Before it was terrorism. Then it was mad cow disease. Now the government is using fears of Avian Influenza (H5N1 or bird flu) to scare people into accepting reductions in their freedoms and more government control over our lives. The latest trampling of our constitutional rights is in the form of Premise ID and the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Maryland has bill HB709 to register all domestic birds including pet birds. Vermont is pushing Premise ID for bird flu prevention. ABC plans to do a TV movie about Avian Flu. Everyone wants in on the fear mongering. The problem is they aren’t thinking big enough.
Avian Flu may or may not be the next big one but it is highly likely that there will be a pandemic in some form within our lifetime. The government does not understand the scale of the problem - Avian Influenza may well mutate into a form that could kill billions of people, not just mere millions. Between worldwide travel bringing disease from far away lands, invasive alien species, overuse of low doses of antibiotics, free trade, genetic engineering, nano-tech and terrorism we are likely to see something as bad or worse than the 1918 Flu or the Black Plague. The death toll could easily reach 1 in 4 worldwide and virtually depopulate some countries and urban areas. Maybe this year, maybe next year, maybe next decade, maybe next century. That is realistic.
The things the governments are doing to ‘prepare’ are not particularly useful. Tamiflu is not effective enough nor available for enough people. Only the elite will get it. The vaccines won’t be here in time. They’ll rush the vaccine so badly they’ll very likely make mistakes - remember the swine flue scare and vaccine that killed people. Rushing the research and testing will needlessly kill people. NAIS and Premise ID will not protect us either. Chickens are a terminal host and not a problem for people except in the worst conditions. Backyard flocks are small, diverse and dispersed. They don’t represent a threat to society or even their owners. All the government is doing with their fear mongering is demonizing small farms and rural folk who raise their own food.
Factory farms are a far higher risk to society with their huge numbers of birds in crowded conditions that provide an ideal culturing facility for mutated forms of deadly viruses. They provide the ideal conditions for mutation and incubation of enormous cultures of viruses.
Another threat that has gotten some recent press is pet cats which are susceptible to bird flu. Cats far more likely to transmit Avian Influenza to humans than chickens. Cats roam about, kill and eat infected wild birds, even in urban areas, and then come home to their owners to pass on the virus through saliva, scratches, bites, coughing and exhalation. Cats are ubiquitous. But the proposed government policies make no mention of dealing with this issue. As usual, the government is doing the wrong things at the wrong time in the wrong way.
Be prepared to take care of yourself, your family, your neighbors, your community. Expanding circles of diminishing responsibility. Read this excellent document from the FluWiki specific to Avian Influenza. Quarantine is the single best protection you have in the case of a pandemic. Here in rural Vermont most people are always prepared to be isolated because of severe winter storms. Dealing with quarantine is an extension of that. People in cities should arrange with family or friends in the country where they they can flee to for sanctuary and be prepared to provide labor and supplies to survive the duration. This will not be a vacation in the country - be prepared to work for room & board, to contribute to the country cousins and be ready for a very different lifestyle than you are used to in the urban areas. Incoming fleeing families should rest in quarantine from the country cousins for a period of days to weeks to assure they don’t bring disease with them. Whatever you do, plan early, not late.
What the government could do that would be useful is to provide education. Teach people disaster preparedness and survival. This is the opposite of what our government’s are doing with their continued focus on making people more and more dependant on the Mother Land. This should not be a mandatory, heavy handed forced approach but an enabling of independence. If people choose to ignore it that is their choice but when disaster strikes they will be more likely to suffer. Better yet, take responsibility for yourself and start preparing now. Preparedness is not learned in an instant. It must be integrated into the process of growing up and living life. There is a great deal that people can do to help themselves to survive for three days, for three weeks, for three months, three years…
Disaster will strike. It may be local, regional or worldwide. A hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, a pandemic, a terrorist strike, a nuclear war. It is our responsibility as individuals and families to be ready to take care of ourselves, to get through it. The government does not have the ability to care for us all nor do we really want a Nanny State that would have that power. Government has bigger fish to fry than watching out for every single individual.
Remember the Scout motto: Be prepared.
Actually, I doubt any avian flu would become any kind of big killer. Even if it as debilitating and infectuous as the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, you can buy new and improved drugs like *aspirin*, antihistamines, cough medicines, etc. over the counter to combat it (about the only thing in wide use in 1918 was PeptoBismol). Also, lots more doctors, nurses and medical facilities. Even small farm towns tend to have a clinic that can handle minor surgery, not like long ago when the medical “facility” was the extra beds in the doctor’s (or dentist’s) house.
Comment Kamatu — April 19, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
Walter, you hit the nail right on the head! *Any* kind of disaster hits, and it’s those who have animals here and there who will be the life savers of the rest (history and common sense tells us this!) - what insanity to drive them out of business when we know it’s only a matter of time before we have a terrorist attack, disease outbreak, etc.! As bad as the Great Depression was, people still largely had gardens and livestock to help get them through…what would it be like today to go through another depression like that (or worse) WITHOUT those gardens/animals this time? Most economists agree that it’s not a matter of if, but when we will have another crash. It’s not at all unrealistic to see the possibility of a large terrorist attack that promptly throws us and the rest of the world into the greatest Depression ever. I suppose the powers that be WANT control of all of the animals then as they would be pretty valuable to lots of hungry people!
Comment Anita — April 19, 2006 @ 1:07 pm
Walter; It is obvious that the Avian Flu story is going to continue to dominate the major media for the forseeable future. The avian flu has not yet made the “human to human” jump, but you can bet that the major media is “chafing at the bit” in anticipation of the first report, from God knows where, indicating that the virus is now being passed from human to human. Until that happens, this must still be considered to be a “potential” human health crises.
For our purposes in fighting NAIS, this is all bad news. The USDA is using the publicity about avian flu to effectively shut down debate about the program. And the media, from national outlets to the local newspaper, is advancing the argument that “(Nais) must be viewed for what it is: an effort to protect the public health”. (quote from daily editorial in Reading Eagle newspaper; Reading/Berks PA of April 11, 2006.)
The proponents of NAIS will use the avian flu scare as their trump card. And the “scare” will only get worse in the days ahead. I predict that the avian flu scare will dwarf the Y2K scare which we all endured in late 1999. Your advice about “fleeing to the rural countryside” is reminiscent of the Y2K suggested procedures. You neglected to warn us to “arm ourselves” so that we would be able to protect our limited resources from the city dwelling masses who will roam the countryside looking for food and water!
The task of opposing NAIS is going to get more difficult as the avian flu scare grows. We must expect that many people will view us as obstructionists to the USDA’s war against avian flu. We must be prepared to offer intelligent arguments against such rhetoric.
To that end, may I respectfully suggest a future article for these pages that will help us to agree on talking points when we speak with lawmakers and public health officials about NAIS. The first question that needs to be answered is “how do we make our case that NAIS and premise identification is not a necessary tool for the USDA when the general public is being besieged by fear mongering about an animal borne illness”?
Comment Neil W. — April 19, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
100% agreed. The government and fear mongers will abuse this situation to gain more control. This doesn’t change the fact that not only is there going to be disasters but what the government is doing is the totally wrong response. They are focused on gathering power instead of enabling people to be able to survive.
It is actually much worse than this though. See this GAO document from the government itself. Turn to page 31 and read:
Note they also mention extending that range indefinitely on page 34. They affectionately call this process “Depopulation” which is ever so ironically euphemistic. They are planning to do all of this is without a warrant and no appeal. So much for your Constitutional rights and presumption of innocence. The government plans to strip away your ability to be independent and to provide yourself with food in times of greatest need. This will make people more dependent on factory farms and Big Ag producers as we lose the ability to feed ourselves. Non-producer regions will be at the mercy of producers and transportation. Not good.
Government: It’s not just the law, it’s a bad idea.
Comment walterj — April 19, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
I wish to add one brief anecdote that will help to support my above-mentioned comments. Recently, a local am radio talk show known as “Feedback” featured a county agriculture extension spokesman as the guest. He went to great lengths to “tray and calm” the listeners about the avian flu scare.
But, during his remarks, he mentioned that Pennsylvania (and especially Berks County) has many, many small flocks of chickens that are harder to monitor than the commercial flocks. He suggested that, if an outbreak of avian flu occurs, those birds might be required to be taken indoors.
So…he was, intentionally or not, spreading the message that small flocks are more dangerous than commercial flocks because they are not being monitored.
I kept listening to the program to see if he would mention NAIS. He did not.
He did mention that anyone with a backyard flock who finds five or more dead birds should contact his office or the office of the game commissioner to arrange for testing of the birds to see if they died from avian flu.
This is what we are up against here in Berks County, PA. Mis-information and false information prevails!
The host of the program quickly added that he had seen a recent AP article where it was reported that “cooking chicken to 165 degrees will kill any avian flu that the chicken might have”. In effect, this states that there is no danger of contracting avian flu from a consumed chicken if that chicken has been properly cooked.
The danger of avian flu is not in contracting the disease. The danger is in the difficulty it will present when opposing NAIS in the face of health and agriculture officials who continue to spread false information!
Comment Neil W. — April 19, 2006 @ 2:40 pm
Hello all If you would like to get the facts about avian flu, such as only 192 human cases with 109 resulting in death over 3 years, world wide.
Than check out the following link to the World Health Organization.
link
Comment Gerry Houser — April 19, 2006 @ 4:30 pm
Anyone planning to attend the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, WI? On Friday, Aapril 21 at 12:30p.m. Dr. Robert Fourdraine is scheduled to give a seminar, “The Real Story Regarding Premise I.D.” Dr. Fordraine is with the Wisconsin Livestock Consortium, the organization created to handle premise registration in Wisconsin. Sound like a good opportunity to ask some hard questions of Dr. Fourdraine and watch him squirm in a public forum. This seminar is to be held in the Nutrena Hall Vitality Room but be advised that the schedule may change. Information can be found at www.midwesthorsefair.com.
Comment Jane Barlament — April 20, 2006 @ 3:28 am
Don’t eat wild birds (avian flu), don’t eat wild meat (chronic wasting disease). Did you guys see the little blurb in Hobby Farms that now they are detecting the it in deer, not just elk. So, the media is discouraging eating anything wild. The NAIS will put most small farmer and homesteaders out of business. So, then we will be totally dependent on govenrment and Agri business. Oh, is there really a difference? I want to know when it was changed from We The People to We the Big Business?
Comment MB — April 20, 2006 @ 7:55 am
You know, thinking this over for a few minutes there is something that seriously doesn’t add up about this:
If the big fear is that the virus will mutate into a human-to-human disease, then the primary disease vector will no longer be poultry or wild foul. Killing birds won’t do anything to prevent the spread. That won’t be the way its spread. The feared pandemic will not be the result of contact with poultry, but with OTHER PEOPLE! It might have started with birds, but once it’s made that jump, who cares? Birds would have very little to do with it at that point. If we’re going to start killing things that have been infected and which could spread the disease, we’d then have to start killing humans who have it!
Comment jb — April 20, 2006 @ 8:34 am
we need a hot line and escape
plan…believe it they will come
and they will kill and if we don’t have a plan to at least avoid
seeing them killed by monsters
we will be traumatized for life… I say have a gun handy
so you can at least kill your own birds…makes me wish i lived in
town in a no pets allowed
apartment.
we know the flu is a hype but it’s no use arguing about….
keep eggs ready to incubate
and distribute your birds so
that at least some may escape..we are the jews and we live in a police state..face it my friends..i can’t sleep either..makes the NAIS look
downright warm and fuzzy……
doesn’t it????
Comment sid sargent — April 20, 2006 @ 8:09 pm
can’t believe you guys are really scared of the
flu.. The chickens are the endangered ones…….
Sourkraut cures the avian flu
and healthy chickens won’t get it. If we survive the depopulation
genicide we will be lucky…bringing down factory
farming should be our longterm
goal.factory farms are the
problem….perfect disease
incubators …so how to prepare
walter????????????
at least we can stop pretending
and share the grief…..these
control freeks aren’t gonna change anytime soon……. I just wish I could stop having
the nightmares….
Comment sid sargent — April 20, 2006 @ 8:26 pm
I recommend everyone “read” in the right hand column,
“Plum Island” in the NAIS related issues, and
“GAO Homeland Security” in the Technical Documents Section.
Keeping in mind, that a rogue person(s) could allegedly introduce such a devasting disease(s), by negligence, accident, or “God Have Mercy”, on purpose, in order to put NAIS into effect.
This is Your, USDA.inc “Protecting the Homeland.” Ya Right! NOT!
Dean Ayers
Glenwood, Iowa
DeanAFOSI@aol.com
Comment DeanAFOSI (IOWA) — April 21, 2006 @ 3:46 am
Gerry, you would have to dig into the internet, but there are several studies that show the cases of human avian flu are probably in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. The 109/192 you cite are just the ones in third world countries that were bad enough that someone actually took them to one of the rare hospitals. Which is why during the early reports of 100%, then 80%, then 70% fatality rates, you had doctors and scientist boggling over this huge percentage. Normal flu is only 1-2% fatal (usually the eldery, children and immune compromised) and even the Spanish flu is only estimated at 5%, with some large part of that people dying of secondary causes like dehydration when everyone was too sick to take care of the people around them.
Comment Kamatu — April 21, 2006 @ 10:44 am
Isn’t it ironic that they want to take away our birds at the very time when we would need tham most? How can we take care of our “city cousins” w/out our eggs, meat or milk grown right on our farms?
Comment Nancy W — April 25, 2006 @ 1:51 pm
You need to be prepared for a lot more than this. The government will fall. That is the nature of governments. Things go in cycles. Even rome fell finally. With our society it may be this year or next year or the year after or in a decade or in fiftee years or a hundred years but it will crumble down. People are foolish not to be preapred. The worse place to be will be in the cities.
Comment Andy — October 30, 2006 @ 6:40 pm
SPAM DELETED
Comment Hildegarde — February 21, 2007 @ 4:33 am
SPAM DELETED
Comment Lucia — February 22, 2007 @ 12:22 am