[Reader-list] On The Globalization of Disease

[Paul D. Miller]

How to argue with an observation that "A misplaced priority on profits over human health in the context of a globalized world led to this epidemic
and its possibilities becoming the world's latest
pandemic..."

Paul


Mexico's Swine Flu and the Globalization of Disease

Laura Carlsen
Americas MexicoBlog
http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/04/mexicos-swine-flu-and-globalization-of.html

Mexico has long been considered the laboratory of
globalization. Now a potentially deadly virus has
germinated in that laboratory, finding ideal conditions
to move quickly along a path toward global pandemic.

Those conditions include: a rapid transition from small
livestock production to industrial meat farms after
NAFTA established incentives for foreign investment,
the failed decentralization of Mexico's health system
along lines established by multilateral lending banks,
lax and non-enforced environmental and health
regulations as the Mexican government was forced to
downsize, the increased flow of goods and persons
across borders, and restricted access to life-saving
medicines due to NAFTA intellectual property monopolies
for pharmaceutical companies.

Mexico under Medical Siege

The swine flu alert in Mexico rose to a level four this
week, meaning that it is spreading human-to-human and
shows a significant increase in the risk of becoming a
pandemic. Schools are closed until at least May 6. The
Mexico City government shut down the city's 35,000
restaurants on Monday. Countries including Canada,
Argentina, and several European nations have cancelled
flights between Mexico in an effort to contain the
spread of the new flu, although Keiji Fukuda of the WHO
noted, 'closing borders or restricting travel has
really little effect in stopping the movement of this
virus' now that cases are appearing across the globe.

Here in Mexico City, all public events have been
cancelled and people have flocked to the supermarkets
in surgical masks to stock up on food. I had to go out
yesterday and discovered less traffic (small
consolation) but a fairly normal number of people in
the streets, many wearing the recommended masks.
Traditional practices of greeting each other with
kisses and handshakes have been suspended and a cough
is seen as tantamount to assault.

But I didn't feel an atmosphere of panic. Mexicans seem
to have accepted the epidemic and changes in their
lives with a combination of cultural fatalism and
survival instincts although many are skeptical of the
government's claims and the measures taken.

The media has been providing a steady stream of real
and generally non-alarmist information out about the
risks. The flu is a mutant form of swine flu, human
seasonal flu and bird flu. In itself, it is not lethal
but it leads to complications of 'atypical pneumonia'.
It's atypical because it's out of season and because
victims tend to concentrate in the middle age range.
Unlike regular pneumonia that picks off the very young
and the very old, deaths of this virus tend to be
within the 20-40 range. No-one seems to know exactly
why this is. In fact, it is the newness of the virus
that has raised the alarm. It can be treated
successfully with anti-virals but there is no vaccine
for it.

The strategy is to avoid enclosed spaces with large
numbers of people. Although people are obeying the
measures and following recommendations, increasing
doubts exist about the transparency and honesty of
government information. A press conference by the
Secretaries of Health and Labor on April 29 ended in
chaos, with reporters yelling out questions to clear up
contradictions between the official version that only
26 cases of swine flu had been confirmed in Mexico and
reports of far greater numbers.

Swine Flu and the Smithfield Connection 

Because of the population density of Mexico City it
continues to be the center of the epidemic. Of the
seven deaths from swine flu confirmed by the Mexican
government and the WHO, all were in Mexico City-six in
the delegation where we live.

However, the first reports came from Perote, Veracruz--
home to a huge hog farm co-owned and operated by the
U.S. transnational industrial livestock company
Smithfield and a Mexican company. In early March, local
health officials proclaimed an epidemiological alert
due to a flu with the exact same characteristics. La
Jornada reported that Perote officials claimed 60% of
the population suffered from flu, pneumonia and
bronchitis. Federal health officials reportedly ignored
the complaints until April 5, when they placed sanitary
restrictions on Carroll Farms. Mexico's Secretary of
Health Jose Angel Cordova discarded the theory that the
flu originated in the hog farms of Perote. But the
information provided led to more confusion than clarity
about that. This needs to be independently and
seriously analyzed because the fact remains that the
people in Perote show high indices of similar and
unexplained illnesses and the government information is
partial and inconclusive.

Silvia Ribeiro of the ETC Group told the Americas
Program that Mexican officials 'act like this is
something that fell from the sky, but we've known for a
long time that industrial livestock operations,
especially hogs, are a breeding ground for recombinant
viruses. Carroll Farms is just one example, an
important one in this case, but it's also true of
industrial chicken farms.' Anybody who has seen an
industrial hog farm knows the risk of disease. The
unimaginable concentrations of filth, corrals filled
with sick and suffering animals pumped full of
antibiotics, and buzzing with flies that then carry
disease to the human population create a disease
paradise.

As Mike Davis points out, 'The paradox of this swine
flu panic is that, while totally unexpected, it was
accurately predicted. Six years ago, Science dedicated
a major story to evidence that "after years of
stability, the North American swine flu virus has
jumped onto an evolutionary fast track".

NAFTA unleashed the spread of industrial livestock
farms in Mexico by creating investment incentives for
transnational companies to relocate operations there.
The 'race to the bottom' -- where companies move
production to areas where environmental and health
restrictions and enforcement are low, is exemplified in
livestock farming.

Smithfield has had more than its share of legal
problems stemming from its operations in the United
States. Most recently it announced a decision to reject
a $75 million dollar settlement on claims brought in
Missouri by residents complaining of the stench. On
August 8, 1997 a federal court judge in Virginia
imposed a $12.6 million fine on Smithfield Foods for
violation of the Clean Water Act. In September of 1999
an appeal upheld the ruling.

In 1994, the year NAFTA went into effect, Smithfield
established the Perote operations with the Mexican
agrobusiness AMSA (Agroindustrias Unidas de México S.A.
de C.V.). In 1999 it bought the U.S. company Carroll's
Foods for $500 million and began rapid expanision of
its operations in Perote.

Banking on Disease 

Livestock transnationals are not the only economic
interests involved in preserving the dangerous
situation that led to this epidemic. In an article
entitled 'An epidemic of profiteering', she notes that
the epidemic means big business for the pharmaceutical
companies who hold patents on anti-viral medicines.
'Shares in Gilead rose 3%, Roche 4% and Glaxo 6%, and
that's only the beginning.'

Also to blame is neoliberal globalization and its
impact on human health. Ribeiro has in interesting
theory on why Mexico City is the focal point of the
virus. 'People living in the city--and in a way the
city itself--suffer from a depressed immunological
system. Especially for the poor, the lack of public
services, water and health services, stress and poor
nutrition means that people die not only from increased
contagion but also from low defenses here.'

Mexico's grand experiment in sink or swim neoliberalism
included privatization and erosion of health systems
and basic services. Mexican health policy expert
Gustavo Leal told the CIP Americas Program that 'the
notorious delay in the response of the federal
government can be attributed in part to the
decentralization of healthcare promoted by
international finance institutions such as the World
Bank. 'This broke down the chain of command and the
flow of information,' Leal said. Tellingly, the health
care network that has responded most vigorously to the
Mexican swine flu epidemic has been the Mexican Social
Security Institute (IMSS), an institute that
conservatives and the same IFIs have been trying to
privatize for years. Armies of IMSS healthcare
professionals are attending to cases and reporting from
the field throughout the country.

SPP: Integrated Risk Management or Integrated Risks?

It's ironic and inexcusable that the most integrated
region in the world responded so poorly to the recent
epidemic. One of the main selling points for the
extension of NAFTA into the Security and Prosperity
Partnership (SPP) was that a working group was
preparing integrated response to epidemics that would
make all North Americans safer. In fact, this was one
of the few publically announced activities of the
secretive working groups that primarily devote their
activities to making it easier for the Smithfields and
Tysons to do business throughout the continent.

The SPP North American Plan declares that it provides a
framework to accomplish the following: * Detect,
contain and control an avian influenza outbreak and
prevent transmission to humans; * Prevent or slow the
entry of a new strain of human influenza into North
America; * Minimize illness and deaths; and * Sustain
infrastructure and mitigate the impact to the economy
and the functioning of society

The Plan supposedly established mechanisms to
coordinate actions, monitor outbreaks, and supervise
animal farms.

Mexico despite being a poor country with greater risk
of disease, had not received the technology needed to
immediately analyze flu strains so had to send samples
to the Canadian Health Ministry and the Center for
Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta for analysis. About a
week was lost in this process. Moreover, as mentioned
the CDC didn't respond quickly or effectively.

Where was this plan when Perote was reporting illness
and a local epidemic way back in March? Has this group
done serious research on the risks of industrial
livestock production? Why did the CDC take nearly a
week to respond to reports of the Mexican epidemic?

The answers lie in what Davis refers to as the 'global
political clout' of the livestock transnationals.
Another hint can be found in this phrase from the SPP
announcement: 'Central to the Plan is a North American
approach that undertakes measures to maintain the flow
of people, services, and cargo across the borders
during a severe pandemic while striving to protect our
citizens.'

As is the case with all of NAFTA, the top priority is
business as usual. While closing the borders is not the
answer, an investigation into the root causes of the
epidemic must lead to a full accounting of the risks of
globalization and industrial farming. Poor countries
with poor health run the greatest risks and yet the
current system gives their concerns short shrift and
little resources.

A misplaced priority on profits over human health in
the context of a globalized world led to this epidemic
and its possibilities becoming the world's latest
pandemic.

For More Information:

    * How the NAFTA Flu Exploded (Al Giordano,
    29/04/09)
    http://www.narconews.com/Issue57/article3512.html *
    Swine flu, border security and public priorities
    (Kent Paterson, 28/04/09)
    http://www.newspapertree.com/opinion/3738-swine-
    flu-border-security-and-public-priorities * Swine-
    flu outbreak could be linked to Smithfield factory
    farms (Tom Philpot, 25/04/09)
    http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-
    smithfield