At the Root of All Flu Pandemics Is the Filth in Which Confined, Stressed Pigs and Birds Incubate Disease

For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2009

Contact:
Nicole Matthews 757-622-7382

Washington -- On the heels of reports that the U.S. has suffered its first swine flu fatality of the current outbreak, PETA has submitted an application to the Capitol Police to set up an exhibit on the steps of the U.S. Capitol that's sure to raise a "stink": a hog farm, complete with gallons of urine, tons of manure, and a fan to blow the odors around. PETA aims to give lawmakers, visitors, and others a look at the cruelty and unsanitary conditions of factory farms and hopes to persuade them to try a vegetarian diet.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 to 50 percent of commercial pigs in the U.S. have been infected with some strain of swine flu. Animals on factory farms are crammed by the tens of thousands into extremely crowded, barren concrete crates inside filthy sheds and are slaughtered on killing floors that are contaminated with feces, vomit, and other bodily fluids. These conditions have led to a rise in foodborne pathogens such as E. coli, campylobacter, salmonella, listeria, and other organisms that originate in the intestinal tracts and feces of animals. As their names imply, swine flu and avian flu come from pigs and birds, and the viruses that cause them often mutate into pathogens that can afflict humans.

PETA's display will include the following:

* A total of 3,500 1-gallon buckets of pig manure and urine to represent the 3,500 tons of polluting animal waste that the average factory farm produces each year
* Large fans to send the odors wafting throughout the plaza
* Three "pigs" in narrow metal crates to represent the 3 million mother pigs who are so severely confined that they are unable even to turn around or take a single step in any direction
* A video showing PETA's undercover footage taken inside factory farms of pigs who scream as workers cut out their testicles and teeth without using any painkillers, cut notches in the animals' ears, and much more
* A banner that reads, "Ban Factory Farming--Go Vegetarian. PETA"
* A stand for distributing copies of PETA's free "Vegetarian Starter Kit"

"Meat has long been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer, but disease-breeding factory farms could be the death of us all," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "The best way to protect animals and our own health--individually and globally--is to go vegetarian."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.