As the U.S. government and the CDC gear up for a possible third wave of the swine flu which may hit in early spring, tens of thousands of chickens are being stashed in secret facilities with one goal in mind – lay as many eggs as possible.
A story from The Wall Street Journal revealed that top secret egg farms have cropped up in several locations in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. They are so secret, most of the people living in the area have no idea they are there.
The mission for the chickens and roosters on the farms is to create enough fertilized eggs to “keep supplies of the swine-flu vaccine flowing.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that “the stark, windowless warehouses require electronic pin codes and hazmat-style jumpsuits to enter. A sign on a metal gate ominously warns that it is a Disease Control Area.”
Fertilized eggs have been the essential ingredient for making flu vaccines for the past 60 years. Not having enough of these eggs translates into a shortage of vaccines for the public.
With the fear of a pandemic sometime in the future, the U.S. government has gotten behind the production of fertilized eggs and helped to create the top secret egg farms. They are kept in protected facilities because of potential “terrorist attacks” or out of fear of being “struck by chicken-killing pathogens.”
“The government wanted a ‘secure system to protect these birds,’ with ‘very strict conditions for the entry and exit of people and product,” Robin Robinson of the Department of Health and Human Services told the WSJ. She is the creator behind the program.
Two different pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi-Aventis SA and GlaxoSmithKline PLC reported needing 600,000 to 800,000 eggs a day for their “global swine-flu-vaccine production.”
From the outside it appears the program is a win-win for the hens and roosters and the government. The animals are handled with care and given a special diet. They live in an “open-floor system” in a barn that allows them to roam around freely and where the temperature and humidity are constantly controlled.
However after closer inspection, the WSJ learned that after nine months of service to their country and to the world – the hens are euthanized. The pharmaceutical companies and the Department of Health and Human Services believe older chickens cannot lay “optimal eggs,” so sadly their lives are ended.
To read the entire story click on Wall Street Journal.
Read more: animal welfare, chickens in secret egg farms, swine flu vaccine production
free digital photos
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
thanks for article
Hopefully it is not too late to make a difference.
Interesting debate about whether or not Jenny McCarthy is using a constructive way to draw awareness…
134 comments
+ add your ownThank you, this is interesting.
..
interesting
Who's gonna, or can stop this?
Yes it sounds as if they're treated lovingly until you get to the oh yes then they're "euthanized" part. That's awful.
It all sounds great until you get to the euthanizing part. Couldn't they just keep them?
So taxpayers pay for the eggs, big pharma profits from the eggs and who gets's the bodies of the killed ones? Kentucky Fried? Sounds like a cover story for full scale corruption to me.
But then perhaps i am a cynic, not believing in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, that 'the policeman is my best friend', or that 'the government cares only for my personal well being' .
Aaron H. You are a vegan??? Don't they use NOTHING involving an animal??? Wouldn't that also then, be anything where an animal was used for testing/torture? Like any medical procedures, medicines, vaccinations. Or do vegans just select whichever is best for them???
WHAT gives us the right to torture and kill animals for our own selfish greedy purposes?? Animal testing is dangerous to humans.
hmm...
Afred Donovan, many more than 100,000,000 people die every year. This works out at above 250,000 a day, say 12,000 an hour, 200 every minute, more than three every second, mainly of natural causes, though stupid drivers and the butchering military help to keep up the numbers. (If your child is looking for steady employment you could do worse than suggesting that of a mortician.) This puts into perspective the infinitely small numbers of fatalities resulting from swine, avian and other flus. The talk of pandemic is hogwash designed to put money into pharmacists pockets. The worry engendered by those dire pronouncements can itself prove damaging to health.
Another contributor to these columns informs me that the World Health Organisation faces investigation concerning a considerable donation that it received from a large pharmaceutical company. It is high time that panic-spreading blather, as well as the senseless exploitation of fowls, ceased. Anyway the human race has survived any number of really lethal plagues and "unsanitary conditions" yet has multiplied prodigously. Stop panicking and spreading panic.
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment
20