Word: smithfield
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...suit will hinge on the fact that the first confirmed case of H1N1 appears to be a 5-year-old Mexican boy from La Gloria who lived not far from the Smithfield pork-farming operation. Local villagers had been complaining about the smell and the vast amounts of manure created by the Smithfield pig farms for some time, and H1N1 infection rates in the community were high. The idea that factory farming - where pigs are packed together closely - could provide a breeding ground for new viruses also has some scientific backing. A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts...
...initially known as swine flu could not be contracted by eating pork, consumption of pig products dropped rapidly in the wake of the virus's spread. "That is our biggest concern - the economic impact of people shying away from eating our product over fear," C. Larry Pope, CEO of Smithfield Foods, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on May 5. The National Pork Producers Council estimated that between April 24 and May 1 - the most frenzied days of the H1N1 outbreak so far - the disease cost the pork industry $7.2 million...
...Trunnell's claim goes forward, Smithfield will face more serious problems. But that's a big if. Scientists are still far from certain where the H1N1 virus originated or how long it may have been circulating in pigs or people (the first human outbreak is thought to have occurred in February). So far, no pigs have been found to be infected with the virus, other than at one farm in Canada on May 2, where the swine were actually infected by a human worker. And on May 14, Smithfield announced that Mexican authorities had completed tests of the company...
Rosenthal says he doubts the Mexican tests and wants to have the Perote pigs examined by his own experts. Having Smithfield report on the tests "is like the fox guarding the henhouse," he says. If the case goes forward, Trunnell will be suing Smithfield for up to $1 billion, which would include punitive damages, and Rosenthal indicates that he would be open to launching a class action on behalf of other H1N1 victims...
Reached for comment, Smithfield declined to discuss Trunnell's petition...