Today the government admitted it can not stop Avian Influenza H5N1 (a.k.a. Bird Flu or Avian Flu) from reaching the United States. What is interesting about this is the USDA is using Bird Flu as a big excuse for justifying invading our privacy and violating our Constitutionally guaranteed rights with the fascist regulations of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
“In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.” -ABC News
“There’s no way you can protect the United States by building a big cage around it and preventing wild birds from flying in and out,” -U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns said
Note that Michael Johanns, of the USDA, is a primary architect behind NAIS which will destroy small family farms and homesteading. The worst part of it is they go on in the article to discuss destroying all poultry flocks while at the same time talking about it being ‘evolution at work’ with Avian Flu. Rather than taking the standard nonsensical government policy of killing off the small flocks and thus people’s livelihoods they need to simply quarantine. Let the best animals have a chance to survive the flu. Some of them will have resistance. Those are the animals we want to keep and breed to produce disease resistant poultry for the future.
This doesn’t matter to the big factory farms. They are the place where Bird Flu is the big problem. With their monocultures of virtually identical birds Avian Flu means all their birds die. In fact, a recent report suggests that the factory farms may even be the cause of the problem. For them, depopulation may make sense. They have insurance and government programs that will cover their costs.
On the other hand, with heritage varieties of poultry there is a large genetic variance raising the strong possibility of the birds naturally developing resistance. Small farms and hobbyists are the ones who keep these critical heritage breeds from extinction. They don’t generally have insurance or any government programs to protect them from the devastation of government kill programs and nothing will replace the lost genetic diversity.
So why does the government institute kill programs? Because depopulation, killing off all the birds in a wide area, makes it look like they are doing something. Besides, letting the strong survive does not put profits in the pockets of their big corporate sponsors. There are companies working on genetically engineering chickens that can resist Avian Influenza so they can patent the results. This will give them a lot of profits if we are all forced to buy their chickens. If the resistance develops naturally there won’t be any mega-profits for those firms. Naturally they want the competition literally killed off.
NAIS is a fascist rule that gives the government the precise location and count of all poultry in the United States so then they can more easily kill off all the competitors to their big corporate sponsors. NAIS gives the government the power to enter our farms and homes without a warrant and kill off our livestock without any legal form of appeal. Once all the heritage birds are killed off we’ll then have to buy patented genetically engineered (GMO/GE) chickens and eggs from the big players thus guaranteeing them more profits for a long time to come.
The saddest part is all of this is unnecessary. Avian Flu has been around in the wild for a long time. If the Avian Influenza is in the wild birds then killing off backyard flocks is not going to help one bit. A better solution is letting evolution produce stronger birds and working on vaccines in the mean time to protect the birds we have.
I am saddened by our heritage that is being destroyed. In addition to the heritage breeds of livestock, another example of profit over heritage is the apple industry. Old apple varieties that I grow will not be found in stores and may become extinct. They make better looking, more marketable-looking store brands pale in a taste comparison, but you won’t find them there because they aren’t “pretty”. Who’s heard of the Roxbury Russet, the Grimes Golden, Tenderskin, Tolman Sweet, etc, most of which I grow. These are endangered because they aren’t best for profit. Same with our beautiful heritage fowl and other livestock that the government is on the way to destroying with NAIS. Sometimes I feel just nauseous over the whole thing. Sometimes I feel like the Constitution has been “decommissioned”, but until and unless it actually has, we MUST stand on it.Please keep fighting, everyone!
Comment Cynthia B. — March 14, 2006 @ 8:10 am
Here’s an interesting question…if they destroy all of the birds, where are the next generation of birds coming from? Of course, we could say, “currently incubating eggs”, however…if its wild birds that are spreading it, wouldn’t the next generation get ill, too? Scientifically, ecologically, and economically, it makes far more sense to let the disease through and restart with the generation that survived the flu rather than destroy the entire population on the fear that a human who didn’t wash their hands might possibly contract the disease. We aren’t even sure how many people contracted the disease and had few symptoms vs. those who contracted it and passed away!
Its paranoia, and its silly.
Comment B_heart11 — March 14, 2006 @ 9:16 am
“Let the best animals have a chance to survive the flu. Some of them will have resistance. Those are the animals we want to keep and breed to produce disease resistant poultry for the future.”
Thank you for posting this. It is what I have worried about each day. My own birds aren’t of particular importance, but will breeding flocks be spared? Edna
Comment Edna — March 14, 2006 @ 9:20 am
What is the origin of the avian influenza crisis in Asia?
Even the FAO is having to slowly admit that H5N1 is moving through the factory poultry system, even though they are trying to still justify their earlier BS…
Avian_QA
‘The origins are uncertain but from what is known of the general biology of the infection, and risk factors for its entry and spread, some areas stand out for further analysis. The presence of multiple virus types of high severity for poultry point at a supportive environment for disease agents to move in the poultry sector. Domestic poultry increasingly forms the basis for entry, spread and shift to high severity (virulence) of influenza viruses which in the past were mostly mild infections and confined to waterfowl. The dramatic growth in domestic poultry production is part of the explanation.
It is estimated that the Eastern and South-Eastern parts of Asia share a poultry population which approaches 6 billion birds (map). Major sub-populations are found around the rapidly expanding megacities. More than half of the domestic bird population is in medium to large scale intensive poultry holdings where fairly strict prevention and containment (´bio-security°) measures are in place. However, a sizeable part of the poultry population remains with the smallholder sector and an estimated total of 200 million farmers, each keeping about 15 birds, mainly comprising ducks, chicken, geese, turkeys and quails. The backyard or village poultry is composed of scavenging birds and open pens and exposed to virus carried by wild birds. Seasonal seeding of influenza viruses into backyard poultry systems by waterfowl migrating in the east and central Asian flyways (recognised migration routes from northern China/Siberia to south-east Asia and south and west Asia) allows regular addition of new viruses to the diverse domestic poultry virus pool and may explain some of the geospatial features of regional virus distribution.
However, the rapid spread of certain virus types implicates dissemination mechanisms within the poultry subsector itself, such as live poultry movements or transports involving infected materials. The risks from live bird markets appear the most obvious and have in the past been incriminated as a critical risk, and control point . The circulation of virus in backyard poultry may thus be readily explained. The mechanism of entry into and between intensive units must be further elucidated, since such units would be expected to operate with high levels of prevention (bio-exclusion), and entry might involve other routes besides live birds. Once high density industrial poultry areas become affected infection can explosively spread within the units, and the very high quantities of virus produced may be easily carried to other units, to humans, and into the environment. The above, largely hypothetical transmission cycle may be summarised as virus shifting from “the flyways to the highways and byways”. ‘
Comment Anon — March 14, 2006 @ 11:52 am
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=194
A different point of view on just how it’s spreading.
Comment Sue F — March 14, 2006 @ 3:51 pm
and another:
Avian_Flu_Fact_Sheet.pdf
Comment Sue F — March 14, 2006 @ 4:06 pm
“There’s no way you can protect the United States by building a big cage around it and preventing wild birds from flying in and out,” -U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns said
“This doesn’t matter to the big factory farms. They are the place where Bird Flu is the big problem. With their monocultures of virtually identical birds Avian Flu means all their birds die. In fact, a recent report suggests that the factory farms may even be the cause of the problem. For them, depopulation may make sense. They have insurance and government programs that will cover their costs.”
EXACTLY. That is the plan. Not to eliminate Bird Flu, but to eliminate all the animal populations that are resistant to it. It is simple: Reduce all the animal populations down to monocultures that are more susceptible to bird flu, shrink the food supply, DEPOPULATE US!!!
Comment Rick — March 17, 2006 @ 5:19 am