COULD
AMERICA HAVE STARVATION? YES-- IF
HOOF AND MOUTH COME INTO THE USA FROM MEXICO By
Steve Van Nattan Since
I recently lived on the US - Mexican border and have learned about life there,
I figured I ought to talk to you about this animal epidemic and our chances of
getting it in the USA. This
article was originally posted in about 2001, but the potential for an animal plague
coming into the USA from Mexico, or even Canada, is still urgent.
HOW
WILL HOOF AND MOUTH ENTER THE US? Answer:
From Mexico. Once Mexico has Hoof and Mouth disease, or mad cow disease, it is
absolutely inevitable that it will be brought into the USA by the following: 1.
As many as 80,000 illegal aliens cross the US border undetected every month. They
cross from Mexican ranch country into US ranch country. They
will carry any disease in Mexico into the USA, and nothing short of the threat
of a firing squad will stop them 2.
A number of large ranch operations along the US / Mexican border are owned by
people who also lease land in Mexico and run cattle on those ranches. These ranchers
are not taking precautions at this time, and they travel back and forth, and some
of them move cattle from one nation to the other for economic purposes. 3.
Tourists by the hundreds of thousands go back and forth across the border every
month. Thousands of Mexicans shop in the US for things they cannot find in Mexico.
The Maciladores program is a system of US companies locating just across the border
and hiring Mexicans locally. The managers all live on the US side and commute
daily to work. I personally cross the border about three times a year to buy prescription
drugs, as do thousands of Americans living along the border. Hispanic Americans
almost all have family "across the line," and many travel deep into
Mexico to visit family and shop. We order unroasted coffee brought in by friends--
coffee from the south of Mexico! Thousands of illegal maids and day workers are
employed in the US and cross daily back and forth. The Border Patrol looks the
other way because these maids are part of a stable employment base along the border.
There is an understanding at city hall you see. There are even towns on the US
side where Mexican school children cross daily to go to US schools. Nothing can
be done because of some weird technicality, and these towns are always in remote
ranch country. 4.
Several rivers run from Mexico into the USA. Two in our area are the San Pedro
and the Santa Cruz, and the arroyo running from Nogales, Mexico into Nogales,
Arizona is highly polluted. These rivers will bring any disease into the area,
for many cattle are watered along these rivers on BOTH sides of the border. These
river valleys are ideal for cattle raising. 5.
Smuggling of crack and pot are exceptional ways to infect the US with disease,
for the products being smuggled in are also raised in open country where cattle
are grazed. This process will bring the disease deep into the USA as the Feds
are losing the alleged war on drugs. Indeed, it has become well known that some
Federal employees are participating in this plague. Little Rock Airport was a
famous drop point during the tenure of Governor Bill Clinton in past years in
Arkansas. 6.
Millions of tons of vegetables are brought into the USA from farms deep in Mexico.
This trade is absolutely essential if Americans and Canadians are going to eat
vegetables all winter. The USDA inspects for plant disease, but I hear nothing
about inspecting for animal diseases. There are not enough Federal employees to
do this. Only a few random trucks are inspected daily at the various border crossing
points. It is nothing for 700 Mexican tractor-trailers to be lined up on any winter
morning at the Nogales, Arizona crossing. 7.
Train traffic is not heavy between the US and Mexico, but there is no provision
for checking for contamination for the trains which do pass back and forth. I
sit and watch them as they come and go as I eat my lunch when I am piano tuning
in Nogales, Arizona.
There
is virtually no way this activity will be stopped. Those of us who live along
the Mexican border have heard dozens of stories telling how the US Border Patrol
is reined in so that a limited number of illegal Mexicans are allowed to pass
through. Liberal Democrats dream of making subservient voters of these people.
George
Bush also shows no interest in this problem. Many ranches in Dubya's home turf
hire these illegals. Personally, I couldn't care about that since the Mexicans
do menial labor and feed their babies back in Mexico, but they go back and forth
on foot, which is a very good way to transmit Hoof and Mouth. UPDATE-
2014 President Barak Obama has orchestrated the invasion of America
by thousands of illegals from Central America. We must note that, not only animal
diseases could enter the USA, but Ebola, Cholera, Dengue Fever, and Typhoid Fever
are probably being brought into America as I type. Essentially, the USA is doomed
to epidemics in farm animals and in humans. It may one day be shown in the history
books that George W Bush and Barak Obama destroyed America as we know it. You
are a stupid fool if you think America has some sort of unlimited resilience against
any amount of infection of diseases, especially tropical diseases.
Let
me illustrate how disease comes to the US from Mexico. Friends of ours went with
a church group from Los Angeles to Mexico. They helped with food preparation as
the group did work for Mexican churches. Some of the church people got sick, and
our friends, who are famously compassionate, used their RV as an infirmary. Our
friends then came by to visit us, but by the time they got to our home, they were
very sick. They stayed for only about an hour, and they didn't come into our home.
My wife unconsciously stood down wind as we visited outdoors. I
called a doctor friend, and he said that our friends should not leave for home
until they had started to recover. In fear of passing the sickness to us, they
left anyway. All six of our family, and my parents all got it, and it was terrible.
I later learned that it was dengue fever. Who was to blame? That is a pointless
question, for our friends and we were living our lives serving God, and God allowed
this. So, it is folly to imagine that hoof and mouth will stop at the Mexican
border, given the way we run back and forth. So,
Americans better be getting ready for a meat shortage. Our Ag Department is boasting
of all its regulations, and they are the best in the world. That is fine, but
the rest of the Federal Government does NOT have the stomach and wisdom to take
precautions to control the border crossing chaos which is now endemic. You have
been warned from 20 miles north of the border. Action?
The day you hear there is Hoof and Mouth in Mexico, you need to stock up on beef
and pork. One idea, aside from filling the freezer, is to shop in the discount
and thrift stores which carry food products. You may want to slaughter a beef
or hog with a friend if you have freezer space. If you have animals of your own,
do not cross into Mexico, and don't allow anyone onto your property who has just
returned from Mexico. Panic is not in order. Rational response by storing up meat
products which can be used, whether there is a crisis or not, is the best plan.
Do NOT buy a carload of Vienna sausages. Buy a little bit of all sorts of meat
products, and do NOT talk about what you are doing. Solution:
This sounds impossible I realize, but here goes. As
soon as Hoof and Mouth is found in Mexico, the border should be shut down. All
tourism must stop both ways. All vegetables must be sprayed as they are loaded
in Mexico or washed. Farms in Mexico which can be identified with contagion must
be declared off limits for produce shipment to the US. All
trucks must be certified clean at the border, and they should drive through a
disinfecting bath. Hundreds of additional USDA people need to be assigned to the
Mexican border. Those
with jobs who cross legally every day must be disinfected EVERY time they cross.
All cattle
along the border, 40 miles back into the USA, should be sold or sent to ranches
north of the border. Compensation must be paid to ranchers for loss of income. Drug
smugglers (and their imployers) should be subject to hard labor for 20 years with
no parole, if caught during the epidemic. Illegal
aliens must be severely punished for crossing anywhere but the border portals.
The rivers
and arroyos which enter the US should be safe after 40 miles of northern flow
IF no cattle are grazing along the rivers. If
these measures fail, a wall must be built from Tijuana to Brownsville at once,
and the border closed tight as a drum-- no exceptions. Not
much chance, right? The US Feds have made it very clear that there will never
be a quarantine over AIDS infection, nor any other disease for that matter. So,
you can count on it-- the same dead heads will not have the fortitude to quarantine
Mexico or Canada. I just wanted to make it clear that some of us know what it
takes to survive-- The US Government cannot say they didn't have a clue. A bunch
of us flatlanders down here on the border know what is happening. We
do have one thing working in our favor-- the prevailing wind is north to south
along the border. If Hoof and Mouth enters Canada, we are doomed for the same
reason. BACK
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