Thursday, April 30, 2009

Possible short play on Swine Flu

I was reading a story on the epicenter and the first victim of the Swine Flu. The Times of London interviewed the mother of 4-year-old Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria in Veracruz (patient zero), the location of the giant Smithfield Foods hog production facility.

"Mexico outbreak traced to 'manure lagoons' at pig farm"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6182789.ece

"Residents in ‘epicentre’ commute to the capital" includes the statement, " These lagoons, particularly in plants in North Carolina and Virginia, are full of not only faeces, but also chemicals, drugs injected into the pigs, blood and afterbirth, and they are actually pink in color."

Letter from Smithfield Foods to their employees -

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-30-2009/0005016453&EDATE=

Here is a plethora of article on this.

The blog link is to Yahoo Finance with analyst downgrades.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/WireStory?id=7445759&page=2
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=7443611
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-smithfield/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/swine-flu-outbreak----nat_b...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aw29KEb8Y8tI&refe...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h6VKpIFkn2z95MlbRey...

I just don't see anything good coming out of this (except for the better treatment of the animals and the improved conditions of our food supply). Do your own homework and make your own conclusions. This thing may just blow over and be nothing, but I don't think so.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=SFD Shares short - 16.6%

3 comments:

  1. ok, that's nasty.... why aren't you at kenny's with us????

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice compilation. I wonder how liability will play. If Mexico will sue them I think they'll show the finger.

    Let see what happens...

    ReplyDelete

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