DAILY NEWS 2005
BIRD FLU HYPE
Commentary By: Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny
Comment: Dr. Nancy Cox, Chief, Influenza Branch at the CDC has been quoted as saying that the influenza vaccine must be an exact match to be "effective." Nonetheless,Vietnam imported 220 million doses of vaccines, including 125 million doses of H5N1 vaccine and 95 million doses of H5N2 vaccines from China, supposedly to give "partial protection" because the vaccine contains the H5 antigen. It is well established that, if the virus doesn't match, the vaccine will ultimately not be effective, as in the A/Fujian fiasco in 2003.
January 5, 2005: Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily Over 150 million birds had been given two shots each since the campaign began late July. Two thirds of the vaccinated fowls were chicken and the rest ducks. Vietnam has culled almost 4 million birds since the epidemic re-
emerged in October 2005.
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January 2, 2006: USPrepared Becomes First Line of Defense Against Deadly Bird Flu with Tamiflu Complications - USPrepared "We have a portable isolation unit that can protect a family of up to eight people for as long as six months; however all indications show that the deadly
scourge of the bird flu would pass with in several weeks. What family wants to take a chance with an unproven drug that has developed deadly complications?"
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COMMENT: If you have had the flu sometime in your life, you have immunity, once again showing the vaccination compromises long term health of the immune system by not letting it "do its thing" to keep you health.
January 1, 2006 - Prior H1N1 Influenza Infection and Susceptibility of Cleveland Family Study Participants during the H2N2 Pandemic of 1957: An Experiment of Nature - journal article (The Journal of Infectious Diseases)- "Only 5.6% of the adults who had had symptomatic influenza A in earlier study years developed influenza during the pandemic, despite living in households with participants who had influenza. In contrast, 55.2% of the children who had had symptomatic influenza A contracted it again. These findings suggest an impact of accumulated heterosubtypic immunity during a pandemic. Such immunity, as well as its implications for vaccination, should be further investigated."
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December 29, 2005: Wild birds not major cause of flu's spread, scientists say Scientists have been unable to link the spread of the virus to migratory patterns, suggesting that the thousands of wild birds that have died, mostly waterfowl and shore birds, are not primary transmitters of bird flu. But since early fall, there have been only scattered reports of more outbreaks. The disease has been glaringly absent, for example, from western Europe and the Nile delta, where many presumed it would crop up as migrating birds returned to winter roosts
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COMMENT: There is a reason that so many deaths have been in Vietnam...answer coming soon!
December 29, 2005: People's Daily Online -- Four bird flu infections in Vietnam resistant toTamifluVietnam's Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 66 human cases of H5N1 infections, including 22 fatalities, in 25 cities and provinces since December 2004, bringing the total
respective numbers in the country since December 2003 to 93 and 42.
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PLEASE JOIN THE FIGHT. WRITE, CALL, FAX YOUR CONGRESSMAN TODAY!
Dec 28, 2005 - Autism Group Joins Opposition to Drug Co. Liability Protection With enactment of a $453 billion defense spending bill at hand, opposition is growing over a provision granting pharmaceutical companies wide protection from lawsuits. The nation's
leading autism advocacy organization joined consumer watchdogs and medical associations in asking lawmakers to drop the provision before the bill becomes law.
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Comment: this is the IV form of Tamiflu....I've been wondering when they would put this on the front burner?
December 27, 2005: Biocryst receives US FDA approval for human test of influenza drug - International Biocryst said it has received a verbal approval from the FDA to begin human trials of its drug, intravenous peramivir. The company expects to begin Phase I trials in early 2006 in
collaboration with the National Institutes of Health.
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December 23, 2005: Winston-Salem Journal | Elements of Burr bill get House, Senate OK Liability protection for drug-makers who make products for biodefense and to treat victims during pandemics and epidemics. " The only ones protected by this legislation are big drug companies. Ordinary citizens are offered no protection from the Avian flu and other biological threats," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who did not vote on the defense bill.
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December 19, 2005 - University of Florida poultry expert says avian flu scare is a money bonanza for researchers - Online Journal - "About 40 million people received the vaccine before the program was halted in December 1976, after some 1,000 came downwith Guillain-Barre
syndrome (a rate seven times normal), a disease that can cause permanent paralysis, others contracted transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder, a reports of death associated with the vaccine range from 30-60. The government paid some $90 million in damages and the cost of the
program was about $400 (both in 1976 dollars). The difference between making a vaccine in 1976 and the current rush to create an avian flu vaccine is that in 1976 they knew what strain of flu the vaccine was supposed to prevent."
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December. 18, 2005: Today - 999 Today : Wild birds 'victims not vectors', say experts "The most obvious explanation is that migrating wild birds are not spreading the disease," said Dr Michael Rands, chief executive of BirdLife International. "Migratory wild birds were blamed for spreading bird flu west from Asia, yet there's been no spread back eastwards, nor to South Asia and Africa this Autumn.
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December 16: asahi.com:Fabric created that kills avian flu virus - ENGLISH Fabric Kills Avian Flu. Nisshinbo, a textile manufacturer, developed the special cloth by using copper ions. The company's joint study with university researchers confirmed the fabric was effective in
breaking down the virus. The team experimented with a cotton-based hybrid fabric that contained 5 to 7 percent copper zeolite. After the cloth was in contact with avian flu virus for 10 minutes, 99 percent of the virus was destroyed, according to the researchers.
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COMMENT: Forget the flu shot; it doesn't work, it's risky and you don't need the mercury and viruses injected into your body to keep you "healthy."
December 12: FLU SEASON IS SLOW...http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/During week 47 (Nov 20 - Nov 26, 2005), influenza activity occurred at a low level. 22 (1.8%) specimens tested by U.S. WHO and collaborating laboratories were positive for influenza. The
proportion of patient visits to sentinel providers for influenza-like illness (ILI) were below baseline levels. 23 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico reported sporadic influenza activity, and 27 states reported no influenza activity.
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December 9, 2005 - Frist Fans Public Fears of Avian Flu to Ram Through Sweeping Liability Shield for the Drug Industry - Bill Would Leave Injured Consumers to Fend for Themselves While Industry Gets a Free Ride - www.pharmalive.com- "Giving blanket immunity
to the drug industry without providing any means for victims or their families to get compensation for serious injury or death is unconscionable," said Jillian Aldebron, civil justice counsel for Public Citizen's Congress Watch division. It looks like Christmas will come early for the drug industry, but consumers will only get a lump of coal.
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December 7, 2005 - Editorial: Tort shield is wrong defense against flu - Star Tribune - "The premise behind the liability shield is familiar, even plausible: American drugmakers have been pulling out of the vaccine business for the last 20 years, and fear of lawsuits must be one reason.
But that argument falls apart on close examination. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found only 10 lawsuits in the last 20 years over flu vaccines; the authors have concluded that drug companies withdrew from the vaccine business mainly because of low-profit margins and unpredictable demand."
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December. 1, 2005 MercuryNews.com | 12/01/2005 | Critics lambaste bird-flu bill A bill moving through Congress to speed production of bird-flu vaccines and other drugs has ignited alarm from critics who claim it would not only shield manufacturers from lawsuits, but also prevent the public from learning if the medicines hurt people more than help.
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November 29, 2005 - Kiwanis International and Chiron Vaccines' THRIVE(TM) Program Encourages Widespread Flu Education and Vaccination Kiwanis International, a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time,
in partnership with Chiron Vaccines, a leading manufacturer of influenza vaccine, is encouraging communities nationwide to increase awareness of the need for flu vaccination during this flu season. Called "THRIVE" (Tackling Health Risk of Influenza with Vaccination &
Education), this initiative aims to increase flu vaccination rates by helping educate those at high risk from complications from the flu, including young children, the elderly and the chronically ill.
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November 28, 2005 - Prophet Talk: Bird Flu is for the Birds! (Part 2) - Free-Market News Network - "Oh, yes - I do want to repeat myself. Please pick up your phone right now and call your Congressperson. Tell 'em no bird flu vaccine. They can't produce it anyway - not now - because they haven't any human variant of bird flu. And if they do, it's one they developed themselves. ...Tell 'em no more "experiments" in hidden military laboratories to produce lethal recombinations of vaccines - how does that kind of "scientific inquiry" really help? No vaccine - no way, no how, no thanks!"
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November 26, 2005 - Some health officials try to avoid undue worry - Rocky Mountain News - "...That's because many more people, particularly in remote areas, may have been infected with the virus and shown few signs or the disease, or sickened and recovered, without ever reporting the event to authorities. "I think that's a real legitimate possibility,"said Calonge.
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COMMENT: PROOF! from a mainstream medical journal, that antibodies do NOT correlate with protection.
ARTICLE: What are the limits of adjuvanticity?
"...Finally, adjuvanticity is more often evaluated in terms of antigen-specific antibody titers induced after parenteral immunization. It is
known that, in many instances, antigen-specific antibody titers do not correlate with protection." Del Giudice G, Podda A, Rappuoli R.
Vaccine. 2001 Oct 15;20 Suppl 1:S38-41. PMID: 11587808
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COMMENT: Talk about hype!!
November 22, 2005 - ASU researchers tackling avian flu - Team working on 'holy grail' of flu vaccines - Arizona State University Web Devil - "And if that pandemic were to occur today, there would be only one way to deal with the situation -- "learn to dig graves," Curtiss said.
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COMMENT: Is this hinting at mandatory vaccination?
November 21, 2005 - Transcript for Meet the Press November 20 - Anthony Fauci, Julie Gerberding, Michael Leavitt and Michael Ryan - MSNBC.
SEC'Y LEAVITT: I have met directly with all of the vaccine manufacturers, as has the president, and they basically made clear we need to do three things. The first is we need to resolve the issue of liability......The second thing is that we have to assure that we have regulatory flexibility. That is to say, when we're building these facilities, we need the FDA to help provide the adequate protection but do it in a streamlined and efficient way....And the third thing is to assure that there's a market for the vaccines that are ultimately developed.
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Comment: Thank you Everyone for contacting your Congressional Representatives! Be vigilant; Frist is still trying to get the S 1873 passed before the holiday recess.
November 20, 2005: Bird flu spreads in China while Bush's $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls Although the WHO has urged all countries to come up with plans for tackling a pandemic of bird flu, U.S. efforts stalled on Thursday when Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives refused to approve funding for Bush's $7.1 billion plan.
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COMMENT: This is the most TRUTHFUL statement I have seen regarding the "potential" pandemic
November 17, 2005 - Avian Flu Hysteria is for the Birds Says Hudson Expert- Hudson Institute via U.S. Newswire - "There is nothing new about this strain of avian flu. It was discovered in Scottish chickens in 1959. Thus, it has had at least 46 years to mutate to become
transmissible from human-to- human, yet hasn't done so. Thus, it is unlikely that it will do so soon-if ever. The idea that we are overdue for a pandemic is mere superstition.
The first two flu pandemics had 39 years between them, while the second and third had only 11. There is no cycle or pattern."
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COMMENT: That's what we've been saying for months!!
November 15, 2005 - Pandemic jitters (commentary) - The Washington Times - "Avian flu has been grossly exaggerated and it's time someone said so. There have been all of 60 deaths, worldwide. The same virus infected 18 people in Hong Kong in 1997. Then, two years ago, there were a handful of cases in both Vietnam (population 83 million) and Thailand (population 66 million). In both countries combined, 20 people, known to have been working with chickens, contracted influenza symptoms. All this is from the New England Journal of Medicine."
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COMMENT: How much is 15 tons of vaccines? wow!
November 15, 2005: People's Daily Online -- China-made bird flu vaccine flown to Vietnam China-made bird flu vaccine flown to Vietnam. A Boeing 737-300 transporter carrying 15 tons of China-made bird flu vaccine left Harbin for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Tuesday morning.
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November 14, 2005 - Editorials from The Roanoke Times -Develop a vaccine against official secrecy Senators should not grant immunity to a biomedical countermeasures agency. The United States must prepare for biological threats but not by throwing away fundamental rights and
protections. Mold and slime grow in the shadows where there is no accountability. The Senate should keep biomedical research in the light.
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Comment: With no evidence of avian flu virus in wild birds in that part of the country, it is sad to see so many people buying into the hype.
November 13, 2005: Taipei Times - archives Taipei Birdwatching Fair kicked off yesterday at Guandu Nature Park, as birdwatching groups and conservationists from 10 countries worldwide joined the two-day event to promote the joys of birdwatching and assure the public of the safety of such activities. The panic over the avian flu, however, has dissuaded many bird lovers from participating in the event this year and caused a 70-percent slump in the crowd from last year.
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November 13, 2005 - What to do about avian flu - El Universal, MX - "The concern escalates to public fear because authorities have to prepare for this worst-case scenario, and be open about it to the public as they proceed. They tend to use apocalyptic language to help people take the danger seriously, such as "it is only a matter of time"....
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Comment: The virus continues to weaken..
November 11, 2005 - Baby Contracts Avian Flu - All Headline News - "Tests confirm that the boy has the virus. He is, however, expected to make a full recovery."
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November 11, 2005 - Top Official Is Assuring on Flu Vaccine (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Among those affected by the delay is Dr. Gerberding's mother, Bette Gerberding, of Brookings, S.D., who asked her daughter if she should go to a
neighboring state to get a flu shot, Dr. Gerberding said."
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November 9, 2005 - Nor-Cal Flu Clinics Running Out Of Vaccine - http://cbs13.com - "Pharmacist Art Whitney runs Pacific West, a company that gets the flu vaccine to more than 20 facilities like McKinley. They've only received half so far, and there's no guarantee more are
coming....In Vallejo it's a totally different story. County health officials were actually giving free flu shots to volunteers. It's all part of a mass vaccination drill Solano County is doing to help them be prepared for any kind of public emergency."
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November 7, 2005 - Bird flu hysteria - letter (requires registration or subscription) - Los Angeles Times - "Once again, President Bush is misinforming the American public: (1) There is no effective vaccine against bird flu" the cornerstone of Bush's 'plan'; (2) There is no proven therapy either. Tamiflu is a drug of no proven value in bird flu; (3) There is no proof that the present bird flu virus can be transmitted from person to person. Right now, it is an infection of birds that can be transmitted from very sick birds to humans who handle them or eat them...It is time to stop misinforming the public and time to stop fanning mass hysteria....Daniel Hollander MD Professor of Medicine, UCLA"
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COMMENT: Remember the *drills* to mass innoculate everyone with the smallpox vaccine? This is recycled from the Play Book. When will people wake up to what the government is attempting to do to them in the name of "protection"?
November 7, 2005: Vallejo Times Herald - Home County wants to inoculate 1,000 during 3-hour drill. Federal funds are paying for the drill and the flu vaccines. Solano County Office of Emergency Services, Solano County Sheriff's Office and Vallejo Police Department also are
planning to help coordinate the drill and provide security.
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November 7, 2005 - The politics of panic: President Bush and avian flu - The Moderate Voice - "Senator Frist, a hack and possibly a crook, referred to Bush's "bold and decisive leadership," but this was clearly an attempt by the president to look presidential and to change the subject yet again after a particularly disastrous period of his generally disastrous presidency."
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November 2, 2005 - PM Khai urges ministries to step up bird flu efforts - Viet Nam News - "The telegram advised people not to eat poultry during the 28 days following its first vaccination shot, 56 days following the two vaccination shots, or during an outbreak."
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November 2, 2005 - Scientists Track Avian Flu - The Cornell Daily Sun - "Live bird markets, like ones located in the five boroughs of New York City, are places where people can purchase and have birds slaughtered on site," Chittenden said. "In these conditions it is much more probable for the virus to get spread and infect other birds." Locations and practices such as these have led to laws being introduced to govern the purchase and exchange of birds. One such rule is that the birds cannot be sold alive, according to Chittenden. With these precautionary regulations in place combined with rigorous testing of the bird locations and farms, it is very unlikely to have a large spread of the virus infect birds in New York, let alone people. "We require quarterly testing of the bird facilities, but most sites usually get tested six to eight times a year,"Chittenden said."
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Comments: If you are not a member of RedFlagsDaily, please join and support their great efforts to get the truth out. Annual membership is $49 and well worth the investment...that's less than $5/month! To read my latest article, use the link below.
Eliminating Bird Flu Fears: 10 Facts You Need To Know
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November 1, 2005 - UPMC doctor warns on avian flu - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via www. pittsburghlive.com - "Dr. John Messmer, a physician at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Dauphin County, said he doesn't think there's cause for alarm yet. Even if H5N1 jumps into the pool of human hosts, medical science is far more advanced than it was in 1918, when doctors didn't even know viruses existed, Messmer said."
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November 1, 2005 - Experts dismiss scare over bird flu - The Gainesville Sun - "Butcher has been an extension veterinarian at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine since 1988. He was trained as a veterinarian specializing in avian diseases, and has a Ph.D. in poultry
virology. "The emphasis of all my work has changed to dealing with this madness," Butcher said Friday, while briefly back at his office on the UF campus in Gainesville. "Realistically, avian influenza is not a threat to people, but everywhere you go, it has turned into a circus."
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October 31, 2005 - AMA warns against bird flu overreaction - www.abc.net.au - "The President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says public fears of a possible bird flu pandemic may be overstated...Pandemic experts from 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region are
meeting in Brisbane today to consider the region's capacity to combat a bird flu outbreak."
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COMMENT: It is amazing to me that they can get away with these bold-faced lies. Neither Relenza nor Tamiflu are "preventative OR curative". Where is the FTC when we need them?
October 28, 2005 - Biota expects bird flu Relenza orders - The Age, AU - "The world is rediscovering Relenza," Biota chief executive Peter Molloy told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on Friday. Mr Molloy said Relenza was effective against the latest strain of
Avian flu both as a preventative and curative measure."
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October 27, 2005 - Feature-US doctors struggle with demand for bird flu drug- Reuters AlertNet - "The calls have been pouring in to Dr. Howard Bennett's pediatrics office in Washington -- parents wanting prescriptions of Tamiflu to protect themselves and their children in
case avian flu becomes a human pandemic."
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COMMENT: Everyone wants in on the gravy train: "Even if the drug doesn't work, buy it!"
October 26, 2005 - Don't hoard flu drug, doctor urges (requires registration or subscription) - The Globe And Mail - "He said he expected that the federal government would also purchase Relenza, another antiviral, and amantadine, an older drug that has not been effective against
bird flu but may be useful if the virus mutates and becomes transmittable between human beings."
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COMMENT: Now instead of eggs, the "new technology" is back to growing viruses on animal cells. Looks like one choice for the Pandemic vaccine will be dog kidney cells.
October 25, 2005 - Chiron Initiates U.S. Phase I/II Study of Influenza Cell Culture Vaccine - Chiron Corporation via Business Wire - "Chiron's flu cell culture vaccine is produced from virus propagated in the Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell line. The company filed an
investigational new drug application (IND) for flu cell culture vaccine in the United States last year, after regaining its U.S. rights to the technology. The investigational vaccine is produced at Chiron's state-of-the-art flu cell culture vaccine manufacturing facility in Marburg, Germany."
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COMMENT: Those who have recovered uneventfully are not included in the statistics.
October 22, 2005 - Thai boy with bird flu has fully recovered: health officials - AP via CBC News - "Public health officials have ruled out human-to-human transmission of bird flu in a seven-year-old boy whose father died of the disease last week, a senior Thai health official said
Saturday, adding that the boy has fully recovered."
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October 20, 2005 - CDC chief treads lightly with flu news (requires registration or subscription) - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Gerberding told the business gathering that if avian flu turns out to be a repeat of the 1977 swine flu scare --- or if it becomes the medical
equivalent of the "millennium bug" that was widely expected to paralyze the world's computer networks at the end of 1999 --- the world may ignore other warnings and fail to prepare for future pandemics. The swine flu controversy cost the job of Gerberding's predecessor at CDC, Dr. David Sencer, after influenza vaccine developed for the virus --- and urged upon the public by then-President Gerald Ford --- caused paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome in more than 500 people, killing 32."
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"When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we, in essence, accept that
the state owns our bodies." ~U.S.Representative Ron Paul, MD
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October 19, 2005 - The frontline fight against avian flu - The flat, watery wilds of the Isle of Sheppey do not look much like a battleground. - BBC - "If there is one thing that all sides of the debate agree on - the nation should not panic. Mr Gunther says: "Millions of chickens have been slaughtered in China and in Asia where they drink duck's blood and only a handful of people have become infected. "The reality is more people will die from smoking."
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COMMENT: Create a demand...get people to demand the product...and then they will be ready for the mandatory vaccination when it comes.
October 19, 2005 - Avian flu fears may be driving flu shot demand -http://sympatico.msn.ca - "Demand for flu shots across the country is up about 10 per cent, and health officials suspect it may be driven by fears of avian flu."
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October 18, 2005 - Early push for flu shots (requires registration or subscription) - Experts worry that last year's shortage will deter some from seeking the vaccine. - The Sacramento Bee - "Children with parental permission to get the Flu Mist dosage Monday seemed to be oblivious to
the immunization concept - or prevention of a disease that can make a person at any age feel miserable. "I got it because my teacher said I had to come and get the flu," said a cheerful but confused Makayla McGill, a 6-year-old first-grader. What was clear to Makayla and the other children was that they didn't feel a thing as they breathed the mist into their noses and that when it was over, they had a lollipop and a coupon for a free ice cream cone."
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October 17, 2005 - Avian flu: it's a danger but keep feeding the birds, for the moment - The London Times - "Professor John Oxford, the flu expert who can be relied upon to give a balanced opinion, has supported the popular and reassuring suggestion that it is likely when the
avian flu virus mutates that there will be a shift in its virulence and in its infectiousness. It is thought that it will be likely to become less lethal."
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October 17, 2005 - Congress Poised to Rush Through Sweeping Immunity for Possibly Unsafe Vaccines and other Drugs -Americans Likely to Become Human Guinea Pigs - On October 17, 2005, a new Bio-defense bill will be introduced in the U.S. Senate and is expected to
be pushed through the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, without hearings. The Bill Would Wipe Out Both Regulatory and Legal Safeguards Against Certain Unsafe Vaccines, Drugs and Devices, Leaving the Industry Completely off the Hook for Hurting American Citizens - Center For Justices & Democracy
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October 17, 2005 The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion It would be funny if it were not so serious. As migratory birds carry the avian influenza virus west across Europe, Britain is following in the footsteps of Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Turkey and asking hunters to shoot down as
many incoming ducks and geese as possible. They have been issued with bird-flu testing kits to see if their victims are carrying the dreaded virus, but they really have little to worry about: all the cases of direct bird-to-human infection have occurred on family farms in southeast Asia.
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October 15, 2005 - Florida turns to chickens for avian flu alert - Palm Beach Post - "The people who volunteer to have sentinel chickens in their back yard or on their farm usually do so as a public service, plus they get a lot of free eggs from these hens," he said. "The county pays for
the feed, water containers and feeders, and builds the coops."
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October 15, 2005 - Cornell checking for avian flu in NYC - The Ithaca Journal - "Everyone speculates that H5N1 will be the next big issue, but I'd be surprised if it's the next big pandemic -- the next big break in flu probably won't be from what we expect, because viruses simply don't
play by the rules."
But of the people who contracted this avian flu virus, scientists suspect that only one case, in Thailand, was the direct result of human contact. Both the carrier and the infected person died, and the virus went no further. All the other human infections have been contracted from
chickens and so far haven't been contagious to other humans.
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Comment: They are pushing the Annual flu shot even though it would offer NO protection against H5N1. The reason: get veryone use to being in line so that when H5N1 vaccine is ready, the mechanism will be in place. Beware!
October 14, 2005 - Bird flu alert: one million children need jabs- The London Times - "More than a million children in Britain must be vaccinated against flu as soon as possible, senior health officials said last night as the deadly avian form of the virus reached Europe."
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COMMENT: Remember follow the money. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for pharma's vaccine industry...a vaccine for every person on earth.
October 14, 2005 - Investors See Bird-Flu Impact - Will It Affect Roche, Sanofi, Or Smaller Firms Biota, Pulmuone? - The Wall Street Journal - "One of the larger companies, Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., is betting it has an edge on rival Sanofi in making a bird-flu vaccine, even
though Sanofi's clinical trials are ahead of Chiron's. Chiron is hoping to get approval to market what it says is a unique vaccine supplement in the U.S. that would allow for inoculations with a smaller amount of vaccine -- a key concern of health officials worried about supply."
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October 11, 2005 - An epidemic of overreaction (requires registration or subscription) - By Marc Siegel, MD. MARC SIEGEL is an internist and associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine. He is the author of "False Alarm: The Truth about the
Epidemic of Fear" (Wiley, 2005). - Los Angeles Times - "Unfortunately, public health alarms are sounded too often and too soon. SARS was broadcast as a new global killer to which we had zero immunity, and yet it petered out long before it killed a single person in the United States. SARS was something to be taken seriously, but the real lessons of SARS, smallpox, West Nile virus, anthrax and mad cow disease weren't learned by our leaders” that potential health threats are more effectively examined in the laboratory than at a news conference."
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October 13, 2005 - City participates in avian flu drill - Cambridge Chronicle via www2.townonline.com - "In this fictional scenario, a man arrived at a Boston area hospital with flu-like symptoms. The man had recently returned from a business trip to Asia, and had potentially
infected several hundred passengers on his flight home. He had also attended a large awards dinner in Cambridge directly following his trip. Over the next 11 days, hospitals were flooded with patients, including their own medical staff."
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October 12, 2005 - Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Scientists Receive $8 M to Study Flu Vaccine- Journal Record - " The five-year project will examine why the vaccine does not protect certain individuals with compromised immune systems."
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October 12, 2005 - Let pros handle health problems (opinion) - Seattle Post-Intelligencer - "It is time for us to mandate a federally funded program of influenza vaccination with financial guarantees to the pharmaceutical industry. The same may be said for anti-virals. We can bring down the price of these products through appropriate negotiation for large quantities. Let us place emphasis squarely on the target -- the assurance of adequate production and stockpiling of necessary vaccines and anti-virals."
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COMMENT: GAURANTEED PURCHASE. NEW CONTRACTS. TAX INCENTIVES. NO PRODUCT LIABILITY.
It doesn't get any better than that for a drug company.
October 12, 2005. http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/101205_vaccine.html Immunity sought as avian flu shadow approaches The Senate already has approved an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that added $3.9 billion to the military spending measure to prepare for the flu. The money will be used to stockpile medications to combat the flu. This month, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded Sanofi-Aventis a $97 million contract to develop a new type of flu vaccine.Lobbyists from pharmaceutical companies say a critical component of any effort is immunity from lawsuits if a vaccination causes harm. Without new legal safeguards, pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to produce vaccines, a business that offers little reward but a lot of risk, lobbyists say. "We need to provide incentives to companies to bring drugs and vaccines to the marketplace," said Doug Heye, a spokesperson for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Health Committee's Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness Subcommittee.
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September 29, 2005 - UN ratchets up preparedness for expected human avian flu pandemic- AFP via Yahoo! - "UN chief Kofi Annan appointed David Nabarro, a Briton who is one of the leading World Health Organization (WHO)' spublic health experts, as senior UN coordinator for avian and human influenza."
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COMMENT: This means that resistance to the virus is very high....most people will not contract the infection when exposed.
Sept. 29, 2005: "The relatively low frequencies of influenza A (H5N1) illness in humans despite widespread exposure to infected poultry indicate that the species barrier to acquisition of this avian virus is substantial." Beigel JH, Avian influenza A (H5N1) infection in humans. N Engl J Med. Sept 29, 2005; 353 (13):1374-85.
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September 28, 2005 - NIAID and MedImmune Join Forces to Develop Potential Pandemic Influenza Vaccines- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - "NIAID and MedImmune will develop at least one vaccine for each of the 16 variations of a key influenza surface protein known as hemagglutinin (represented by the letter "H" in the names of influenza strains, suchas H5N1). NIAID and MedImmune will develop vaccines for the highest priority hemagglutinin subtypes first. The researchers say it will take years to systematically develop vaccines for all the hemagglutinin subtypes. Having effective vaccines against all subtypes will help us prepare for influenza pandemics in the future, explains NIAID's Dr.Subbarao."
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COMMENT: Note this was said in 2003.....
Feb 27, 2003: http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20030227/04
"A pandemic strain will certainly appear, will spread widely and will be lethal," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told The Scientist. However, "there have been a half dozen pandemic 'false alarms' in the last 30 years," Thompson says. A false alarm is an outbreak in which a novel strain
has jumped the species barrier but has been confined to one or two people and often has not been lethal."
