from the antibiotic resistance arising from the frantic attempts to deal with co-infections.

Rich veterinarians and dead kids! It is a bleak future.

UK floods: Army to carry out 'rapid inspection' of defences

Just as during the  Foot and Mouth Disease catastrophe in 2000-1, Britain has had to call in the British Army because they cannot trust the agricultural ministry then Maff,  now renamed Defra.

Defra, through their front organisation, the Environment Agency are supposed to do the job of flood defence, but they spent it all on self-seeking twitchers (bird fanatics) and self-praising public relations.

Correctly, the government does not trust the management of their own ministry - Defra.

During the animal health crises of 2000-2001, Britain's Maff-Defra veterinarians were equipped with mobile phones. They were using them in front of us, whilst faking test results and trying to involve us in criminal deception.

When they were deployed to deal with Foot and Mouth Disease a month later, they had none. The army, in the body of their brilliant commander, Brigadier Alex Birtwistle, had to go to the local telephone shop to remedy the deficiency.

He gave the government veterinarians phones to replace those they had "lost". It is all well documented. The vets were seeking to frustrate the  military by failing to be found and lost their phones to facilitate their independence.

So Britain can sleep tonight. The military are on the flooded streets offering aid and also doing an independent assessment of the defences, before Britain's crazy veterinary establishment can flood the country to make way for their favourite ducks.

This is the scandal of the century. All really big scandals have an element of insanity. This one more than most.

Full BBC report, with photographs,  here


UK floods: Army to carry out 'rapid inspection' of defences

The Army will check 150,000 flood defences across England over five weeks

The Army is to carry out a "rapid inspection" of England's flood defences within five weeks to assess the damage left by unprecedented flooding.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the work would normally take two years...