The editor:
A recent letter in the Morehead News contains several serious allegations, which are completely false. The worst was this one: “The origins of H1N1 are these mass production factory farms where pigs are forced to live in cages so small that they cannot turn around.”
After reading her letter, I spoke to two separate H1N1 specialists at the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, an expert at the American Veterinary Medical Association, and another expert at the United States Department of Agriculture. Every one of these subject matter experts stated flat-out that there is absolutely no scientific basis for the claim Ms. Sharp made in her letter to your newspaper.
A TIME Magazine article on the H1N1 virus (May 15, 2009) provides further details: “Scientists are still far from certain where the H1N1 virus originated or how long it may have been circulating in pigs or people (the first humane outbreak is thought to have occurred in February). So far, no pigs have been found to be infected with the virus, other than at one farm in Canada on May 2, where the swine were actually infected by a human worker.”
The person who wrote the letter to the editor recommends that readers go to the website of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to learn more about so-called “factory farms” (a completely misleading term). In fact, the writer’s entire letter is lifted almost verbatim from their website.
The HSUS website is the worst place to go in search of the truth about animal welfare, public health, or science.
HSUS has a long and dirty track record which exposes their true priority: money. They’re the richest animal rights (AR) group on the planet. They talk a lot about “ending animal suffering” in their fundraising requests, but less than 4% of their money goes to hands-on care of animals. Deception is their specialty.
Their website articles by Dr. Greger (an AR activist on the HSUS payroll) are a classic example. Mixing true science in with his message pushing the AR agenda, he works like a magician, keeping you so busy watching that you miss the most important thing. If you have strong critical thinking skills or a background in science/medicine, you’ll catch the trick immediately. But lots of readers won’t notice that words like “apparently” and “arose from” completely invalidate his case.
An example of this technique of non-specificity is in the letter: “Some feel these hormones are being passed along to humans when they consume the meat or dairy products.” This sentence is an implicit accusation that the farm practices expose humans to health risks. It’s a trick designed to create fear and mistrust of American farmers. Look closely and you’ll see that it fails on every level.
First red flag: “Some feel...” This is as vague as it gets. “Some” could consist of three ten-year-old children. “Feel” does not belong anywhere near an allegation involving the food chain and public health. Second red flag: There’s no follow-up citing evidence of any specific health risk whatsoever.
The writer ends the letter with the statement: “Knowledge and awareness has never been more important.”
The writer is right about that. How about if we keep an awareness of how many children will starve to death today?
HSUS has already used their deceptive propaganda to enact laws wiping out American farmers in six states, and they’ve promised to take their campaign nationwide. While HSUS is marching across our country eradicating American farmers, world hunger has climbed to a heartbreaking number of 923 million people. Children suffer the worst.
Don’t let HSUS scare you and trick you into forgetting your compassion for all those who are going hungry today.
Sandra E. Coy, RN
Frankfort
