May 1, 2009

U.N. criticizes Egypt's pig slaughter

Per Al Jazeera English, the United Nations has called Egypt's decision to kill 400,000 pigs a "real mistake."

The Egyptian government initially said it called for the killing in part to prevent panic. Other countries have restricted or banned pigs and pork imports, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) has said eating pork is safe. More recently an agriculture minister in Egypt said the cull would diminish the unsanitary farming conditions in which pigs are reared in garbage-filled slums, per The Times.

Some allege the decision was prompted by religious discrimination, as pig farmers are predominantly part of the Coptic Christian minority.

Twitterers discussed the scientific merits of the situation and WHO's response.

  1. Hal Carim
    HCarim (Paris, France) H1N1 Swine Flu ... and Egypt has undertaken to slaughter its own 350K- taking care of 2 touchy issues in 1 ... http://tinyurl.com/dnl5w9
  2. Mo
    mocost (London, U.K.) @Zeinobia Scientifically and economically, the decision to kill all of Egypt's pigs does not make sense. Handwashing is the best precaution
  3. fustat
    fustat (Undisclosed) Trying to reasure society, by a measure that does not provide any real protection, is really making things worse. # swine flu # H1N1 # egypt
  4. Shannon_Iris
    Shannon_Iris (California) @cory_grimes don't you mean H1N1? The WHO changed it to avoid the slaughter of pigs thats been happening in Egypt and other places.

An earlier report by Breaking Tweets examined the response to the news from Twitterers in Egypt.

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