Despite Mr. Foer’s smug assertions on Ellen that not only has the origin already been traced to a single farm in NC, but that this is a “very, very well documented fact that nobody is talking about because it makes us feel better about ourselves to assume it came from Mexico”, we don’t in fact know that any of that is true at all. He is a an author and if we’re being charitable, a journalist, not a scientist. I’m not so cynical as to go as far as to say that his confident conspiracy weaving here is merely in the service of book sales, but I doubt it would hurt him in that regard, and the fact that this soundbite (with all its accoutrements of implied racist assumptions and liberal guilt about the plight of Mexicans) has already made the usual blogosphere rounds (Huffpo etc.) suggests that he knows exactly what he’s doing. All of the legit arguments against factory farming notwithstanding, this particular assertion is patently false and on par, at least with respect to lack of evidence, with AIDS denialism and anti-vaccinationist nonsense. By the way, if the opportunity to receive the H1N1 vaccine is availed to you. TAKE IT. Everyone is saying that it should be ‘mild’ and not a problem if you are healthy, but after spending two full days barfing my fucking guts out every hour on the hour last month, I can say there was nothing ‘mild’ about it. You probably will not die from getting swine flu, but I can say that you will certainly wish you were dead.

So okay, I’ll bite: If the North Carolina link is ‘fringe’, then what do you suggest is the mainstream view on its origin?

Regarding your response No. 1 (from Wired.com):

As Wired.com reported on Tuesday, geneticists studying the composition of viruses taken from swine flu victims described it as the product of a DNA swap between North American and Eurasian swine flu strains.

On Wednesday, Columbia University biomedical informaticist Raul Rabadan added new information on the virus’ family history in a posting to ProMed, a public health mailing list. His description paralleled that of other researchers who had analyzed the new strains, but with an extra bit of detail. Six of the genes in swine flu looked to be descended from “H1N2 and H3N2 swine viruses isolated since 1998.”

Experts contacted by Wired.com agreed with Rabadan’s analysis. For researchers who track the evolution of influenza viruses, the news was chilling.

Regarding your response No. 2 that “There are probably hundreds of possible factors involved besides a difference in milk consumption.” It’s funny that only with our health and environment–things that should matter most to humans–are we asked to “assume the best” about practices that likely are hurting us. We saw that with anti-global warming arguments. For some reason, with the environment and factory meat growing, we’re supposed to latch on to the smallest doubts to keep doing what we are doing.

Let’s forget the cancer link to dairy; what is most likely the reason for the twins? Why do we play Russian Roulette hoping for the best that the anti-biotics that we feed cows aren’t reducing their efficacy in our own bodies, and that the hormones aren’t changing our physiology.

While your supposed Ph.D. in Nutrition is sort of impressive, I’d prefer to believe a scientist like Ganmaa Davaasambuu, who is a physician (Mongolia), a Ph.D. in environmental health (Japan), a fellow (Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study), and a working scientist (Harvard School of Public Health):

“The milk we drink today is quite unlike the milk our ancestors were drinking” without apparent harm for 2,000 years, she said. “The milk we drink today may not be nature’s perfect food.”

Regarding your Number 3 – stating that there is an agenda doesn’t prove that there is, it’s just an invalid ad hominem attack. That’s all your response was.

Smithfield is one of a handful of large multinationals who are transforming global meat production from a traditional farm enterprise to factory style industrial production. Smithfield is the largest hog producer in the world and controls almost 30% of the U.S. pork market. Smithfield’s style of industrial pork production is now a major source of air pollution and probably the largest source of water pollution in America. Smithfield and its cronies have driven tens of thousands of family farmers off the land, shattered rural communities, poisoned thousands of miles of American waterways, killed billions of fish, put thousands of fishermen out of work, sickened rural residents and treated hundreds of millions of farm animals with unspeakable and unnecessary cruelty.

[Editor's note: This comment was an anonymous cut-n-paste of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s statement on Smithfield Foods that I truncated; to read the full version, go here.]

You whine that the mainstream media doesn’t present your version of the truth as often as you would like. Maybe it’s because even they would have trouble looking at themselves in the mirror knowing the have truths and out right lies they would be feeding the public. There is nothing the mainstream media like better than good horror stories and nothing they hate more than being caught report inaccuracies. Bloggers never worry about being caught, I guess.