The following story first appeared in the Winter 2006 Glenmary Challenge.
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Avian Flu Plan Leaves Out Poultry Workers

A broad coalition of groups including the Glenmary Commission on Justice as well as the Catholic Committee of Appalachia and the Catholic Committee of the South (both organizations with strong ties to Glenmary) issued a statement Sept. 25 criticizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan for responding to a U.S. outbreak of avian flu. They are calling for revisions to adequately protect the public, poultry farmers and poultry workers.

This is a problem of concern to Glenmary, says COJ director Marcus Keyes, because of the large number of poultry workers and contract poultry growers in Glenmary mission areas. The USDA does not acknowledge the risk posed by common poultry industry practices in the emergence and spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, he says, echoing the language of the coalition statement.

“Poultry workers and growers would be among the first exposed to an outbreak, but the USDA does not ensure appropriate protective equipment, specialized sanitation, training, human flu vaccinations and whistle-blower protection for workers who detect and report sick birds,” says Mark Lauritsen of the United Food and Commercial Workers, another signatory to the Sept. 25 statement.

According to the National Poultry Justice Alliance, a group that Glenmary helped establish as a follow-up to Voices and Choices, the pastoral message from 41 Catholic bishops of the South on the U.S. poultry industry, the current USDA plan also fails to address the potentially huge economic impact for small processors and the many workers at large plants if quarantines or depopulation eliminate the supply of poultry.

“The current USDA plan provides for compensation of the large poultry companies that own birds,” says Andrea Whiteis, director of the National Poultry Justice Alliance. “Meanwhile, workers and farmers who contract with the companies are left completely vulnerable and stand to lose their entire livelihood.”

A link to the complete statement with the revisions called for can be found at the Web site of the National Poultry Justice Alliance: www.npja.org.