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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Swine Flu in WI: A Case of I Told You So?

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Tuesday, May 5, 2009   

Madison, WI - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed at least three cases of H1N1 flu (swine flu) in Wisconsin. While it is unclear where the current strain of the swine flu originated and how it is spreading, one expert says the clues are pointing to industrial hog farms in the same area as the first documented cases.

Wisconsin is currently home to 184 of these large farms, called concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs. The state designates a farm as a CAFO if there are more than 1,000 animals on the property.

Pew Environment Group senior officer Bob Martin says a study Pew released last year predicted this worldwide scenario and warned of the connection to CAFOs - and the need for safer conditions for animals, and thus, humans. He says there's no proof of where the current flu strain came from yet, but the outbreak is no surprise.

"A year ago, we released a report, and we said this is a very strong worry we have. We really, at that time, were saying it's not a matter of if, but when."

The report recommends farm workers be tested for flu regularly because the first wave of people infected often show no symptoms. The company that owns concentrated animal feeding operations in the area of the first flu cases has said it is impossible the virus came from their facilities because their testing shows the virus is not present in the animals.

Martin says eating pork products will not expose anyone to the virus. But the close proximity of animals in industrial operations allows them to pass viruses back and forth, which can lead to mutations able to make the jump to workers in contact with the animals eight hours a day.

"They're like viral incubators – there might be 10,000 to 15,000 pigs in one facility. Workers in the barn, in the environment, have prolonged exposure with the pigs."

Wisconsin's CAFO rules have been in place since 1984 and some are suggesting tighter regulations.

The Pew report is at www.ncifap.org.




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