The current swine flu epidemic can most surely be traced to the growth of "factory farming" worldwide and the practice of trying to raise too many pigs in small confined spaces which not only increases the risk of spreading viruses and other infectious diseases, but also is a cruel and inhumane way to treat animals which are living creatures which have taken millions of years to evolve on earth and deserve our respect.

Pigs cows, chickens and sheep are not lifeless commodities like coal, glass, plastic and metals etc.....but living creatures.

Animals raised in factory farms are subjected to extreme confinement, harsh handling, dirty ammonia filled air and their waste pollutes streams and rivers and creates vile odor because of the extreme concentration of these animals in the factory like buildings which confines them.

Their are many documentations of the cruelty of, not only factory pig farming, but also the factory farming of other agricultural animals.....this information is available to anyone who has a computer and types "factory farming" into a search engine. 

Specific sources include the American Humane Society's website which documents their campaign against "factory farming" with information and quotes from various experts in this field and one of the world's foremost experts on flu virus evolution and the emergence of the H1N1 triple hybrid human/bird/pig flu virus which is now circulating and infecting people worldwide which was first observed in North Carolina factory farmed pigs in 1998.

The H1N1 flu virus which is now circulating is one of the most common causes of respiratory diseases on North American pig farms.

The good news is that some animals are now being raised in a fashion that respects the animals.....this is called "free range" farming where animals are given the ability to move about in open spaces and be what they are.....living creatures and not "commodities" as many would lead us to believe.

Although raising pigs in a free range fashion may expose them to other diseases because, unlike other livestock, pigs root on the ground for food and are exposed to more parasites and worms and without shade some or perhaps all breeds can be sunburnt. 

The risk of humans contracting parasites or worms from free range pig farming may be a small percentage higher than pigs confined in factory farms, but the risk of death caused by flu viruses caused by factory farming, which by it's nature of restricting movement, confining animals in small spaces, restricting their exposure to sunlight and fresh air and extreme overcrowding, where sick animals can easily bleed, cough, sneeze and defecate on one another when sick, is known to increase the risk of deadly animal flu viruses.

Factory farming has been shown to accelerate contagion among these animals and these viruses in turn can kill thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of human beings.

Intensive factory farming of pigs is an obviously cruel, inhumane way to raise these animals and pathogens like swine flu and in the case of chickens and turkeys, bird flu, is the result that we get.....cruelty to animals is not morally acceptable and/or intelligent, surely there are solutions to this problem which are realistic and protect not only the welfare of the animals but also the welfare of people.

Another source of cruelty in industrial or factory farming is the treatment of calves that are raised for veal, that are subjected to extreme restrictive confinement in stalls called "veal crates" barely big enough to move with chains around their necks which further restricts movement.

Also female pigs are kept in pens called "gestation crates" for nearly the entire four months of their pregnancies which are similiarly restrictive, not allowing the pigs move about ( the crates are about the same size as their bodies) or to turn around.
 
A few states in the U.S. have banned these practices as has the European Union which has effectively banned veal crates for calves as of 2007 and banning gestation crates for pregnant pigs by 2013, surely we in the U.S. can do better and enact further legislation outlawing this cruelty, especially so if U.S. agribusiness refuses to take such action themselves.

One solution is better availability and labeling on all meat sold in supermarkets to give people the choice of not supporting factory farming if they choose not to do so and offering them the option of buying meat labeled free range or gestation and veal crate free, if they are willing to pay a bit more for meat from animals raised in a "free range" or humane fashion.

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.S. congress and farmers should work in concert with U.S. supermarket chains to bring this into being before more factory farmed animal viruses appear and proliferate, infecting not only U.S. citizens but citizens in nations worldwide who are now adopting these same factory farming methods.

Chapter 12 verse 11 of the book of Proverbs in the King James Version of the Christian bible states:

"A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

Let's begin to regard the lives of our beasts, let's raise animals in a kind and compassionate fashion that respects life and does not promote the evolution and spread of animal/human viruses.

I suspect that when the Old Testament of the Christian bible states that pigs are an unclean animal it is most likely because pigs were known to be an animal that was not easy to raise in a humane manner as a healthy human source of food because of parasites and worms that they can get from rooting for food.
 
Unlike other agricultural animals pigs are not primarily grass eaters, but are animals that root on and in the ground for food and are omnivores, and perhaps more importantly.....they are animals that are difficult to raise in a humane fashion which is healthful for human consumption.....not that pigs are "evil" animals as some might lead us to believe.....the evil is done, surely, when we treat living creatures in a cruel and inhumane fashion.....as commodities or products with little consideration for their environmental evolution, physical, behavioral or social traits and for their ability to experience pain, discomfort and psychological disturbance.

We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of this author.