funny thing - bird flu talk didn't mention the chicken baron's coops

[donsu]

this morning on Wash. Journal was a Laurie Garrett of the Council of Foreign Relations telling us about bird flu and are we ready.

according to her the bad birds are naturally free birds who will spread the virus as they fly around the world. she was on for quite some time and managed not to ever mention the corporation coops housing thousands of chickens as the source of the virus. (I've posted articles on this)

when a caller asked about Rummy and Carylye making money off the shots she turned to stone and stared silently at the camera. silence fell until the host softly asked if she wanted to comment and she said no and they went on. lol

[SaveElmer]

1. Yeah the problem is not primarily with wild birds...

They pose little risk actually, it is the trade and smuggling of poultry along with the close quarters chickens are raised in.

[napi21]

2. Yea I saw that. Didn't she later say something about not

knowing anything about a Rummy connection? I thiught I heard some short comment like "I don't know naything about that."

[mike_c]

3. don't worry, if H5N1 avian flu breaks out in one of Frank Perdue's...

...chicken factories the FDA and CDC will come down on it like a ton of bricks-- PLUS, big operations like that have insurance to cover their losses. I'll bet the insurers are the folks who're really nervous.

[Virginian]

4. Bird flu in Germany

My Husband's cousin emailed from Germany about the Bird flu over there.
It seems it is normal for some birds (swans mostly) to die from exposure during the cold snaps in the winter. This year the dead-from-exposure fowl were tested for bird flu and some tested positive.

In previous years, those frozen fowl were never tested. Could it be that they naturally carry a form of the bird flu and are not incapacitated by it? Could the local farmers have destroyed their stock for naught? Perdue Farms may claim this same argument.

Move over West Nile virus.

[TomInTib]

5. The large poultry farms have nothing to worry about...

H5N1 is transmitted by contact. That is not going to happen at a commercial operation.

I honestly believe this issue has two simple sides:

1. It is a total distraction- more people will die stepping off curbs in the U S this year than people succumbing to H5N1 globally. When your average guy is terrified of his neighbors' finches, you got him right where you want him.

2. I think the aim here is a "Global Chicken". Poultry is the only universal food source. We want that global market and Tyson and Perdue will gladly supply it.

We have about as much to fear from H5N1 as we do from Brucellosis and when was the last box of male screwworm flies dropped in your backyard?

[CoffeeCat]

6. I've got 2 doses of Tamiflu, so far...

for our family of four.

Who knows if we need it?

Are we being conned or is this for real?

I've read a great deal about bird flu, and the possibility of a pandemic is likely. This H5N1 strain is practically a genetic twin to the 1918 flu that wiped out millions around the globe.
The 1918 flu had a mortality rate of 10 percent. This bird flu kills 50 percent of humans who are infected. Those facts leave me wanting to prepare.

The $64,000 question is...will it mutate and be transmittable from human--->human? Bird flu sure is spreading. If you're a bird...it's a pandemic, that's for sure. The ease with which bird flu is spreading around the globe in birds--suggests that this a tough bug. WHO experts and many reputable virologists and researchers say that it's real--and that the US isn't taking it seriously. I can see a bit of LIHOP going on here.

However, I read that Rumsfeld and George Schultz sat on the BOD of Roche--the company that manufactures Tamiflu--and I'm wondering, is this real?

I do know that when Junior first spoke about bird flu--the first idea out of his mouth was military-enforced quarantines. The man wants to declare Marshall Law and he's just chomping at the bit to declare it. I know that I must be prepared--especially with small children. We all saw what happened to Katrina victims. No way in hell am I taking any chances with these thugs.

People think that BushCo is spreading fear with bird flu. I say, it's probably a very real threat and that mutation is likely. Junior will capitalize on this disaster to further erode our freedoms and position himself as the savior---but it is real.

I'm planning on being prepared--I hope others on DU are really thinking this through as well.