San Francisco Blog

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Grist has a nicely conspiratorial analysis (*cue X-Files music*) of the current investigations into the origin of the swine flu epidemic. Among the highlights:

The World Health Organization helped author a paper for Science that pinpointed the likely source of the swine flu as La Gloria, a picturesque pig-farming village in the Veracruz Mountains. But the World Health Organization isn't doing any research in La Gloria itself. Instead, the town is filling up with scientists funded by a consortium of biotech and pharmaceutical companies. They have stated their intention to do a rigorous investigation of backyard pig-farming operations. As opposed to, say, the enormous pig farms at the village's perimeter. Where hundreds of pigs are kept all squished in together and fed -- oh! -- biotech corn. And low-dose antibiotics. The kind that might, I don't know, create an antibiotic-resistant flu, perhaps? Is someone maybe trying to blame an epidemic on poor, small-time pig farmers? Scandal!

Pork giant Smithfield has kindly offered the information that its hogs recently tested negative for swine flu. This gesture is slightly marred by the fact that Smithfield itself selected the samples that would be tested.