sd gross
05-02-2009, 12:13 PM
Kill the Pigs?!
:piggy::piggy::piggy::piggy::piggy::piggy:
Outrageous! Yet Egypt has begun forcibly slaughtering the country's pig herds, destroying the livelihood of members of the Coptic Christian minority and breaking the hearts of sows, piglets and boars from Cairo to Alexandria.
Widening the rift between the Muslim majority and the the Coptic Christian (10% of the population) minority, Egyptian health officials explained the government's decision to kill 300,000 "perfectly healthy" pigs as a "general health measure".
Poor farmers arise at 4 a.m. to collect trash around Cairo, later sorting out what they can sell around Cairo's booming scrap markets and what they can use as pig feed. Barsoum Girgis, a 26-year-old pig farmer lives with an extended family of some 30 people in the first two floors of a building that leans against a cliff with 60 small pigs inhabiting the ground floor. Dark and furry, the pigs' squeals can be heard a block away. "How am I going to feed my children and send them to school?", asks Girgis,
International health officials from W.H.O. claim the decision to murder the pigs has no scientific basis and is "a real mistake". "We don't see any evidence that anyone is getting infected from pigs" said W.H.O.'s assistant director general, Keija Fukuda. "This appears to be a virus which moves from person to person. Reporting a grand total of ZERO cases, the Agriculture Ministry's head of Infectious Diseases, Saber Abdel Aziz Galal, who apparently speaks for the Egyptian Muslims who comprise 90% of the population claims "it's good to restructure this kind of breeding in good farms, not on rubbish" adding " new farms will be built in special areas, and the pigs will return". (He didn't specify which of the returnees would be among those executed).
Initially it was promised the farmers would be paid, but there's no immediate plan in place to compensate farmers for their losses.
Sipping tea in a Cairo teahouse, 50-year-old accountant Mohsen Hamady agreed with the planned extermination saying, "Now we know there is a reason God bans pigs, they spread sickness."
Ironically, the recent outbreak dubbed Swine Flu (because some scientists believe it might have started with pigs, perhaps years ago), is now officially called A (H1N1).
World Health Organization officials regretting the overreaction of those who are taking out their anger and frustration on pigs, changed the flu's name to A(H1N1) in an effort to reduce the stigma and reactionary impact upon those who already suffer due to their low social status. They've also voiced concerns over how so-called "literalists" might react to outbreaks of "kneemonia" and "toemaine" poisoning, and shudder at the prospect of public outcry should there be reported cases of "prickly heat".
We'd like to propose a "name that disease" contest - something easier to remember the A(H1N1) - and not as likely to cause panic and overreaction throughout the World.
If anyone has any ideas, we'd love to hear them.
:piggy::piggy::piggy::piggy::piggy::piggy:
Outrageous! Yet Egypt has begun forcibly slaughtering the country's pig herds, destroying the livelihood of members of the Coptic Christian minority and breaking the hearts of sows, piglets and boars from Cairo to Alexandria.
Widening the rift between the Muslim majority and the the Coptic Christian (10% of the population) minority, Egyptian health officials explained the government's decision to kill 300,000 "perfectly healthy" pigs as a "general health measure".
Poor farmers arise at 4 a.m. to collect trash around Cairo, later sorting out what they can sell around Cairo's booming scrap markets and what they can use as pig feed. Barsoum Girgis, a 26-year-old pig farmer lives with an extended family of some 30 people in the first two floors of a building that leans against a cliff with 60 small pigs inhabiting the ground floor. Dark and furry, the pigs' squeals can be heard a block away. "How am I going to feed my children and send them to school?", asks Girgis,
International health officials from W.H.O. claim the decision to murder the pigs has no scientific basis and is "a real mistake". "We don't see any evidence that anyone is getting infected from pigs" said W.H.O.'s assistant director general, Keija Fukuda. "This appears to be a virus which moves from person to person. Reporting a grand total of ZERO cases, the Agriculture Ministry's head of Infectious Diseases, Saber Abdel Aziz Galal, who apparently speaks for the Egyptian Muslims who comprise 90% of the population claims "it's good to restructure this kind of breeding in good farms, not on rubbish" adding " new farms will be built in special areas, and the pigs will return". (He didn't specify which of the returnees would be among those executed).
Initially it was promised the farmers would be paid, but there's no immediate plan in place to compensate farmers for their losses.
Sipping tea in a Cairo teahouse, 50-year-old accountant Mohsen Hamady agreed with the planned extermination saying, "Now we know there is a reason God bans pigs, they spread sickness."
Ironically, the recent outbreak dubbed Swine Flu (because some scientists believe it might have started with pigs, perhaps years ago), is now officially called A (H1N1).
World Health Organization officials regretting the overreaction of those who are taking out their anger and frustration on pigs, changed the flu's name to A(H1N1) in an effort to reduce the stigma and reactionary impact upon those who already suffer due to their low social status. They've also voiced concerns over how so-called "literalists" might react to outbreaks of "kneemonia" and "toemaine" poisoning, and shudder at the prospect of public outcry should there be reported cases of "prickly heat".
We'd like to propose a "name that disease" contest - something easier to remember the A(H1N1) - and not as likely to cause panic and overreaction throughout the World.
If anyone has any ideas, we'd love to hear them.