As Swine Flu Spreads, So Does Backlash Against Mexico

This analysis shows how this new flu outbreak is affecting so many other aspects of life. Mexicans are being blamed and this could also affect the immigration reform debate. - - Donna Poisl

New America Media, News Analysis, Gebe Martinez

Editor's Note: It seems like swine flu is increasingly becoming a political football, with the right wing using the crisis to whip up opposition to immigration from South of the border. NAM contributor Gebe Martinez analyzes what's being said in different circles about this.

In this current worldwide “swine flu” outbreak, two sources are shouldering most of the blame: pigs and Mexico.

Interestingly, there seems to be a louder, broader public defense of pigs than of Mexico.

During a Senate hearing Tuesday on the disease that first spread in Mexico and has claimed dozens of lives, including at least one in the United States, federal officials insisted “swine flu” is an incorrect, simplified label of a complex virus that should properly be called “H1N1,” even though it contains swine genes.

The imprecise nickname leads some to think pork is unsafe and should be taken off the international trade shelves, according to government officials. “This is not a food safety issue. Pork is safe to eat,” Dr. John R. Clifford, a deputy administrator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture told the Senate.
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