Posted: May 15th, 2009 - 12:13pm
Source: Link

Cate Dewey, a professor of swine health management and epidemiology at the Ontario Veterinary College, chair of the department of population medicine at the University of Guelph and a member of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, writes that given the recent hysteria about pork and pigs, it amazes me that Canadians eat at all.
Pork is a safe, wholesome and nutritious food choice, a fact muddied by an official from the World Health Organization who mixed half-truths with inaccuracies in an alarmist statement that circled the globe. He raised fear and doubt because he hadn't taken the time to read the science that clearly refutes his statements.
First, it's important to realize people cannot become ill from eating pork because the meat cannot be infected with the influenza virus. In a pig, the virus grows only in the lungs and upper respiratory tract; it doesn't go into the blood stream or muscles.
To become infected with the influenza virus, a pig has to share the same air space as another pig or a person who is infected with the virus. An infected person who sneezes or coughs produces up to 20,000 droplets. Each droplet carries many viruses. When these droplets are inhaled by a pig, it becomes infected with influenza. Once inhaled, the influenza viruses begin to multiply in the pig's respiratory tract.
To multiply, a virus must enter a cell. The influenza virus attaches to a receptor site on the outside of a cell. Only cells in the respiratory tract - lungs, nose, trachea, bronchi and bronchioles - have these receptor sites. Once inside, the virus enters the cell's nucleus, where it unravels itself and then makes copies of each of the genetic components. These copies rejoin to make many copies of the virus that invaded the cell in the first place. Cells in the blood stream and the muscles do not have receptor sites for the influenza virus. Hence, the virus cannot live, grow or multiply in these tissues.
When a pig infected with the influenza virus sneezes or coughs, the air around the pig is filled with droplets that contain virus particles. A new pig will become infected when it breaths in these droplets. A person working in close proximity to the pig may also become infected. The person needs to breathe the same air as the pig if the virus is to be transmitted from a pig to a person. Pigs do not shed the virus for long: They begin shedding it one day after becoming infected, and stop shedding after seven days.
Pigs infected with the influenza virus will have a high fever, stop eating, look depressed and spend most of their time lying down and sleeping. They are reluctant to get up or walk around. These clinical signs are due to the body's reaction to the virus.
Rest assured that a sick pig will not make it to your plate. Pigs that arrive at an abattoir in Canada are examined by a veterinarian or health inspector before they are processed. If a pig is ill or fevered, it is euthanized on arrival at the abattoir. It is not mixed with the other pigs; its meat is not used for human consumption.
Canada's food safety standards are among the most stringent in the world. Strict guidelines, based on the Canadian Quality Assurance program, govern how farmers raise pigs. It is an on-farm quality-control program that is administered by government officials and veterinarians.
By using the adjective "swine" when describing this H1N1 influenza A human pandemic, we have effectively bankrupted many Canadian pork producers. Because the value of a pig has dropped 13 per cent, it now costs more to feed a pig than the farmer receives in return. He is losing money on every pig he sells.
The bottom line: Pigs are not responsible for this pandemic and pork is safe. This H1N1 influenza A virus is spread from one person to another person. Our reaction to the word "swine" has hurt our farmers. It's time to act. The only way the price of pigs will go up is if Canadians eat pork from pigs raised in Canada. Put pork on your fork!