ABSTRACT
Since the avian flu outbreak began in Southeast Asia in late 2003, public health officials, farmers, veterinarians, government officials, and the media have referred to the disease as a natural disaster, implying it was impossible to prevent. But this highly virulent form of avian flu did not just “happen.” Avian flu, mad cow disease, and other recent diseases that can spread from animals to humans are symptoms of a larger change taking place in agriculture. Industrial animal production, or factory farming, is spreading around the world, swallowing up small farms and indigenous animal breeds and concentrating meat production in the hands of a few large companies.
