The mission for the chickens and roosters on the farms is to create enough
fertilized eggs to “keep supplies of the swine-flu vaccine flowing.”
As the U.S. government and the CDC gear up for a possible third wave of the
swine flu which may hit in early spring, tens of thousands of chickens are being
stashed in secret facilities with one goal in mind - lay as many eggs as
possible.
A story from The Wall Street Journal revealed that top secret egg farms have
cropped up in several locations in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. They are so
secret, most of the people living in the area have no idea they are there.
The mission for the chickens and roosters on the farms is to create enough
fertilized eggs to “keep supplies of the swine-flu vaccine flowing.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that “the stark, windowless warehouses
require electronic pin codes and hazmat-style jumpsuits to enter. A sign on a
metal gate ominously warns that it is a Disease Control Area.”
Fertilized eggs have been the essential ingredient for making flu vaccines
for the past 60 years. Not having enough of these eggs translates into a
shortage of vaccines for the public.
With the fear of a pandemic sometime in the future, the U.S. government has
gotten behind the production of fertilized eggs and helped to create the top
secret egg farms. They are kept in protected facilities because of potential
“terrorist attacks” or out of fear of being “struck by chicken-killing
pathogens.”
“The government wanted a ‘secure system to protect these birds,’ with ‘very
strict conditions for the entry and exit of people and product,” Robin Robinson
of the Department of Health and Human Services told the WSJ. She is the creator
behind the program.
Two different pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi-Aventis SA and GlaxoSmithKline
PLC reported needing 600,000 to 800,000 eggs a day for their “global
swine-flu-vaccine production.”
From the outside it appears the program is a win-win for the hens and
roosters and the government. The animals are handled with care and given a
special diet. They live in an “open-floor system” in a barn that allows them to
roam around freely and where the temperature and humidity are constantly
controlled.
However after closer inspection, the WSJ learned that after nine months of service to their country and to the world - the hens are euthanized. The pharmaceutical companies and the Department of Health and Human Services believe older chickens cannot lay “optimal eggs,” so sadly their lives are ended.
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