The current government approach to avian influenza is flawed. The Cornucopia Institute has joined a broad coalition of stakeholder groups that are calling on USDA to change its plan for responding to a potential U.S. outbreak of bird flu. The coalition represents consumers, organic, minority and family farmers, ranchers, animal welfare advocates, contract poultry growers, poultry workers, unions, environmentalists, religious groups, social justice organizations.
The draft response plan proposed by the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service for responding to an outbreak in the U.S. does not acknowledge the risk posed by common poultry industry practices in the emergence and spread of highly-pathogenic avian influenza. Large poultry producers house hundreds of thousands of birds in close quarters providing an ideal environment for the virus to emerge and mutate.
Also, the plan does not address what will be done to protect free-range, organic and family farmers. And the plan lacks adequate protective measures for farm workers and contract growers.
To view a statement from a coalition of groups (including The Cornucopia Institute) outlining the inadequacies of the draft response plan, click on this link:
Help protect free-range, organic and family farms, and farm workers by sending comments to the USDA on the inadequacies of their Bird Flu plan. Comments should be sent by December 1, 2006 to [email protected]
You can find a sample letter by clicking here.
To view the USDA’s Draft Bird Flu plan, go to:
