Why Bacon Has Gone Viral (As in Swine Flu)

Have you noticed lately that whenever the media isn't busy deconstructing Obama's health care proposal, it's become obsessed with promoting an animal product that is one of the lousiest, most noxious excuses for food anyone could eat, on many levels, including health, environment, and ethics?

It seems like everywhere you turn, journalists are singing the virtues of chocolate-covered bacon, BLTs, bacon cheeseburgers, and similar killer treats involving dead pigs. I have no doubt that some enterprising soul is busy right now inventing bacon ice cream, and clueless consumers will soon be lining up for that lethal delicacy too. What's going on here?

I remember, even in my former flesh-eating years, having been perfectly content not to eat bacon, and my decision wasn't primarily for health reasons. Bacon has always reminded me of salted motor oil on a stick, and I could never, for the life of me, comprehend why it was such a popular breakfast and sandwich item. I also associated bacon with the obese, crazy, terminal Elvis. In his later drug-addled years he used to devour fried bacon and peanut butter sandwiches as snacks. He dropped dead sitting on the toilet, where he undoubtedly had to spend a lot of his time, considering that diet.

However much I loathe bacon, I would not be so rash as to claim that you can get swine flu simply by eating it or any other (thoroughly cooked) porcine product. What I am suggesting is that animal farming-particularly factory farming, because of the over-crowding of thousands of unhappy, unhealthy, genetically manipulated animals into a small, enclosed, filthy environment-contributes significantly to the spread of zoonotic (i.e., animal diseases transmissible to man) viruses like bird flu and swine flu. All it takes is one employee coming into contact with one infected pig or chicken or turkey, and then going home and infecting his family and friends, to start a potential pandemic or epidemic. Even small-scale animal farmers can spread viruses such as the infamous bird flu, which mutated and crossed the species barrier into humans with the help of wild birds that came into contact with their chickens.

Truth be told, eating animals or just living alongside wildlife has always been dicey. For example, AIDS came from an African monkey killed as bushmeat. And hunting or even having cats and dogs or exotic pets in the home can lead to the transmission of seriously dangerous zoonotic diseases to humans. Just watch "House" and you'll see what I mean. While you can't avoid all the risk of catching the plague your dog has or the psittacosis your parrot is infected with, you can certainly eschew totally useless foods like bacon and other pork products and send a strong message to the factory-farming mafia.

Ever wonder why the inflammatory name "swine flu" was changed by the CDC to the animal-neutral "H1N1"? A teensy bit of political pressure from the powerful pork lobby, perhaps?

Have you heard that 40% of Americans will get swine flu this year, and that at least 90,000 will die from it? Still enjoying that yummy bacon burger?

Did you know that the vaccine-making business is highly lucrative for the labs that manufacture them, the faster the better? Do you trust that the vaccine will protect you and your family?

An M.D. friend of ours (one of the few general practitioners left in the U.S.) always recommends against getting flu shots. Why? He says because of the industrial manner in which vaccines are manufactured, the real medical risks to the vaccinated person (including death), and the very questionable and unproven efficacy of flu shots in general. But still, the public lines up for these shots, believing it will protect them just because the medical lobby and the government say they will.

The corporate brainwashing machine has been working overtime to launder the dirtied rep of pig flesh, and guess what? It's succeeding. They're worried about their profit margins, not your health. That's all they care about. And that's bad news for the public. But never fear, with a little intestinal fortitude and pre-planning you can resist their propaganda.

If you're a sucker for the taste of cremated motor oil and can't help but salivate over those porno pork commercials, take my advice and buy fake bacon. Vegan food companies are endlessly creative, and there are a number of plant-based bacon products on the market that won't end up making you sick and desperately in need of health care you can't afford, thanks to another group of corporate monsters: insurance companies.

In a disturbing but certainly predictable development, human swine flu has now been found in commercial turkeys in Chile: http://www.examiner.com/x-13230-Manchester-Bird-Watching-Examiner~y2009m8d22-Swine-flu-jumps-species-to-birds.

The link between factory farming and swine flu is obvious but still largely suppressed by agribusiness, the medical community and the media, with the blessing of the vast meat-eating public. But the truth about this zoonotic virus and others is emerging despite the relentless propaganda machine. For example, here's an article about the link between factory farming and swine flu by an Indiana-based journalist and animal lover:
http://www.tribstar.com/valley_life/local_story_248222900.html