As a measure to manage the purported spread of swine flu in these weeks, the Malaysian government had announced the vaccination of 1.7 million pigs with a flu vaccine that will prevent flu mutations. Although we already know that commercially-farmed animals are injected with many different doses of antibiotics, growth hormones and other chemical concoctions to prevent diseases which are caused by industrial farming methods and to quicken the rate of production to match with the consumer demands, the flu vaccine is just one more on top of this cocktail in the pork we buy from the butcher.
We probably will never know the ingredients of this flu vaccine. We know that an organisation will be making a windfall profit from supplying the vaccines. We probably will never know if this vaccine is effective. But the most scary fact which we will never know is how this vaccine will affect our bodies, when we savour that lovely roast this Sunday because the meat will taste deliciously the same.
My wish upon a star – a supplier of organic pork at my local market.