STAT – Farmers resist push for workers to wear protective gear against bird flu virus By Sarah Owermohle May 10, 2024 Dairy groups say their members fear financial ruin if their cattle are found to be infected, and lawmakers, too, are increasingly concerned that H5N1 measures could chill the industry. There’s also the fact that protective gear is not ideal for hot working conditions such as milking parlors. “These workers have these fogged goggles all the time, which actually predisposes them to injuries,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “N95 [masks] aren’t necessarily working well when they get wet.”
Maybe farms need to do better with their working conditions instead of using poor working conditions as an excuse to just sacrifice farm workers on the altar of profit.
The Farm Bill is coming up in the House of Representatives. There needs to be lobbying to fix this situation. We know that there will NOT be less threats involved in factory farming going forward, there will only be more. And businesses never seem motivated to do anything that makes sense in the long-term. Businesses are short-term oriented. They need to be regulated to force them to be forward looking and humane.