There are a number of health concerns facing the world right now. I have attempted to address these in my blogs going several years back and though it is not pleasant to review my previous speculations it may be instructive.
My main concern is the very large stone of possible world famine thrown into the world arena=pond several years ago and beating it's way across the middle east into Asia. It is the disease affecting wheat, and seems to have penetrated into Iranian farm lands on it's way into Afghanistan. We should all be concerned as this old danger continues to threaten world stability, take lives, and may bring about failure in attempts to help establish the bases for democracy in Afghanistan.
Left unsolved the problems associated with weaknesses of wheat harvest protection could foster reckless food production of chicken by those threatened by starvation. What we are seeing in the deaths in Egypt due to bird flu is a possible harbinger of worse disease epidemics to come? At the root of the problem is starvation, small farms being put out of production by larger industrial farms. Ever wonder why income distributions correlate with economies of scale?!
On it's own bird flu is not so much a general worry because it dies not seem to spread widely except through areas where people are already experiencing tremendous strain to survive. In thebwaybit spreads, Bird flu is more than one pebble thrown into the world pond and it's frequency of distribution may be correlated with hunger. We see failure to produce enough wheat or the over pricing of rice or rice shortages.
The distribution of some famines and that of bird flu may be correlated. Fighting one may fight the other. Protecting wheat crops in Afghanistan may help reduce the spread of bird flu. Think of a huge number of pebbles thrown into the world pond and you have the risk of bird flu.
The other stone thrown into the pond is that of swine flu. Around the generators of swine flu, the huge polluting factory farms of swine, the risks of generating novel swine flus would predictably be higher.
By being more human to our swine we may save the planet from future pandemics and novel virus strains, over the long term.
Right now the economies of scale of crouding more and more pigs into larger and larger factories is like throwing a huge stone into our world health pond. The risks from new and more virilant strains of swine flu are still being generated by huge unhealthy factory pig farms located in almost every country around the globe.
It is the economics of the technologies of farming on ever increasing scales of food such as wheat, rice, chicken and swine that precurse the presence of novel and dangerous viruses.
If the technology of large scale farming does not produce dangerous flus then that is the greater mystery or the worst of health cover ups.
the upscaling of agriculurtural technologies so as to bring about economies of large scale industry allows for an increasing tof he risks of bigger and bigger systems of waves of disease as we create stronger and stranger varieties of virus. Large scale production also breeds the feeding grounds for catastrophic events such as would happen as enormous plants fail to produce or create unhealthy conditions in the surrounding communities, the spoiling of land habitats for wild animals and vegetations, the overspecialization of types of strains of DNA or methods of manufacture using energy or technologies that express themselves as strains on other technologies, DNAs, wild
life and humane communities, general health of wild and domesticated systems.
Now what should happen in communities where large scale production of pork and chicken co-exist. Yes, the risk of novel diseases goes up as it is less and less healthier for the poor pigs and chickens, or as less care is taken about sanitation and people or creatures in the surrounding areas are placed at greater inconvenience, or risks.
On the really large scale disaster scenario, we need only large wave of fast spreading swine flu to mix with one small but deadly wave of bird flu and presto we have a novel flu that spreads fast and wide and kills like a plague.
Make no mistake, it is the emerging risks of large scale agriculture and production that place humanity in this danger area. The economics of scale in production should be appropriately TAXED to account for these risks.
The burden on world health costs should be born increasingly by large scale industrial farms who are making excessive profits and destroying more balanced income distrutions. To cover our costs, we should prepare our representives in government for placing the costs of antivirals and vaccines onto the shoulders of those who create the greatest risks. They are the upscale swine and chicken farm multinationals who do not allow inspection of their plant by health inspectorates.
We should have world health police to inspect the environments that pose us greatest risk of novel and dangerous disease. Perhaps, it is large industrial farms that head this list!
Smaller is more beautiful, and safer for the world community.