Word: vilsack
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...from American grain surpluses to help needy nations, is moving toward investing in farm sectors around the globe to boost productivity. "If we can help countries become more productive for themselves, then they will be in a better position to feed their own people," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said in June...
...spend at least an additional $150 million on pork products during fiscal year 2009; the industry also asked for $100 million to help survey herds for H1N1. In a similar letter from state governors, lawmakers requested that the government urge overseas markets to start buying U.S. pork again, and Vilsack said he would lean on the international trading partners who haven't yet lifted their U.S. pork bans. "Among the ones who have been open to reason and logic," he says tartly, "many of the barriers are already down." (Read "Swine Flu: Don't Blame...
...course, no H1N1 has been detected in any actual swine in the U.S., and even if it were, Vilsack stressed - his voice sometimes betraying a how-many-times-must-I-repeat-this weariness - people could not get sick by eating infected pork. H1N1 is not a hog-specific virus, Vilsack reminded reporters. "Swine flu has been present in the United States for 80 years," he said. "But H1N1 is different. It's a novel flu strain. Its genetic makeup is unique. The virus is connected to strains from three species - avian, human and swine. Unfortunately, the media gravitated toward...
...available to five veterinary-drug makers that can prepare vaccines to be rolled out if and when any herds come down sick. "By making the seed virus, we estimate we've saved two to four months of development time. We hope the manufacturers will now make the vaccine," said Vilsack. The Agriculture Department is also stepping up surveillance efforts so that any infection in any U.S. herd will be quickly reported...
...beyond the government's fiscal assistance, Vilsack maintains that the media still hold the greatest sway over potential U.S. pork consumers. "People hear the President or some other official say once or twice that pork is safe," Vilsack said, "and then they hear the term swine flu on TV and the Internet 50 times in a single day." The blame-the-media fallback is surely overstated, but for pork farmers trying to move the merch, less swine and more H1N1 in headlines will nonetheless be welcome...