"Bird Flu Virus Shocks Northeast"

[BeHereNow]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=Health&cat=Bird_Flu

Bird Flu Virus Shocks Northeast
(Reuters) - Poultry industry officials urged chicken
farms in three U.S. states on Wednesday to post "Do
Not Enter" signs to keep out strangers and help halt
the spread of a bird flu virus that is devastating to
chickens. The mild strain of bird flu, which is not harmful
to humans, has so far been found on two farms in
Delaware, forcing the state to quarantine 75 poultry
farms. Investigators said there was no sign of infection
in the neighboring poultry-growing states of
Maryland and Virginia. More... "

Who was the DUer who predicted this a few days
ago? Said he had it on good authority for someone
high up.
Check in with us for more details please!
Wish I'd bookmarked that thread.
BHN

[NYC]

1. I think his name was kgfnally.

.

[BeHereNow]

3. Thanks! You're right...

That is who posted that thread.
Good memory!
BHN

[Mrs. Overall]

2. I would like to hear from him, too,

because a lot people on that thread called him crazy.

[BeHereNow]

4. Perhaps he will see this thread...

...and come calling.
I did not think him crazy at all.

There have been many strange characters on DU
over the last few months. Real bullies, actually.
I talked it over with another DUer on PM and our theory
is that they are paid bashers.
Just put them on ignore.

BHN

[SpiralHawk]

5. One pathway for safe, clean food

Time to act now. Planting season soon.

(Mods - I have permission to post this whole item).

February 2, 2004


Clean, Healthy Food in a Time of Concern:
The Essential Story of Community Farms (CSA)

Copyright 2004 -- by Steven McFadden


We are in the early stages of what may turn out to be a global food crisis -- a crisis initially about quality and safety, but a crisis that may eventually come to bear on quantity.

In the context of recent news about Mad Cow Disease, toxic farm-raised salmon, and the Avian flu that is causing the destruction of millions of chickens, it is a good time to consider the quality and safety of your food.

Where does your food come from? Who are the people who raised the food? In what ways have chemicals been used to grow, process and preserve the food? Has the food been exposed to irradiation as it passed through industrial-scale processing? Has the food been handled industrially, or genetically engineered? Most people have no idea about the true nature of the meat, vegetables, fruit and grain they are putting in their mouths.


I have just finished researching and writing a two-part magazine article about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for "The New Farm," an online publication of The Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania. Here is a direct link to part I of the story and the photographs that illustrate it, published Feb. 2, 2004. Part II of my story will be published later this month.

http://www.thenewfarm.org/features/0104/csa-history/part1.shtml

Community Farms (CSAs) are one viable alternative for people everywhere in the world to insure the safety and quality of their food. Now, as the corporate and industrial models of agriculture continue to dominate and to falter badly, its an excellent time for farmers and communities to explore the creative and sustainable possibilities of CSA in depth.

When I interviewed Lincoln Geiger of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire, he summed the entire issue up in one sentence: "Much is at stake, and we are the keepers of the Earth."

I agree wholeheartedly with Lincoln’s observation. Agriculture is the foundation of our modern civilization. It will remain so in whatever ages are yet to come. Without a steady supply of clean, life-giving food, we have neither the leisure nor the energy to develop other aspects of life, such as industry, science and art.

Through two books Trauger Groh and I have sought to emphasize the fundamental importance of farming, and to explore some of the sustainable possibilities in theory and in practical detail. Here are links to two essays on these themes:

Farms of Tomorrow Revisited
http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms-1.html

Community Farms: Outside the Box, but Inside the Hoop
http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms-2.html

Spring is around the corner, and soon planting will begin. May all that is cultivated this season bring forth goodness.

end

[chasqui]

6. I personally think/thought he is a plant

There is enough of an interest to keep disinformation cruising around in the web. It has the overall effect of keeping people confused, and mistrustful of anything that is not an official corporate media outlet.

[BeHereNow]

8. May I ask...

What in the hell are you talking about?
And Welcome to DU!

BHN

[Athame]

7. a short thread on this from yesterday

WHO testing human to human connection

(CNN) -- The deadly bird flu sweeping Asia could take two years to get under control, the World Health Organization has warned.

WHO has also stepped back from its statement last week that the avian virus was not being passed between humans, saying it was now not certain.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/10/birdflu.wrap /


"Failure is impossible." Susan B. Anthony

[nodehopper]

12. getting facts straight

the part about the WHO stepping away from its initial statement that the virus wasn't passed between humans was due to lack of information, rather than evidence to the contrary.

originally, the question was w/r/t two sisters in Vietnam. first the WHO released information showing that the virus from both sisters had been sequenced and was strictly avian in nature, showing no human genes.

Then it modified its statement, because it turned that the second sequencing was not of the second sister, but of another Vietnamese person and they were still awaiting the results of the second sequencing.

Earlier yesterday they completed the second sequencing, and it was still all avian in nature.

they have updates about it every day on who.org, and I follow them carefully.

I don't automatically dismiss information from someone who says they can't reveal their sources, but when they start posting about The Stand and airborne AIDS it does smack a bit of fear-mongering.

Also, what exactly did that poster predict? that there would be stories in the press about it? Well, considering that there have been outbreaks in several countries, anyone could have predicted that. It would be like if someone said, ominously, at the beginning of SARS that within weeks it would show up in the US. It did, as it was expected.

Don't get me wrong. I think the avian flu is scary stuff, and has potential to overload the health care system if, God forbid, it jumps species and gets out of hand. But I think it's a little irresponsible to go around preaching total death and destruction and the end of society.

Be informed. Wash your hands. Stock up on some tami-flu just in case (tami-flu is NOT one of the drugs the stain is resistant to). Read the WHO updates, if you are concerned, and make your own judgements.

[Occulus]

16. Thank you,

and I happen to agree. I think I said I would like nothing more than to be proven completely wrong. If a superdeadly flu were to hit a "civilized" nation, though, the results very likely would be catastrophic.

People here would be flying coast to coast, driving, etc and not even know they were sick. By the time they realized it, they could well have already infected dozens or hundreds, depending on the rate of communicability.

Even more serious is a virus that doesn't show symptoms for a length of time (several days or a week), during which time the carrier is highly contagious. Add a high motality rate and you do have a similar situatin as described in "The Stand", minus the apocalyptic paralell.

I'm going to say outright that I don't think it's possible when facing something like this to take it too seriously. Pandemics are only a matter of when, after all, not if.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. Saw on a CNN crawl that 80 chicken farms are now quarantined.

[BeHereNow]

10. What a con-veeenient distraction, eh?

So many wheels coming off at once, but hey
let's concentrate on the bird flu virus rather than
the 911 cover-up, Bushies NG awol status,
and the Halliburton rape of the tax payers in
the illegal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

To quote Wolfie-witz and his comment in the
PNAC doc regarding bio-genetically engineered
bio-chemical weapons,
(anyone remember the Ann-Coulter-thrax letters?)
"...A politically useful tool..."

These people have NO shame.
BHN

[Athame]

13. When the boy cried wolf

the people grew used to it and finally, when the wolf came into the village, the people did not see it until it was too late.


Even in the midst of all the distractions, we need to stay alert and find sources we trust. Not an easy task. That's why I come to DU--to get various viewpoints and try to discover who is trustworthy with information. The worst thing that can happen here is when people are discouraged from posting what others may disparage or disagree with.

[Occulus]

17. It's also that.

And I do think the timing of all this- everything going on right now- is most suspicious.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Wonder if any of the dead bio-chemists

specialized in this area. Call me crazy if you want...George Noory has been talking about these experts for quite a while and how suspicious it is...as if someone has been getting rid of the very people who would be key in a bioterrorism attack.

[Occulus]

18. Would such a thing REALLY surprise you, though?

[Norquist Nemesis]

20. Not these days.

What surprises me is no one is paying attention.

[He loved Big Brother]

14. One of last week's New Rules on Bill Maher's show-

New Rule: Stop scaring us with diseases we will never get. First, it was SARS, then it was monkey pox, West Nile, and now Asian bird flu. Which doesn't scare me because I'm not a sparrow in Thailand. Mysterious Asian diseases just don't come knocking on your door unless you're Neil Bush.

[Occulus]

15. It was me.

I'm wondering if perhaps they're being more coy about this than they ought to. And, this finding only proves that the strain harmful to humans could get here just as easily, if indeed it isn't here already.

As for my source of information, I haven't the time to make contact today, but I'll likely be talking with the person tomorrow and will repost any additional info I have at that time.

[BeHereNow]

19. Hey, You Made it Here!

We were hoping you'd show!
Please keep us posted on what you learn.
BHN