The international grassroots campaigning organisation AVAAZ stopped traffic in Geneva on May 27th as they descended on the World Health Organization (WHO) with a herd of cardboard pigs to deliver a swine flu petition! The 225 cardboard pigs represented 225,000 Avaaz members that had signed the petition. Avaaz reports: “We certainly got our message across -- our campaign delivery went out around the world on ABC news, EFE TV, the Wall Street Journal, France 24, Kuwait News Agency, and Intellasia - as well as many other major news outlets all over the world (see coverage).
“When we handed over our petition, it became apparent how important our campaigning was and how valid our concerns were. Initially, the World Health Organization's Food Safety and Zoonoses director, Dr. Jørgen Schlundt, told us that the WHO and the FAO had not found a link between the H1N1 virus and a factory farm and that the source was still under investigation.
“But he then admitted that scientists have seen more disease breeding and mutating between animals and humans with the massive increase in industrial meat production; he agreed that certain company's farming practices (Smithfields in this case) were dangerous; he warned that new operations propagating in developing countries could make 'mistakes' that could be seriously risky to human health; and most importantly he indicated that the political processes that determine the research and rules on factory farm biosafety are dominated by the industrial meat lobby.
“He made clear that strong global regulations are essential, but unless there is a huge deadly scare like BSE, scientists are unable to push through the laws needed to prevent animal borne pandemics.
“The message was clear - our public campaigning for investigation and regulation of factory farms is vital to ensure our food safety and counter the powerful meat industry.
“Our action showed the WHO that the world does not want to wait for another disaster - we want funding for scientists to investigate factory farms and we want preventive measures put in place that ensure public health standards. Thank you again for taking action!
“With appreciation and conviction that together we can achieve the world we want,
Alice, Pascal and the rest of the Avaaz team.”