We previously saw how Chinese environmental officials are struggling to pull dead pigs out of the river in Shanghai while assuring people that the tsunami of dead pigs has no effect on drinking the water. Now the body count is up from 900 to 6000 and some articles suggest the number is more like 9000. Yet, Chinese officials insist that they are unable to locate the source.
The pigs appear to be infected with porcine circovirus, a virus affecting pigs. It seem likely that the pigs were dumped once found to be contaminated. They were first found in the Huangpu River about 40 miles north of Shanghai. Tags on their ears trace them to the city of Jiaxing in Zhejiang province which is known for pig raising. However, Jiaxing city government officials denied responsibility for the dead pigs and said that the tags may only show where they were born.
The government has tried blaming farmers in Jiaxing but this seems more likely the result of a large factory operation. Farmers routinely throw tainted animals in the river and there are reports of the dead animals being pulled from the river and used for food in China.
Source: ABC
” This government inspection thus becomes an important adjunct of the packers business from two view points. It puts the stamp of legitimacy and honesty upon the packers product, and so is to him a necessity, and to the public as an assurance against diseased meats.”
Now what was that you were saying about the good ol’ days before FDA mean inspection, Bron?
Contradiction is a lonely business.
Darren, not only food but food additives that then go into the assembly process to give us our packaged food and baby food. It doesn’t have to be on the label either. That goes for all food ‘parts’ and additives no matter where they came from. You won’t find a frozen dinner with ‘potatoes from Chile, carrots from China, beef patty from Argentina, US, and Mexico’ on it’s label.
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One thing China is pretty good at (that I have read) is corruption among business and government- yea, just like the rest of the world. I’m thinking that a local factory farm owner or manager paid off someone (or more) in the local government and a very embarrassing failure of production disappeared into the river.
Bay of pigs inundation
And we continue to import food from China
Pig water, ummmmmm tastes like bacon! (I’m sorry for not having a comment more worthy than this, but I just had to say it.)
here is what one industrialist had to say:
“Jonathan Ogden Armour, President of Armour and Company, one of the largest meat packing corporations in America, wrote the following in a March 1906 Saturday Evening Post article:
“To attempt to evade government inspection with beef from a purely commercial viewpoint is suicidal. No packer can do an interstate or export business without government inspection. Self-interest forces him to make use of it. Self-interest likewise demands he shall not receive meats or byproducts from any small packer either for export or other use unless that small packer is also official (under government inspection.) This government inspection thus becomes an important adjunct of the packers business from two view points. It puts the stamp of legitimacy and honesty upon the packers product, and so is to him a necessity, and to the public as an assurance against diseased meats.””
rafflaw:
Sure it does, I have read it. But I am not so sure he was telling the truth.
http://books.google.com/books?id=xGU-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Hearings+Before+the+Committee+on+Agriculture…on+the+So-called+%22Beveridge+Amendment%22+to+the+Agricultural+Appropriation+Bill,&source=bl&ots=3j6Qi_MOvS&sig=5n7JIhK1-PVpyaDe8GEb7-froBI&hl=en&ei=LNCTTIXbGYL2tgOlrqDACg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
from that report:
“A 1906 report [link above] by the Bureau of Animal Industry refuted Sinclair’s severest allegations, characterizing them as “intentionally misleading and false,” “willful and deliberate misrepresentations of fact,” and “utter absurdity.” Quoting Mr. Crumpacker on Sinclair’s allegations of diseased meats, “the chief inspector said there was not a single animal that went into the slaughterhouses that was not inspected before it went on foot; and if one was diseased, had a lumpy jaw, or appeared to be out of condition, he was separated, and then a skilled veterinarian made a thorough examination of that animal after the rest had been passed; and then they had inspection on the inside.””
Seriously, Bron. Your dedication to laissez-faire capitalism and the power of greed is truly touched, er, touching. Too bad your cherry picked example does nothing to invalidate the very real need for regulation and enforcement to prevent and punish deliberate ecological damage done in the name of profits.
Bron,
Does the book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair ring a bell to you? The government was responsible for cleaning up those hard working and non greedy industrialists!
Bron – yes, I am sure to you this was the result of a government f up. To you no bad is ever done that is not a government f up. Does that horn you blow play any other notes?
Gene H:
Some may have but then people still get sick today from food and we have how many agencies of government looking into things? And from what I here most are spread thin so basically the market is protecting consumers.
Here is an example of how the private sector handled things before the EPA, FDA and DAg:
“By the mid 1870s, most researchers believed that anthrax was an infectious disease, but there was disagreement as to its specific cause. In 1876, Robert Koch, a Prussian physician, isolated the anthrax bacillus and pointed out that the bacillus could form spores which remained viable, even in hostile environments. According to Koch, “this remove[d] all doubt that Bacillus anthracis is the actual cause and contagium of anthrax.” Shortly after this, John Bell linked anthrax with “woolsorter disease” and developed a procedure to disinfect wool.
William Greenfield was the first to immunize livestock successfully against anthrax in 1880. However, credit for the use of a live vaccine against anthrax is usually given to Louis Pasteur, who tested a heat-cured vaccine on sheep in 1881. Celebrated in the contemporary French press, Pasteur’s vaccine solidified his status as one of France’s greatest scientists. By the late twentieth century, extensive animal vaccination programs led to an overall decline in anthrax, although the disease still occurred in poor and unstable regions. For example, between 1978 and 1980, a civil war in Zimbabwe caused a breakdown in veterinary care; the result was an anthrax epidemic that spread from animals to humans.”
Funny how it wasnt cured by government but by greedy people worried about profits.
I know that is inconvenient to your world view.
Ditto frankly…….
“Back in the day when we were much more free than we are now, before the EPA, the FDA and DAg, what happened to ranchers and farmers when their herd caught an infectious disease?
I doubt very much they were put in the river.”
Yep. They ended up on somebody’s plate instead. But you’ve ignored the history that led to the creation of the FDA and EPA when it has been relayed to you in the past, Bron. No sense in repeating again if you’re simply going to ignore it because it’s inconvenient to your Austrian School of “Economics”.
“Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is a travel and cuisine television show hosted by Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. The first season debuted on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 9pm ET/PT.
Bizarre Foods focuses on regional cuisine from around the world which is typically perceived by Americans as being disgusting, exotic, or bizarre. In each episode, Zimmern focuses on the cuisine of a particular country or region. He typically shows how the food is procured, where it is served, and, usually without hesitation, eats it.” – Wikipedia
Gene H:
Back in the day when we were much more free than we are now, before the EPA, the FDA and DAg, what happened to ranchers and farmers when their herd caught an infectious disease?
I doubt very much they were put in the river.
I am going to bet that these pigs are a result of some government fuk-up. It always comes down to that. Government somehow, somewhere made some stupid decision which violated market forces and there you go-dead pigs.
Maybe the “brilliant” central planners screwed with the price of corn or wheat or even orange juice and that led to a decrease in the price of pork to the point where the farmer was better off killing his pigs.
Argument by false equivalence and incomplete comparison. Regulation of business and pollution in an attempt at responsible stewardship is not the equivalent of authoritarian totalitarian oppression. Get back to me when the EPA disappears a Koch or a DuPont.
Reblogged this on Jesse Talks Back and commented:
Interesting, the people are so afraid of the state that they would rather ignore potential catastrophe. I find the above comment incredibly ignorant, someone who truly does not understand how Chinese society works. They are regulated, extremely regulated to the point where those who break protocol are “disappeared”, you desire more regulation. You desire the EPA and yet, you do not even understand that this is exactly what causes this. Regardless, maybe this is the viral epidemic we have been waiting for? I wonder how long before it jumps carriers and adapts to humans?
Well…. If you believe the Chinese government, you also probably believe Pigs fly. Obviously they fly at night and bathe in the river.
Sadly, their wings weigh them down and the poor pigs drown.
Pretty much what Frankly said.
These are the people or masters want us to emulate – unfettered industrialization, no EPA, of health and safety regulations. A brave new world of unlimited potential . . . for death, disease and destruction.
Drink deeply.