At the height of the swine flu scare last spring, the Egyptian government ordered the killing of all pigs, thinking that the mass slaughter of the animals is the way to stem the spread of the swine flu virus. Unfortunately, it is the pigs that eat the trash in Egypt.

Now without pigs, the country is overwhelmed with trash. The garbage problem is so huge that citizens are incensed and called for the immediate action of the country’s president.

Pigs in Egypt used to ‘eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba.’ Mounds of garbage have piled up on the streets, filling the neighborhoods with the stench of waste. One resident observed, “Killing all the pigs, all at once, was the stupidest thing they ever did. This is just one more example of poorly informed decision makers.”

What was erroneously deemed as a solution to a health problem has now produced serious environmental problems that may yet result in further health problems for the Arab world’s most populous nation.

According to Haitham Kamal, a spokesman for the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, “The problem is clear in the streets. There is a strict and intensive effort now from the state to address this issue.”

Image

Via The New York Times