Pandemic Bird Flu Threat Transmitted by Poultry and Eggs Prompts PETA to Warn, ‘Avoid Them Like the Plague!’

Columbus, Ga. — PETA’s brand-new (Editor's note: And showing their usual lack of good taste) bird flu billboard—which shows an ornery-looking "chicken" brandishing a machine gun with the tagline "Payback Time. Bird Flu Kills. Go Vegetarian"—won’t fly in Columbus. That’s because the ad was roundly rejected by outdoor advertisers, even though Georgia is the number one chicken producer in the country. (Editor’s note: And they really thought Georgia would greet them with open arms? Or were they just trying for maximum PR impact?) PETA’s point? To remind consumers that an addiction to poultry and eggs could lead to a bird flu pandemic. (Editor’s note: Hey, that’s playing fast and loose with science but then, we’re talking PETA here.)

Avian influenza, or bird flu, threatens humanity with what could easily be the greatest public health crisis in recorded history. Experts warn that the disease could kill one in eight human beings, including 40 million Americans, and cause a collapse of the world economy. Outbreaks of various strains of bird flu are regularly detected, including in the United States, where as recently as 2004 the disease was found in flocks in Texas and the mid-Atlantic states. (Editor’s note: Excuse me for pointing out the facts. There are several types of bird flu, including the H5 type that experts are watching. It has never been found in North America but, then, we’re talking PETA here.) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it can be caught simply by eating undercooked meat or eggs, by eating undercooked food prepared on the same cutting board as infected meat or eggs, or even by touching eggshells contaminated with the disease. (Editor’s point: CDC said that about Salmonella, NOT bird flu. Let’s get our health crises straight.)

"It’s payback time, with avian flu now showing up as a direct consequence of a very sick and cruel industry," says PETA Vegan Campaign Director Bruce Friedrich. "With diseases running rampant in crowded, filthy factory farms, not to mention the known link between meat-eating and heart disease, the safest thing to do with chicken flesh is to avoid it like the plague." (Editor’s note: Maybe he should have said “Avoid it like we avoid the facts!”)

One factory-farm chicken or turkey shed houses tens of thousands of birds who are constantly kept cooped up in their own filth, allowing diseases to spread quickly among them. Laying hens are kept in stacked cages, so that feces from the birds on top fall on the birds below. And the problem is not restricted to birds: Pigs and dairy cows, who live in similar intensively crowded and unsanitary conditions, can also get and spread this or similar viruses. (Editor’s note: A cow or pig with bird flu? Now that’s a stretch. Maybe pigs do fly in PETA's animal fantasy land?)