Posted on 09/16/2021 6:25:02 PM PDT by blam
The first outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the Western Hemisphere in four decades began on July 28 in the Dominican Republic and was confirmed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The presence of ASF has led to massive hog culling on the Caribbean island that borders Haiti. Bloomberg notes the island may have to slaughter more than half a million pigs to prevent the deadly swine fever virus from spreading.
Pork supplies are dwindling, and Dominican importers are panic buying from U.S. slaughterhouses. The latest USDA data shows U.S. exporters shipped a whopping 3,500 metric tons of pork to the Caribbean nation earlier this month – the highest on record.
Steve Meyer, an economist at Partners For Production Agriculture based in Ames, Iowa, said during a previous ASF outbreak in the 1970s, the Dominican Republic ramped up pork supplies from the U.S.
“Exporting pork to there would be easier now as more companies are set up” to do it, Meyer said.
The U.S. has taken pre-emptive measures to suppress the outbreak by creating a “protection zone” around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“USDA is committed to assisting the Dominican Republic in dealing with ASF, is offering continued testing support, and will consult with them on additional steps or actions to support response and mitigation measures,” USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said. “We will also offer similar help to Haiti, which borders the Dominican Republic and is at high risk for ASF detections.”
ASF outbreaks have ravaged hog populations in parts of Asia and Europe over the last several years. There is no vaccine against the virus, and outbreaks are usually contained by culling herds. This will only push up pork prices and drive food inflation higher – thus irritating consumers.
“Pig Ebola Outbreak”
Sounds like a SyFy channel movie.
These pigs are getting what they deserved since:
They were clearly not vaccinated.
They didn’t wear masks.
O-((((((((( Sure hope my thyroid med (comes from pig thyroid) isn’t tainted.
And a couple of months ago in Germany:
https://gizmodo.com/ebola-like-pig-illness-pops-up-in-germany-doesnt-pose-1847330628
Also it looks like 2012 had a pretty big outbreak.
Or should they just change it to WDA? Or perhaps the DRDA?
Get prices under control here before shipping our domestic product abroad.
Or...is that what the goal is behind this largesse by the Biden Administration? Put the pinch on US citizens and get that inflation pumping and pumping.
Makes me wonder if CJD was manufactured...
The USDA is taking care of the United States by stopping a disease from spreading to our pork farms. You couldn't possibly think that the introduction of ASF to the U.S. would be a good thing, would you?
The Biden administration is watching this carefully and thinking of applying this method to Americans.
Trying to raise pork prices, which, except for bacon, have been low, here at home. Beef is going sky high, except we have a local butcher shop that raises its own beef, and hasn’t raised prices in years. Grass fed, corn finished, aged to perfection. We also have a “cost plus 10%” market near by, which is selling packer cuts for really good prices. I buy whole New York strips for $4 a pound, and cut them into steaks, myself.
Often wondered if CJD was manuactured too...
That disease is also in wild animals... was visiting with someone the othrr day, who knew someone who died recently of that here in the usa...
What is interesting, is you cant kill a prion, because it isnt alive...
“You couldn’t possibly think that the introduction of ASF to the U.S. would be a good thing, would you?”
I wouldn’t, but those who want to eliminate meat from our diets might think it is just dandy.
ASF is a really nasty swine disease .
Extremely contagious , all pigs around an outbreak need to be euthanized .
Pray it doesn’t get into the US.
It would tank grain prices if it get here.
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