PIG BUSINESS was broadcast last night on More 4.  A MUST watch for
everyone in Britain, America and Europe.

I would like the add the following points:

1.      I do not think, in the absence of reliable information, that
the antibiotics in manufactured pig feed were the major cause of "pig"
MRSA. I believe the major cause from properly legally prescribed
antibiotics to deal with the consequences of circovirus epidemics
dating back to mutated circovirus (PMWS - PDNS etc from 1999 onwards.)

2.      I believe that MRSA has been in British pigs for at least five
years and that information has been deliberately withheld from public
knowledge by Britain's agriculture ministry - Defra.

3.      I do believe that Britain's vets, pig and pork workers should
have been subject to "special" screening for MRSA on, or prior, to
hospital entry, as well as routinely at place of employment.

Most of my regular readers know all this well. One man can hardly have
done more to bring a disgraceful scandal to public attention.

Most of the details can be found on the newsgroup
uk.business.agriculture - held offshore safe from British government
tampering - accessible and searchable from Google Groups.

Transcript:

Tracy Worcester:

"Soon after this demonstration, new and disturbing reports appeared.
People could be in danger of getting the pig strain of MRSA, a
bacterium which is resistant to antibiotics, similar to the human
strain that kills several thousand people in British hospitals every
year.   The alleged culprit?  The factory farming system, as farmer,
Richard Young explained to me."

Richard Young, Policy Advisor, Soil Association:

"One of the big weaknesses in the system is their heavy dependence on
antibiotics and the fact that causes infections which can spread from
animals to humans, such as salmonella, e.coli and campylobacter and
even MRSA and in the Netherlands, for example, where the most research
has been undertaken, 40 per cent of their pigs are carrying the strain
of MRSA that can pass to humans.   It's been spread rapidly on the pig
farm because the antibiotics that have been put in the pig feed are
actually selecting for it.   That means they kill off the other
bacteria which might provide some natural competition, but they don't
kill off the MRSA because the MRSA is resistant.   Meat which may
appear very cheap is in fact, very, very expensive and in some cases
that could be at the cost of our own lives."

Mark Enright, Prof. of Epidemiology, Imperial College:

"Because this strain's relatively common in other countries, it would
be very surprising if this pig strain of MRSA wasn't in the UK and
food chain and in the UK population.    I think that's a fear that
these animal strains, um, because we're selecting for them, we're
using antibiotics in our animal populations and they can pick up
resistance to antibiotics that we use in human health.   In general, I
don't think there's a great deal to be alarmed about.    I would like,
I think, to see farmers, certainly pig farmers, um, being offered
testing for MRSA."  

--
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/