Smithfield Foods' C.E.O is talking for the first time about accusations a farm partly owned by his company is the source of the Swine Flu.
NewsChannel 3's Investigator Mike Mather was the only reporter in Hampton Road to travle to La Gloria, Mexico where villager say the Smithfield farm is contaminating their town and making their kids sick.
Edgar Hernandez, 5 years old from La Gloria, is one of the first, if not the first person to catch swine flu. You'd never know it now because, a month after he fell ill, he romps outside his house chasing a soccer ball.
Edgar lives in a dry, dusty village with just one paved road. By car, La Gloria is four hours from Mexico City. By modern standards, it's a century from the city. Like most people here, Edgar and his family have very little. What has brought such big attention to this little boy in a town so tiny it doesn't appear on most maps is how he got sick, and whether the massive nearby pig farms partly owned by Virginia's Smithfield Foods played a role. When asked if he knows what made him sick, his answer, "The ice cream."
It wasn't the ice cream, but exactly what infected this boy with swine flu is a mystery to some but plain as day to others. Many in this village believe Edgar's swine flu, and a host of other illnesses that have racked these people this year, have roots in the hog farms. Edgar's mother says, "We are surrounded by farms in this area and the wind blows this way and brings all the smell here." She isn't sure if the pigs are to blame for her son's sickness. But she worries the massive pig farms are contaminating village wells, and the insects that swarm on hog waste bring germs to the children of La Gloria.
The swine flu is a new worry, but La Gloria residents have long fretted the massive amounts of waste cast off by the hog farms. Two local film makers who showed NewsChannel 3 footage say the farms came here, flush with American money, over their protests. They showed video of lagoons, which are actually pools of hog waste and dead animals, sometimes get pumped onto the fields. And that, the villagers say, brings sickness. Mexican newspapers have published pictures, showing bundles of dead pigs scattered about the property. Villagers say the farm owners promised prosperity but delivered only pestilence, saying "All we get is sickness."
Some in La Gloria say the sickness is nothing more than seasonal flu. Other say it is something worse, but they are scared to point the finger at Smithfield, fearing trouble from Mexican authorities. One woman NewsChannel 3 spoke with only agreed to the interview after being promised that the story would not be seen in Mexico. She says dissenters are threatened. In fact, Yolanda Mora, the woman who spoke so freely to us, almost didn't speak at all. When we first asked her about the farms, she said everything was fine. But after we walked away, she came after us, and said it is not fine in La Gloria. She then told us that she would like the farms to go away.
C. Larry Pope, CEO of Smithfield Food, doesn't believe the farms are making anyone sick, saying "Of course I don't. You know what we would not begin to put the public at risk here.
Granjas Carroll is the hog farm near La Gloria, that produces almost a million pigs a year. It is half-owned by Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in America. NewsChannel 3 Investigator Mike Mather told Smithfield he was traveling to Mexico and asked for a tour of the facility. That request was ignored but Sunday night, after NewsChannel 3 aired a report from La Gloria, Smithfield's public relations company called to offer an interview with the CEO. This is the first time he has addressed the controversy directly with any news media in Smithfield's home.
Pope tells NewsChannel 3 that, "had it not been called swine flu, I think Smithfield wouldn't be involved in this discussion at all. We find a little boy in Southern Mexico who gets sick, there happens to be a Smithfield facility close to that, boom, we have the linkage, by some people's standards.
When asked if he believes that Smithfield's joint operation in Veracruz has any responsibility at all for the flu outbreak, his answer was, "You don't have to take my word for it. You can take the Mexican authorities. The minister of health has said that. The governor of Veracruz has said that."
Pope tells NewsChannel 3 that he has dispatched yet another team to Veracruz, including two agriculture consultants from universities. He says a genetic test that would show whether the company's Mexican hogs are the source of the flu strain will not be complete until next week. He also points out those tests won't answers the question completely, saying "Even if that farm is determined to have that, there is still no indication that it went from that farm to that little boy."
Edgar's family isn't blaming anyone, and they aren't dwelling on the sickness that made a small boy big news. They're happy he is healthy. And on the day we first visited, they asked us to go with them to a village celebration, a celebration of health. When most people in Mexico were told not to gather, the villagers of La Gloria did just that, treated to a free meal from the area governors. For at least one night, Edgar, his family and their friends in La Gloria stopped thinking of themselves as the unwitting springboard for the mysterious virus. Instead, they were just neighbors.
The Smithfield CEO says the genetic testing is something the company volunteered to do, it was not required to do it. Larry Pope said those samples were sent to the University of Mexico, because the Mexican government asked that the samples stay in the country. NewsChannel 3 asked if Pope would release the results when they are available and he said the Smithfield executives have not decided that yet.
NewsChannel 3's Investigator Mike Mather was the only reporter in Hampton Road to travle to La Gloria, Mexico where villager say the Smithfield farm is contaminating their town and making their kids sick.
Edgar Hernandez, 5 years old from La Gloria, is one of the first, if not the first person to catch swine flu. You'd never know it now because, a month after he fell ill, he romps outside his house chasing a soccer ball.
Edgar lives in a dry, dusty village with just one paved road. By car, La Gloria is four hours from Mexico City. By modern standards, it's a century from the city. Like most people here, Edgar and his family have very little. What has brought such big attention to this little boy in a town so tiny it doesn't appear on most maps is how he got sick, and whether the massive nearby pig farms partly owned by Virginia's Smithfield Foods played a role. When asked if he knows what made him sick, his answer, "The ice cream."
It wasn't the ice cream, but exactly what infected this boy with swine flu is a mystery to some but plain as day to others. Many in this village believe Edgar's swine flu, and a host of other illnesses that have racked these people this year, have roots in the hog farms. Edgar's mother says, "We are surrounded by farms in this area and the wind blows this way and brings all the smell here." She isn't sure if the pigs are to blame for her son's sickness. But she worries the massive pig farms are contaminating village wells, and the insects that swarm on hog waste bring germs to the children of La Gloria.
The swine flu is a new worry, but La Gloria residents have long fretted the massive amounts of waste cast off by the hog farms. Two local film makers who showed NewsChannel 3 footage say the farms came here, flush with American money, over their protests. They showed video of lagoons, which are actually pools of hog waste and dead animals, sometimes get pumped onto the fields. And that, the villagers say, brings sickness. Mexican newspapers have published pictures, showing bundles of dead pigs scattered about the property. Villagers say the farm owners promised prosperity but delivered only pestilence, saying "All we get is sickness."
Some in La Gloria say the sickness is nothing more than seasonal flu. Other say it is something worse, but they are scared to point the finger at Smithfield, fearing trouble from Mexican authorities. One woman NewsChannel 3 spoke with only agreed to the interview after being promised that the story would not be seen in Mexico. She says dissenters are threatened. In fact, Yolanda Mora, the woman who spoke so freely to us, almost didn't speak at all. When we first asked her about the farms, she said everything was fine. But after we walked away, she came after us, and said it is not fine in La Gloria. She then told us that she would like the farms to go away.
C. Larry Pope, CEO of Smithfield Food, doesn't believe the farms are making anyone sick, saying "Of course I don't. You know what we would not begin to put the public at risk here.
Granjas Carroll is the hog farm near La Gloria, that produces almost a million pigs a year. It is half-owned by Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in America. NewsChannel 3 Investigator Mike Mather told Smithfield he was traveling to Mexico and asked for a tour of the facility. That request was ignored but Sunday night, after NewsChannel 3 aired a report from La Gloria, Smithfield's public relations company called to offer an interview with the CEO. This is the first time he has addressed the controversy directly with any news media in Smithfield's home.
Pope tells NewsChannel 3 that, "had it not been called swine flu, I think Smithfield wouldn't be involved in this discussion at all. We find a little boy in Southern Mexico who gets sick, there happens to be a Smithfield facility close to that, boom, we have the linkage, by some people's standards.
When asked if he believes that Smithfield's joint operation in Veracruz has any responsibility at all for the flu outbreak, his answer was, "You don't have to take my word for it. You can take the Mexican authorities. The minister of health has said that. The governor of Veracruz has said that."
Pope tells NewsChannel 3 that he has dispatched yet another team to Veracruz, including two agriculture consultants from universities. He says a genetic test that would show whether the company's Mexican hogs are the source of the flu strain will not be complete until next week. He also points out those tests won't answers the question completely, saying "Even if that farm is determined to have that, there is still no indication that it went from that farm to that little boy."
Edgar's family isn't blaming anyone, and they aren't dwelling on the sickness that made a small boy big news. They're happy he is healthy. And on the day we first visited, they asked us to go with them to a village celebration, a celebration of health. When most people in Mexico were told not to gather, the villagers of La Gloria did just that, treated to a free meal from the area governors. For at least one night, Edgar, his family and their friends in La Gloria stopped thinking of themselves as the unwitting springboard for the mysterious virus. Instead, they were just neighbors.
The Smithfield CEO says the genetic testing is something the company volunteered to do, it was not required to do it. Larry Pope said those samples were sent to the University of Mexico, because the Mexican government asked that the samples stay in the country. NewsChannel 3 asked if Pope would release the results when they are available and he said the Smithfield executives have not decided that yet.
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