Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, the only North Carolina member of the House Ways and Means Committee, sent a letter to United States Capitol Police Chief Phillip D. Morse Sr., last Friday to bring pigs to the U.S. Capitol.

“Misinformation about pigs’ role in the current H1N1 outbreak has helped put pork producers in my state and across the country in dire economic straits,” Etheridge said. “I am working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect tens of thousands of jobs that are at risk in North Carolina and around the nation due to the false connection made between consuming pork and the H1N1 flu. The Capitol Police can protect public safety without fanning false concerns among the public.”

A November 3, 2009 story in The Hill newspaper reported that U.S. Capitol Police denied a request from an advocacy group to bring pigs onto the U.S. Capitol Hill area. In the article, the U.S. Capitol Police announced that “due to significant health concerns about the possible spread of the H1N1 virus,” pigs would not be allowed on the Capitol Hill grounds.

Etheridge’s letter reminds the department that H1N1 is a human-adapted virus that is transmitted from human to human, not pig to human. It typically is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Coming in contact with pigs is not a significant risk factor for contracting the novel H1N1 flu, and it is not possible to get it by eating pork or pork products. Both the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security have emphasized that pork products are perfectly safe.

During the recent frenzy of media coverage of the H1N1 influenza outbreak pigs, pork farmers and pork products have borne the brunt of panicked public concerns. Tens of thousands of pigs worldwide have been prematurely slaughtered, pork farmers have had their contracts with producers cancelled, and many pork producers have declared bankruptcy or gone out of business. Just this week, Clinton, N.C.-based Coharie Farms, the 22nd-largest pork producer in the United States, declared bankruptcy.

“The pork industry is hurting economically from top to bottom,” Etheridge said. “Banning pigs on a trumped-up charge hurts our farmers, their families, and our local economy.”