Bird flu danger played down as British anxiety grows
By James Button Herald Correspondent in Copenhagen
October 18, 2005

A bird flu pandemic could kill 50,000 people in Britain but is unlikely to strike in the coming winter, says the chief medical officer for England and Wales, Sir Liam Donaldson.

Speaking after laboratory tests confirmed that biological samples taken from poultry in Romania last week contained the H5N1 virus, a strain of avian influenza, Sir Liam compared the figure of 50,000 with the 12,000 Britons who die each year from flu.

The death toll could be as high as 750,000, but the lower figure was more realistic, he told the BBC. "It very much depends whether this mutated strain is a mild one or a more serious one."

Seeking to lower growing alarm about bird flu, he said there was no evidence the virus had mutated anywhere in the world into a form that would allow it to pass between humans, although he acknowledged it was a question of "when, not if".

While the influenza epidemics of 1918, 1958 and 1968-69 suggested that the bird flu virus would eventually combine with a human virus, becoming easily transmissible, "there is a lot we can do to prepare".

In 1968 "we didn't have some of the measures that we now have, like antiviral drugs," he said. And the pandemic in 1918-19 of Spanish flu - a strain of bird flu that killed 40 million people - was "before proper hospital facilities, before intensive care, before antibiotics".

CQS HealthAlert Update
October 18, 2005
Avian Flu - preparation, government vaccine-mongering

The Bush Administration, through White House press conferences and announcements from various agencies, has been promoting vaccinations with experimental vaccines that are in preparation and testing phases. These are not even likely to be effective, as the virus has not yet even mutated to being a human-to-human disease.

The recent history of influenza vaccines has not been promising; their "protection" rate has been less than 50% at best and 0% at worst, and some of them have injured thousands of people (Guillain-Barre Syndrome). Please do not take vaccines, and if you feel strongly enough about it, please send a message to Congress and your local health authorities to stop testing and production of these useless and dangerous vaccines.

To add to the craziness, President Bush has recently spoken (at a press conference, no less) about having the U.S. military take over police powers nationally if there is an Avian Flu epidemic. For obvious reasons he has not used the words "martial law" but that is exactly what he is talking about, and he has officially asked Congress to repeal Posse Comatitus, the law that is supposed to prevent federal military operations on U.S. soil in peacetime. Please send a message to your Representatives and Senators that you do not want the U.S. Army to be in charge of a health emergency.

Thanks
Jonathan

Worried about bird flu? Wash your hands...

Comment: 65 people died in 3 years, supposedly from bird flu. How many die each day from normal flu, pneumonia, malaria, and Medical / drug related Errors? Thousands - BUT IT DOES NOT SELL VACCINES!

What a media beat up - keep away from those unproven vaccines!

See: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=globalNews&storyID=2005-10-19T134258Z_01_MUN667197_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU.xml&archived=False

And, http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=globalNews&storyID=2005-10-19T171408Z_01_ROB962016_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-PROTECTION.xml&archived=False

Health Supreme - http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/

That the flu scare is a pharmaceutical cash-cow cannot really be disputed. Why can't I be surprised to read that Donald Rumsfeld, Bush II's Defense Secretary, already well known by the more health conscious among us for his role in approving deadly aspartame for human consumption, is implicated directly in this one as well? Dr Mercola has been the target of unpleasant legal attention by the aspartame makers for his criticism of the sweetener's availability to the public despite heaps of evidence of harm, a story recently detailed in an article of The Ecologist. He has the details on Rumsfeld and the Bird Flu Scare. See Rumsfeld To Profit From Avian Flu Hoax (10/20/2005 11:01:35 PM)

After posting a few pieces on the Bird Flu (here, here, here and here) Andrew Saul of doctoryourself.com has enticed me to post yet another piece about the pandemic-in-waiting, which most government health gurus are assuring is quite inevitable. Whether it really is inevitable - well, some people disagree. Andrew Saul among them. If you appreciate subtle humor, and I believe you do, you shouldn't miss what he has to say. And if you are a bird lover, all the more reason to read his article... (10/20/2005 9:52:55 PM)

Bird flu risk 'almost non-existent'
By Lisa Macnamara
The Australian 22oct05

AUSTRALIANS have "virtually zero" chance of contracting the deadly bird flu virus, despite the panic being whipped up across the world, a leading international health expert declared yesterday.

As governments raced to stockpile drugs to treat the virus, World Health Organisation head of flu research in Australia Ian Barr told The Weekend Australian "we're not in a pandemic" and said the risk of infection was almost non-existent.

"People immediately make the association that just because there's bird flu in migratory birds, or in a couple of poultry flocks, that translates to a very imminent human danger - and that's not the case," Dr Barr, the acting deputy director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, said yesterday.

"The virus isn't here so the chances of becoming infected here are virtually zero," he said.

"The only way that it can get here is if it's brought in illegally or ... comes with migratory birds.

"We haven't seen H5 in Australia ever - whether that's just good luck or whether the migratory birds that have been infected don't make it to Australia, that remains to be seen."

hi all,

Bird flu surely has been spreading across the globe and its the job of the various governments to create awareness amongst all the people and stockpile the drugs namely tamiflu and relenza to protect everybody from the H5N1 strain . A lot of information is also available on the net on bird flu and tamiflu. I perchanced upon two interesting ones.. http://www.drugdelivery.ca/s3353-s-TAMIFLU.aspx and http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/tamiflu/default.htm which happen to give some much needed information on the disease and its drugs.
Im sure everybody will find this helpful

Rumsfeld To Profit From Bird Flu Hoax

Finally, the pieces of the puzzle start to add up. Not long ago, President Bush sought to instill panic in this country by telling us a minimum of 200,000 people will die from the avian flu pandemic, but it could be as bad as 2 million deaths in this country alone.

This hoax is then used to justify the immediate purchase of 80 million doses of Tamiflu, a worthless drug that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the amount of days one is sick and can actually contribute to the virus having more lethal mutations.

So the U.S. placed an order for 20 million doses of this worthless drug at a price of $100 per dose. That comes to a staggering $2 billion.

We are being told that Roche manufactures Tamiflu and, in a recent New York Times article, they were battling whether or not they would allow generic drug companies to help increase their production.

But if you dig further you will find that a drug was actually developed by a company called Gilead that 10 years ago gave Roche the exclusive rights to market and sell Tamiflu.

Ahh, The Plot Thickens...

If you read the link below from Gilead, you'll discover Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was made the chairman of Gilead in 1997.

Since Rumsfeld holds major portions of stock in Gilead, he will handsomely profit from the scare tactics of the government that is being used to justify the purchase of $2 billion of Tamiflu.

For more on the nonsense of the avian flu hoax, you'll want to review today's other post on the subject, <www.mercola.com/2005/oct/25/rumsfeld_to_profit_from_avian_flu_hoax.htm>

I would be more worried if I were in Australia because the bird flu is in Indonesia and a lot of people travel to Indonesia from Australia and they might bring some back on the bottom of their shoe or on their head if they aren't careful. It may not have efficient human-to-human transmission but that's just around the corner. Does that mean that Australia is not doing as much stockpiling of Tamiflu as other countries? I read here http://www.canadianpharmacychoice.com/tamiflu.html that they are still recommending stockpiling Tamiflu.

What Can You Do

The "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005" (S. 1873), recently passed out of the U.S. Senate HELP Committee one day after it was introduced. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is calling the bill "a drug company stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare." This bill, spurred by bird flu fears, will broadly eliminate corporate liability for vaccines and drugs. This bill will soon go to the full Senate for a vote.

After reading the information below, please write to your own Senator and your own member of Congress in protest of this bill. Pass this alert to your family, friends, and other organizations you are involved with, and go to the NVIC website to take action right now.

The proposed legislation, nicknamed "Bioshield Two," is being pushed rapidly through Congress without time for voters to make their voices heard by their elected representatives. It will strip Americans of the right to a trial by jury if they are harmed by a drug or vaccine that they are forced by government to take, whenever federal health officials declare a public health emergency.

The bill establishes the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), as the single point of authority within the government for research and development of drugs and vaccines in response to bioterrorism and natural disease outbreaks. BARDA will operate in secret, exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act, insuring that no evidence of injuries or deaths caused by drugs and vaccines labeled as "countermeasures" will become public.

This proposed legislation is an unconstitutional attempt by some in Congress to give a taxpayer-funded handout to pharmaceutical companies for drugs and vaccines the government can force all citizens to use, while absolving everyone connected from any responsibility for injuries and deaths which occur.

For more information on this, go to www.NVIC.org.

See the full article at, <www.mercola.com/2005/oct/25/avian_flu_epidemic_is_a_hoax.htm>

Bird Flu Propaganda Epidemic

A bill recently introduced in the US Senate, the "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005" aims to shortcut the testing procedures for new vaccines and drugs in case of a pandemic and to protect vaccine makers from legal liability in case the drug causes adverse reactions. The National Vaccine Information Center has called the bill "a drug company stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare." NVIC also has an action page with information and a link to the bill's text, as well as the names of Senate committee considering the bill. Senator Richard Burr, describing the bill to Committee members said that the legislation "creates a true partnership" between the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and academia to "walk the drug companies through the Valley of Death" in bringing a new vaccine or drug to market. The bill gives the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services the sole authority to decide whether a manufacturer violated laws mandating drug safety and bans citizens from challenging his decision in the civil court system. A government agency the bill proposes to set up - the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency - is to promote advanced research and development of drugs and vaccines in response to bioterrorism and natural disease outbreaks. The agency is to be protected from prying eyes by a specific exemption from the provisions of the Freedom of Information act. The current Bird Flu Propaganda Epidemic may well be providing the perfect excuse to pass such a bill, while a pervasive press hysteria stokes the pharmaphilic fervor that seems to have gripped legislative councils not only in the US these days. A decision seems to have been made to prop up the failing pharmaceutical paradigm on health at any cost, even overriding safeguards and legal rights to challenge administrative decisions. It is mind boggling to see how the option of strengthening immune response in a natural way has been completely abandoned in favor of propping up the drug companies' business with disease. (10/26/2005 8:24:03 PM)

Health Supreme

Could specialization in medicine be keeping us from finding an effective way to prevent a potentially disastrous bird flu epidemic? Specialization in medicine - as in other branches of science and art - is an asset, but it also has its drawbacks. Invariably, specialized knowledge tends to develop where the money is, where grants and facilities are available. We have a myriad of experts analyzing the latest virus in great detail, dissecting it, defining its genetic sequences and its potential dangers. That is where the money is: development and manufacture of vaccines and drugs to counter that one specific threat, that specific mutation of the virus. With all this attention on the details, we seem to miss the bigger picture. Could there be other, much better means of preventing a pandemic than tailor-making a vaccine or drug? Perhaps yes, but we are not looking - because all the money is in vaccine research, drug development and genetics. A real preventive strategy would look at three areas:

It would look at where the constant supply of ever new viral strains comes from. Consequently, it would strive to make the bird population less prone to developing viral outbreaks. Chicken farms come to mind with their crowded conditions that promote the spread of any virus. Hygiene, better conditions for the birds, better nutrition for the birds, whatever is needed. It would seek to develop and deploy a non-specific, all-encompassing immune enhancing strategy in humans. Some herbal or nutrient combination - not a vaccination - that actually makes persons more resilient and healthy. Strategies abound. We just need to decide on the best one, find the right combination. It would seek to apply known effective anti-viral agents in those humans who have contracted a potentially pandemic virus. Vitamin C in megadose therapy comes to mind. It has been shown effective and should be given routinely by medical doctors and in hospitals - certainly until we find something better.

Health Supreme - http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/

Bird flu making people jittery: expert

SMH, November 3, 2005 - 5:09PM

People are moving house in fear of the neighbour's pet budgie as confusion and panic over bird flu spreads, a bird specialist has said.

And panicky bird owners were letting their pride and joy fly the coop or putting them down based on an irrational fear of contracting the virus, Professor Bob Doneley said.

But Prof Doneley said it was more likely that a meteor would hit a light plane, which would then fall on someone's head, than it would be to contract bird flu off the neighbour's pet bird.

"I had a phone call from one of my bird-owning clients asking me to call his neighbour to reassure her she that wouldn't have to sell her house and move out because of his birds," Queensland's only registered bird specialist said.

"Talking with colleagues around the world it's not an isolated incident - there's people letting their birds go, people putting their birds down, people moving away from people who own birds.

"Everybody is becoming incredibly fearful of birds in general and it's unfounded."

Prof Doneley, from the University of Queensland's veterinary school, said "anti-bird paranoia" was gripping the public.

They fear an epidemic, or pandemic, if the strain mutates to spread between humans.

Prof Doneley said the threat was real, but many people misunderstood what the real risk was.

"The real risk is if somebody gets bird flu from chickens, which is the most common species affected, and that virus then changes enough to become passed from people to people," he said.

Prof Doneley urged people to use commonsense and stay calm.

"I think we only have to look at what happened with the SARS epidemic," he said.

"That was going to be the end of the world as we knew it, and it just quietly fizzled out.

"Maybe this will happen this time, or maybe it won't."

© 2005 AAP

Stop the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005

This is a very urgent alert. This Act - on the face of it quite unbelievable - creates a new secret agency to "partner" with drug manufacturers for the creation of new vaccines and drugs. It places information about them outside of public view, insures that injury from them will never become public, and completely exempts the vaccine and drug manufacturers from any liability for vaccine and/or drug injury. The Act also specifically exempts this new agency from the Freedom of Information Act. The history of injury and poor efficacy of vaccines and anti-viral drugs has been completely ignored in the debate. At end of this email I have included a more detailed statement from the National Vaccine Information Center.

Influenza vaccines in particular have a very poor record of efficacy. Often they do nothing for stopping the virus, because by the time they have been developed the virus has mutated. They have caused injury to thousands of people (Guillain Barr Syndrome). Their toxic components (including the mercury-based preservative thimerosal and the petrochemical solvent squalene) cause toxic injury and reduce immunity to other disease. Anti-viral drugs have a long list of horrific "side effects" because they interfere with intricate body processes.

The two bills, Senate S1873 and House HR3970 must be stopped. Our civil liberties and health are in great jeopardy. If passed, and when combined with federal power under existing law (BioShield 1), in the midst of an epidemic (or perceived epidemic) the entire population may be forced to be vaccinated with experimental, dangerous, immune-compromising vaccines and we will have no recourse. President Bush is promoting this Act as part of the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza.

Please call your Senators and Representatives now and tell them (in your own words) that you oppose S1873 (Senate) or HR3970 (House) because they are an extreme violation of our civil liberties and a dangerous precedent in secrecy and removal of liability.

Thanks
Jonathan Campbell