What Airports and Factory Farms Have in Common: The Possible Smithfield/Swine Flu Connection
By Leslie Hatfield, The Huffington Post
On my way to the W.K Kellogg Foundation’s Food & Society conference , a gathering of nearly 600 “good food” advocates, and excited about the trip, I chalked my sneezes up to allergies and several hours later, checked into a hotel in San Jose and commenced to mingle with about 600 of my cohorts. We were there to discuss solutions to the problems that ail our collective and industrialized food system, one that has had a troubling couple of years in the public health arena, having been linked to epidemics like obesity and diabetes, and outbreaks of infectious diseases like E. coli and salmonella.
Wednesday afternoon, near the end of the conference, I started feeling feverish and headachy and my “allergies” theory began to wear thin. I took some aspirin and though I hated to, I ducked out of the after-dinner socializing hours earlier than I normally would have. The next morning I woke with a ragingly stuffy head and there was no denying that I was sick. As one who cringes at others who even sniffle on planes, I started feeling guilty about the afternoon’s flights home, in the recycled air, next to some unsuspecting stranger.
Continue reading at The Huffington Post
Photo: The Pug Father/Flickr
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