On September 14, 2009
Despite Industry Efforts, ‘H1N1′ Will Never Replace ‘Swine Flu’
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is appealing to reporters to stop using the term “swine flu,” saying the term is inaccurate and hurts pork producers. I agree that it hurts pork producers, and that’s unfortunate, because anyone who’s paying the slightest bit of attention should know by now that you can’t get swine flu from eating pork. But the term isn’t technically inaccurate — the virus did evolve in part from flu strains found in pigs. But politics and accuracy aside, the fact is that people don’t talk in numbers, and ‘H1N1’ feels unnatural to say. The pork industry would have had better luck pushing any other name in the world as long as the name used actual words. The World…
0 Comments