Flu mix-up costly to pork producers

In response to Sally McCracken's Fencepost in a recent Herald: the original naming of H1N1 as the swine flu was not just offensive to pork producers but extremely expensive.

In one week at the height of flu hysteria the hog market lost over $65 million in value! The National Pork Producers Association and processors including Smithfield spent a great deal of money and effort to dissociate the flu with their quality product and stop the market collapse.

There is no truth that hogs have anything to do with H1N1. The pork industry is a great group of hardworking people dedicated to producing high quality protein for this country and the world.

This country/world needs to get a grip on the facts and base their decisions on the truth.

Mike Hopkins

Arlington Heights