Getting to the Bottom of Swine Flu

Getting to the Bottom of Swine Flu. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and prevention say there’s no evidence to date that swine have been infected by a dangerous new swine flu variant. Still, the new flu has impacted trade flows. USDA says swine flu viruses are not transmitted by food--including pork--only by contact with infected animals, or through human-to-human contact. USDA’s put pork producers on high alert for pork safety…and the agency is reaching out to state ag officials to monitor for any sign of the new strain. But National Pork Producer’s Nick Giordano says none of this has stopped Russia and China from banning pork from affected states, Kansas, Texas and California

GIORDANO: Russia and China should not be doing this because it’s clear based not only on U.S. government authorities, private sector authorities but also the World Health Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health that this disease is not transmissible through pork. This is a human to human transmission.

Giordano calls it “protectionism, plain and simple.”

GIORDANO: This is a terrible precedent because it’s not based on science and it appears to be based purely on protectionism and it really follows a pattern here where both of the countries and in particular Russia have willy nilly over the past couple of years delisted U.S. facilities not for scientific reasons but for purely political reasons.

Giordano says Russia and China have been clear about their intention to “build up their pork industry.” And Russia has already de-listed half of U.S. productive capacity for that country. Russia was the number 5-customer for U.S. pork last year on a value basis, China was second. Giordano talks about Washington’s role, now.

GIORDANO: Well I think the U.S. government is very upset about the situation and they know full well that there’s no connection here between the disease and eating pork. Like the international authorities, the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, Centers for Disease Control, Health and Human Services, go down the list – every expert has said there is no connection to pork.

Giordano says NPPC’s not asking for any U.S. retaliation yet, but expects the Obama administration to “reach out” to Moscow and Beijing to express U.S. “frustration.”

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.