The French Rejection

No matter which way you pronounce it, they don’t want it. In English, we have several ways to say the word pig… pig, swine, hog. In like fashion, the French have several ways to pronounce pig…porc, cochon and porcine. It all means the same thing but one thing is for sure, the French don't want any of our porch or cochon. According to the Associated Press they’ve suspended imports of live pigs and certain pig products from North America and Japan in an effort to prevent the deadly porcine epidemic diarrhea virus from contaminating the food chain there. French officials have said that no cases of the virus, known as porcine epidemic diarrhea, have been recorded in France since this epidemic broke out and apparently they want to keep it that way. The virus causes severe diarrhea in newborn piglets, which then die from dehydration, and it has happened to millions of pigs worldwide. I called Dr. Bill Barton, head veterinarian for the state of Idaho. “Porcine epidemic virus, we call it PED for short, is caused by a viral organism very similar to the transmissible gastroenteritis or TGE virus which pig producers have dealt with for many many years. PED is different in that it was first time diagnosed in the US on May 2013. It is very infectious and contagious.