H1N1 flu virus Redux.

I'm sure everyone is probably already annoyed at the overwhelming coverage mainstream media has been giving the recent swine flu outbreak. What hasn't received as much press coverage is the senseless slaughter of pigs and import bans issued by some countries.

In case we are unclear, there is no evidence that humans can acquire swine flu from the consumption of pork.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian government began slaughtering some 300,000 pigs, as a "precautionary" measure against swine flu. One might then naturally wonder... isn't Egypt a predominately Muslim country? Isn't pork haraam? Why are there even pigs being farmed in Egypt? Well there are about 10% Coptic Christians in Egypt. Because most Christians, by tradition, do not observe dietary restrictions, pork is naturally one of the most economical source of animal protein.

Basically, in the name of "public health," a disparate minority group is going to bear the blunt of the economic impact. The Egyptian government is doing this because of idiotic and stupid leaders and bureaucrats, and/or out of malicious intent. Which is it? Too early to tell.

Other countries, including China and Russia, have began banning pork products from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. I suspect whether this is an instance of where some states are using the health scare as a pretext to impose some anti-competitive barriers. Particularly in the case of Russia, which hasn't yet been admitted into the WTO (largely due to the Bush administration), and may be using this as an opportunity to increase multinational incentives for Russia's admission to the WTO.

But even if we took these countries' supposed "health concerns" at face value, who are the health experts making these policies up? If anything, we should be increasing pork consumption and reduce the number of live animals.

The plummeting pork prices is tempting me to make pork katsu and eat it everyday from now until the bar exam in July.

Disclaimer - this is tongue in cheek, it appears at the most current medical updates say that the virus has been spreading between living human beings, and not from live pigs to humans; I am not seriously suggesting that live pigs are constantly transmitting the disease to humans.