Avian Flu Outbreak Among Chickens—How Long Can we Continue this Failed Food System?

Three large egg-producing states in the US are in the midst of an avian flu outbreak. Iowa declared a state of emergency on May 1. Minnesota and Wisconsin declared states of emergency last month. It’s estimated that 25 percent of all chickens in Iowa have been infected, and millions of chickens and turkeys in the three states have already been killed in an effort to contain the disease. This outbreak is really not surprising. In fact, it's exactly what you can expect when you dramatically disrupt the natural order of things, and produce food under wholly unnatural circumstances. Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are major warehouse-style growing facilities where animals are crowded together by the thousands, or in the case of chickens, tens of thousands. These animals are fed a completely unnatural diet of glyphosate-containing genetically engineered (GE) grains mixed with antibiotics—a surefire recipe for drug resistance and out-of-control spread of disease