In North Carolina, there are 10 million hogs held in these confined animal feeding operations known as CAFOS that are concentrated in Black Communities in the eastern part of the state. There are hundreds of open lagoons located next to these feeding operations to receive the millions of tons of hog waste yearly that is sprayed over fields and communities when the lagoons begin to overflow.

Deaths here and in Mexico add to mounting worries about swine flu virus. The outbreak also raises many questions about the sustainability of food production on the corporate model. The new virus strain carries genetic elements from human, swine and avian flu varieties and was first reported in a resident of a village, La Gloria, in Veracruz, Mexico.