Swine flu: The case of West Sumatra’s closure of pig slaughterhouses

Gautama Adi Kusuma ,  Blacksburg, VA   |  Thu, 07/02/2009 8:51 AM  |  Opinion

The recent action by the Chinese government to quarantine visiting Mexicans and the closure of pig farms and slaughterhouses are some examples of the confusion of many governments in the world in facing the so-called “swine” flu.

The current H1N1 strain of influenza A has reached a different level as the World Health Organization announced it had increased the level of alert to Level 5, signifying that a pandemic was imminent, and urged countries to implement their pandemic plans. To some extent, this flu has created panic around the world.

In a risk society, the notion of risk has gone more “democratic”. Scientific authority in this current age is not what scientific authority used to be, as there is not a single scientific authority to determine the decision-making process.

Instead, a certain “scientific” authority would certainly be challenged with other views based on scientific grounds as well.

In the “swine” flu fear, even experts have not reached a definite conclusion as to where the virus originates. While pigs are suspected to be the source of the flu epidemic, the virus spreads mainly through human-to-human contact.

Although public health and safety should always be at the top of the decision-making process, in this current paradigm, a public decision maker needs to consider other consequences of one’s decision.

Those consequences could include economic, personal well-being or wider economic consequences, as well as the question of equality and equity of people affected by the decision.

The end of monolithic science should also determine the end of a monolithic public decision-making process. The “science” used in making certain decisions is not only one “science.”

In fact, the intersection and interactions of various sciences factored into the decision-making process eventually determine the outcome of a public decision.

Risk management is based on probabilistic risk analysis and assessments of how certain actions, or inaction, mitigates any negative impact from certain hazards. Yet any risk management efforts should also consider the consequences and whether or not such action achieves the intended goal, namely of reducing the risk exposure. Any risk management effort not based on proper risk analysis and assessment will only be an unnecessary burden without achieving the intended goal.

The most current example is the recent decision by the Egyptian authorities to kill all pigs in the country, considering that pigs are the source of the danger.

Yet the decision was taken without considering the economic wellbeing of the farmers. The government noted the pigs slaughtered were allowed to be sold in public, and thus no government compensation would be provided.

But as meat stock flows into the market in such a high volume, prices plummet. In addition, poor farmers would be unlikely to have the ability to save their meat longer to keep the prices plummeting too far, as the means of refrigerating such products might not be available.

Another example is the recent decision by the governor of West Sumatra  to close all pig farms and slaughterhouses. The Chinese government is also suspected of racial profiling by quarantining Mexicans travelers, despite the lack of evidence for their being infected. Any risk management efforts should be based on thorough risk analysis and assessment.

If the action of the West Sumatra provincial administration can be categorized as a risk management effort, such action has not been done with proper risk analysis or assessment. The West Sumatra and Egyptian examples show that policymakers need to first realize that eliminating pigs does not necessarily eliminate the risk of the flu spreading.

With limited resources available, governments should focus on the prevention and surveillance of known human-to-human virus infection. Public health officials also need to focus on the campaign of improving basic hygiene and environmental sanitation.

In addition, it is also very important for public health officials to focus on mitigating the impact of the disaster by ensuring that sufficient emergency care and medication is available. If any major flu outbreak occurs, the whole health and emergency system will be strained to its breaking point, leaving victims of the “swine” flu unattended and uncared for.

At the end, public policymakers need to understand the consequences of their policies. In this case, policymakers need to consider that managing one risk, namely the flu infection, should minimize the exposure of people to other undue risks and vulnerabilities, such as the loss of livelihoods, wider economic impacts, or questionable discriminatory actions, especially when the scientific justification for such risk management efforts is lacking.


The writer is a PhD Candidate and graduate assistant at the office of capital assets and financial management, Virginia Tech.

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