A new book suggests the poultry industry is far from benign. Fortunately (given their huge numbers) chickens are not a source of global warming gases in the same way as ruminants - the so-called "farting cow" factor. There are now twice as many chickens in the world as humans, most of them kept for meat and eggs. Nothing paltry about chicken industry - Stuff. But their faeces is certainly becoming a problem, not least in the US, where the Attorney-General of Oklahoma filed a suit against...

Coalition member sponsors include the American Meat Institute, National Chicken Council, National Cattlemen s Beef Association, National Meat Association, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, National Turkey Federation and United Egg Producers. Coalition member sponsors include the American Meat Institute, National Chicken Council, National Cattlemen s Beef Association, National Meat Association, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers...

Department of Agriculture is overstating the threat posed by avian flu to justify its budget, and to a large extent, its existence. But the constant hum of warnings in this country about the avian flu irks him - especially since influenza has long infected about 30 percent of the native wild duck population when it migrates annually to Canada. He has also emerged as a leading naysayer on the prospects for a avian flu pandemic. Butcher insists the likelihood that the H5N1 avian flu virus in...

Avian influenza outbreaks have been reported since early May across 18 of Vietnam's 64 provinces and municipalities, mostly among unvaccinated ducks and other waterfowl. Communist Vietnam, once the country worst hit by the disease, contained earlier bird flu outbreaks through mass vaccination campaigns, culls of millions of poultry, and public education campaigns. But the virus has come back strongly this year, hitting scores of poultry farms in an unusual summer-time outbreak, especially...

A routine bird flu surveillance program detected H5N1 in a fecal swab sample from a Daurian starling, the government said in a statement issued on Saturday night. The statement said the swab sample was collected on June 4 at a pet bird shop in Hong Kong's bird garden, where about 70 shops sell pet birds and related products. Hong Kong's administration has ordered a closure, until further notice, of all the pet bird shops in the bird garden for cleansing and disinfection, the statement...