Factory Farms, CAFOs, Are Breeding Ground for Superbugs

Germ warfare is a grave threat to the American population.
See the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the
Milken Institute School for Public Heath

'The most diabolical villain could not design a better system for creating superbugs than factory farms'

Madison, Wisconsin — Designing drug-resistant superbugs is the purview of demented bad actors, like black biology out a Richard Preston or Daniel Kala bio-terrorist thriller.

The prospect of malignant perpetrators releasing superbugs on unsuspecting populations ought to alarm everyone from the most dull state representative to research scientists working at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The problem is government-subsidized industry is creating superbugs and the worst perpetrator is the factory farm, or CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, aka feedlot, or in the words of micro-biologist, Lance Price, "diabolical villain(s)" working out of a "fecal wasteland."

Dr. Lance B. Price is the Director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center (@battlesuperbugs) and professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (#GWSPH).

Price is sounding the alarm on this grave and growing threat of Big Ag against everyone else.

If you live in Wisconsin, the last seven years have seen the complete abdication of public health by the Scott Walker adminstration in favor of actively promoting and aiding Big Ag against the population.

Below is an excerpt and video of Price's TEDx talk Manhattan delivered Mar 11, 2014.

From Dr. Price:

I track super-bugs. I use DNA to see where these things are coming from. On one hand my job is super-exciting and fun because I get to see how these amazing little microbes exchange genes, pick up mutations and become resistant to antibiotics and then take off around the world. ...

On the other hand my job is pretty depressing for some of the same reasons but also because I see the victims of these super-bugs. I've met the victims who've barely survived with their lives and sadly I've met parents who've lost their children to these superbugs.

And this, (superbugs), is just a cute name that we use for anti-biopic-resistant bacteria. So, these are bacteria that are resistant to our best antibiotics.

And it turns out that the CDC is saying that those parents that our losing children are not so rare. 23,000 Americans die, this is a conservative estimate, 23,000 die of super-bug infections each year. And so understanding their origins is really essential. And on some levels it's really simple, it's just a matter of evolution. So let's pretend for a minute that this is a very small group of bacteria. Bacteria usually travel in packs of billions. Every now and then when you have a big group of bacteria, one of them is going to pick up a mutation or a gene from another bacterium that makes them resistant to antibiotics.

If that's happening in an environment where you have a lot of antibiotics, then the susceptible bacteria, that is the non-resistant ones, are going to die off and the resistant ones are going to go on to multiply.

And the thing about bacteria is that they multiply very quickly. So E-coli, for instance, can double every thirty minutes, and you go a from a single cell, a single drug-resistant e-coli, to a billion, more than a billion, in 24 hours. This is simple Darwinian evolution, but Darwinian evolution is real time. So, if you're like me and you're interested in knowing where these super-bugs are coming from then you have to go to the places where we're using a lot of antibiotics. ...

Factory Farms or CAFOs

We're using 30-million pounds of antibiotics in food-animal production each year, 30-million pounds. The best estimates suggest only 20 percent of those antibiotics to used to treat sick animals.

Eighty percent are being used as production tools. They're being used to make animals grow faster. They're being used to prevent disease, or treat diseases, that are occurring just because of the way we are raising animals. The industry calls these 'production diseases' but rather than change production, we are just using antibiotics. ...

When I see these (animal) factories, when I see these operations, ... I see factories making trillions and trillions and trillions of drug-resistance bacteria.

The most diabolical villain could not design a better system for creating super-bugs than the modern CAFO. You have everything you need. ...

See also:

• Horrigan, Leo, Lawrence, Robert S., Walker, Polly, "How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture," Johns Hopkins University's Center for a Livable Future, July 9, 1999, n.d. web 24 Sept. 2014
•  Hribar, Carrie. Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities (n.d.): n. pag. National Association of Local Boards of Health. Center for Disease Control. Web.
• Ikerd, Dr. John. "The Inevitable Economic, Ecological, and Social Consequences of CAFOs." University of Missouri-Columbia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. [See also Past and Recent Papers of Dr. John E. Ikerd.]

Wisconsin Factory Farm Polluter and Republican Donor Dead in Plane Crash

A Google Earth view of Pagel's Ponderosa factory farm in
Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. The late owner, John Pagel, was
a member of the Kewaunee County Board and chair of
the county's Land and Conservation Committee. Pagel has
acknowledged that large factory operations such as his
can contribute to groundwater pollution but said industry can
 lead the way toward a solution. From Wisconsin Watch

"I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction," wrote Clarence Darrow in his 1932 autobiography, The Story of My Life, (p. 92).

Darrow, were he living today, could be referring to the death of factory farm polluter, John Pagel, killed when a Cessna 441 Conquest Turboprop plane crashed in a muddy field in Carroll County, Indiana on Feb. 22, (WSAW).

Pagel is a major poisoner of families and an unrepentant polluter of communities in Wisconsin's peninsula.

"It would have been fitting if Pagel drowned in a million-gallon vat of cow shit, instead of falling from the sky," said a Door County citizen this weekend. "You want a quote, how about, 'you reap what you sow,' John Pagel."

That is fitting.

Pagel did had other pursuits besides poisoning area families by vectoring cow manure into their water wells.

Pagel gave $1,000s to Scott Walker and other Republicans who in return transformed Wisconsin water pollution law and regulations so Pagel and factory polluters could get away with poisoning children, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Wisconsin media ran statements this weekend saying Pagel left behind a "legacy."

Wisconsin needs no more such legacies.

"Safe drinking water is a prerequisite for protecting public health and all human activity," reads the Unites States Department of Homeland Security, (DHS), website on our Water and Wastewater Systems sector.

Don't think John Pagel died knowing the value of water for human life and public health.

I note with satisfaction that Pagel may have died with an appreciation for gravity.

Wisconsin's Scott Walker Refuses Listening Sessions

Scott Walker has left
his suit

Scott Walker's effort to rebrand himself fades like a cottonwood seed blowing across a park as public disapproval numbers persist.

The spectacle of Scott Walker blaming everyone from protesting Wisconsinites to the corporate media for his failure in job creation, comes with Walker's assurance he's now hearing "positive things" from his numerous "listening sessions" held around the state, (Opoien, The Capital Times).

Scott Walker lied.

A problem with this claim by Walker, (contra Gov. Chris Christie), is the fact Walker has held zero listening sessions as defined by answering unscripted, townhall-style questions posed by Wisconsin citizens unvetted for political loyalty to Scott Walker as the price of admission.

Used to be in Wisconsin citizens did not have to declare political loyalty to anyone before they could ask questions of public officials. Now, we live in the age of blacklists and Republican corruption, (Door County Pulse), (Mal Contends).

Walker's definition for a listening session is invitation-only, no press, and no dialogue,(UrbanMilwuakee).

It was no surprise to read a heavily polluting industrialized ag. factory owner John Pagel was invited by Walker to a February 'listening session' propaganda event in Kewaunee and Pagel pronounced himself "impressed" with Walker.

Some of the questions from Walker-vetted guests at the listening session:

What’s good about Wisconsin and your community?

What do you want your community to look like seven to 10 years from now?

And what can be done to ensure that vision? (DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal)

Tough room.

As gleamed from Walker's aborted presidential campaign last year, when Scott Walker offers a non-sequitur as a response to the rare question to which he replies in public, it means Walker has just tried to think on his feet.

Facing rising disapproval numbers, the last thing Walker can deal with now is being seen as incompetent on top of corrupt.

When Walker lies about listening sessions, it would help Wisconsin for the corporate press to report the fact Walker is lying.

Polluter Reappointed as Land and Water Conservation Chair in Wisconsin County

Nothing to see here, assures John Pagel, owner of a factory farm
in Kewaunee County in the northeastern Wisconsin peninsula
Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The polluters are in charge in Kewaunee County in the northeastern Wisconsin peninsula.

This is all very well if you like cow shite and urine, and associated pathogens, in your drinking and bath water.

Karen Ebert Yancey, (USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin), reports the "Kewaunee County Board on Monday unanimously approved newly elected Chairman Robert Weidner's committee assignments, including the reappointment of CAFO owner John Pagel as chairman of the county's Land and Water Conservation Committee."

Pagel spends much of his time declaring his innocence, that of other polluting CAFOs and industrialized operations' using the same model in which these factory farms spray tons of liquefied manure into the community's environment, to tragic consequences. Said Pagel, "We are already showing from our county farmers that they are being proactive in trying to improve water quality in the county."

And "we sure can’t blame the CAFOs because we had this problem 50 years ago, before there were any CAFOs in Kewaunee County," said Pagel last year, (Schuessler, AlJazeera America).

In a recent piece at WisconsinWatch (Seely), Pagel continued his nothing to see here line: "I think with any new rules there should be a balance between safety and being practical."

Pagel and his ilk have a lurid idea of being "practical," likely not garnered from those poisoned, especially children and their families, from the pathogens they vector into private drinking wells and surface waters.

Probing the Public's Gullibility

Residents of Door and Kewaunee County point to a new PR offensive by Pagel and his fellow poisoners, citing recent pieces in the Door County Pulse reporting on the newly formed CAFO-led nonprofit organization, Peninsula Pride Farms. That's a catchy name, and far more effective than Poisoners Are Us.

Do not bathe or drink the water. There's another catchy tourist slogan for the northeastern Wisconsin peninsula. Kewaunee CARES cites the results of a DNR-funded study released on May 2:

DNR-funded study identifies trace amounts of salmonella, rotavirus in small sample of Kewaunee wells

MADISON, Wis.- As part of a DNR-funded study, test results reported late Monday afternoon show the presence of salmonella and/or rotavirus in 11 private Kewaunee County wells.

Property owners have been notified of the findings, which are typically associated with fecal contamination. No illnesses have been reported in connection with these findings.

The 11 property owners are being advised to stop using the water for drinking or bathing and have their wells chlorinated by a licensed professional. Property owners within a half mile radius of the affected wells are being advised by Kewaunee County to have their wells tested. 

Good thing John Pagel is looking out for Kewaunee County and being practical. The CDC reports, "Rotavirus is a contagious virus that can cause gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines). Symptoms include severe watery diarrhea, often with vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain. Infants and young children are most likely to get rotavirus disease. They can become severely dehydrated and need to be hospitalized and can even die."

In a related piece see Dave Zweifel's Plain Talk: Farmers fight back on DNR blacklist, (Capital Times).

Highly Pathogenic Avian Virus Is Evolution in Action, and a Warning

A state of emergency exists in Minnesota; poultry
feed trucks, poultry load-out trailers, and emergency
operation equipment used for highly pathogenic
avian influenza response are empowered to
ignore load requirements (March 11, 2015
Emergency Executive Order 15-06)

Humans at Low Risk of Infection and Illness from this H5N2 Virus Strain

"The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic (contagious to animals) H5N2 avian influenza (HPAI) at a commercial laying facility in Osceola County, Iowa. The facility has 5.3 million hens and is the second confirmed case in the state," notes an April 20, 2015 press release from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS).

The spread of H5N2 avian virus is much worse, and the spread of pathogens by Big Ag was predicted repeatedly.

One Iowa farm killed five million chickens two days ago to try help halt the disease (National Public Radio).

Today, the Wisconsin State Journal's piece on the fifth Wisconsin outbreak (in which we will not find the words "industrial" and "CAFO" [concentrated/confined animal feeding operations] and "factory farms") notes 100,000s of poultry have been killed to contain the spread of the H5N2 virus, with 100,000s more planned to be killed.

"The highly pathogenic H5N2 bird flu has touched down in 16 states, particularly in Minnesota and Iowa where, respectively, more than 2.5 million turkeys and 3.8 million egg-laying hens have been lost to the virus," says yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune [though the Star-Tribune (and everyone else) can not keep up the with the eradication of chickens and turkeys in this devastating outbreak].

Minnesota is the leading state producer of turkeys in the nation.

"[T]oday’s dysfunctional industrial, corporately-controlled" food systems (Ikerd, 2104) are unsustainable, and pathogens are one big reason why, notes Dr. John Ikerd. We have been warned; in fact, the CDC notes, we have been warned since 1959.

CDC Working on Vaccine

The CDC is working on a preventative vaccine for human beings though this strain has a low infection potential for human beings, the CDC says. This is an evolution thing [viruses mutate], a scientific fact on which the CDC can not afford to "punt" like Scott Walker said two months ago, displaying a dangerous level of ignorance for the governor of the state with "the second-largest U.S. incident since the bird flu started spreading earlier this year" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).

Media Blackout

Media outlets are seemingly blacking out the words CAFO and industrial factory farming though this dangerous model of packing poultry together is a breeding ground for H5N2 and other virus strains.

"Fifteen new avian flu outbreaks were reported today, 13 in Minnesota turkeys and 2 in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin outbreaks were in chickens at a commercial egg farm and at a commercial turkey farm. Outbreaks have now been detected in five Wisconsin counties," notes the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (Roos and Schnirring).

Viruses Mix

Viruses mix among species and the results can be catastrophic, and the Big Ag-CAFO model used by pigs confined together creating the perfect vehicle to produce dangerous viruses that then can spread to other species (Mal Contends).

The major source of pathogens from CAFOs comes from animal manure, produced in abundance.

Big Ag calls CAFOs "modern agriculture" and wants more CAFOs, and are willing to spread a lot of money to Midwestern politicians such as Scott Walker (who gratefully accepts), as the H5N2 virus is spreading like wildfire among commercial flocks of turkeys and chickens.

"New technologies have allowed farmers to reduce costs, which mean bigger profits on less land and capital. The current agricultural system rewards larger farms with lower costs, which results in greater profit and more incentive to increase farm size. ... Sources of infection from pathogens include fecal-oral transmission, inhalation, drinking water, or incidental water consumption during recreational water activities. The potential for transfer of pathogens among animals is higher in confinement, as there are more animals in a smaller amount of space," notes the CDC (Hribar, CDC).

Economic Impact

The slaughter of millions of chickens and turkeys is just one of the economic consequences of this type of concentrated farming operation. Other countries such as Japan have in the past placed bans on poultry from Wisconsin and the Midwest. Diseases, such as hoof-and-mouth, among cows in Great Britain contributed greatly to the crippling of that economy.

This H5N2 virus strain is a warning to us about Big Ag's factory model and the vectoring and breeding of dangerous pathogens. Are we listening?