Expert Dispells Avian Flu Myth

[Nbadan]

Nov 1, 2005


At a time when headlines trumpet the potential dangers of "bird flu," Gary Butcher is the man of the hour.

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.

As the only poultry veterinarian in the state, Butcher fields phone calls and e-mails about avian flu every day.

Lately, he's been traveling the world, speaking to alarmed government officials and industry groups dispelling the myths and reinforcing the realities of avian influenza or so-called "bird flu."

Gary Butcher begins his presentation with a slide that shows a "news flash" from the British press agency Reuters reporting that avian flu "poses the single biggest threat to the world right now."

The H5N1 avian flu virus has led to the death of 150 million birds, either through infection or culling to prevent the virus from spreading. So far, however, the number of people who have become infected remains small, with 121 confirmed illnesses and 62 reported fatalities as of Monday. No one has yet been proven to have given avian influenza to someone else.

Gaines Ville (http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051101/LOCAL/51101021/1078/NEWS&template=printart)

The White House solution in its latest tactic to scare the beegeebers out of the American public is to stockpile a vaccine which may be a usless against an evolved avian flu virus called Tamiflu. Guess who owns a huge stake in the company that owns the rights to Tamiflu?


NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.

The forms don't reveal the exact number of shares Rumsfeld owns, but in the past six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu have sent Gilead's stock from $35 to $47. That's made the Pentagon chief, already one of the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer.

Rumsfeld isn't the only political heavyweight benefiting from demand for Tamiflu, which is manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche. (Gilead receives a royalty from Roche equaling about 10% of sales.) Former Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005.

Money.CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/?cnn=yes)

I guess re-enforcing agencies by adequately funding Local Health and Human Services for training personnel in case of an avian flu emergency, and funding the CDC, the gate-watchers to viral epidemics, wouldn't have made any WH cronies any money?

[SA210]

Gov. Bush with another scare tactic to deflect attention from his failures.

what's next in this rebuilding week of sweeps for the governor?.....

tune in next time there is bad publicity for Gov Bush.

[gtownspur]

^^Once again, non partisan groups like the National Institute of health and the World Health Ogranization raise the issue, bush runs with it, and somehow it's another neo con conspiracy. Please get out of Uranus and comeback to earth!!!!!!!!

[JoeChalupa]

I was so glad to see the president address the problem of a possible pandemic due to bird flu. Now we can be rest assured that we are informed and that our Thanksgiving turkeys will be fit to eat.

[jochhejaam]

^^Once again, non partisan groups like the National Institute of health and the World Health Ogranization raise the issue, bush runs with it, and somehow it's another neo con conspiracy. Please get out of Uranus and comeback to earth!!!!!!!!
It's absolutely a case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't". If he had ignored the possible ramifications of a pandemic they would have accused him of being complacent and stupid for ignoring it.
Instead of bashing his actions why not come up with a viable alternative to how the President is handling the situation or do you have one?

Some can't help themselves in that they can only emulate their political Father J. Kerry by believing that a litany of complaints is an intelligent way of addressing issues that are problematic to our Country. The President gets jackhammered iregardless of what position he takes on these issues.

Some people have zero capacity for objectivity when it comes to the President.

[JoeChalupa]

Some people have zero capacity for objectivity when it comes to the President.

I agree.
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton

[jochhejaam]

I agree.
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton
Yep, lack of objectivity isn't peculiar to any one political affiliate.

[SA210]

Your right, I'm sorry. Your a great man governor Bush. No, really. Your the best.:rolleyes

[Extra Stout]

This is interesting. Two weeks ago, in perusing left-wing sites, one would find them on "Bird Flu Watch," with daily updates about the threat, scientific discussions, and of course, blistering criticism over the President's "inaction."

Now that the President has announced an initiative, many of the same lefties are bashing him for doing so, calling it an "exaggeration," a "distraction," or a scheme to benefit his corporate cronies in "Big Flu."

They turned on a dime, and showed remarkable capacity to forget everything they had said and written two weeks ago.

[SA210]

^^^ Bush didn't act back then. Now all of a sudden during his rebuilding week. Yea, yea.

[Extra Stout]

^^^ Bush didn't act back then. Now all of a sudden during his rebuilding week. Yea, yea.
Oh, I see. It's worth it to downplay or dismiss a potential recurrence of the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak if it helps you gain political points by keeping Scooter Libby in the news. Gotcha.

And yet Democrats wonder why a public disaffected with the Republicans doesn't take them seriously either?

[Extra Stout]

Attention: Democrats... it's people with poor access to health care, who won't be able to stave off the secondary bacterial infections, who will die in a flu outbreak.

It does no good to make them increasingly disgusted with Bush if they're dead or too sick to vote.

Every now and then, make a token show of statemanship. That's what people are looking for. You can't fake it. Statesmanship isn't something you glean out of a focus group. It isn't a catchy campaign phrase. It isn't a list of self-contradictory campaign promises. It isn't reflexively criticizing whatever the other party does. It isn't waiting for scandals to explode.

[SA210]

My point is if Bush cared about those people you speak of he would have acted sooner, he would not have waited for his photo opportunity in rebuilding week to show that's he's gonna protect us. Bush plays the timing game, get it right.

Delayed like FEMA. Delayed like those 7 minutes he sat there while our country was under attack, Delayed like when he's on vacation during a disaster. Kind of like that. Stop spinning already. It's always about the photo opportunity with this administration.
Like Gov. Bush in the flight suit. :rolleyes

Don't question my care for people. I question this administration, and all they know how to do is deflect questions and not accept responsibility. Those people with poor access to health care do need help, and they also need to know that Bush ain't the answer, but they should already know that, seeing as how they need healthcare.

[Hook Dem]

My point is if Bush cared about those people you speak of he would have acted sooner, he would not have waited for his photo opportunity in rebuilding week to show that's he's gonna protect us. Bush plays the timing game, get it right.

Delayed like FEMA. Delayed like those 7 minutes he sat there while our country was under attack, Delayed like when he's on vacation during a disaster. Kind of like that. Stop spinning already. It's always about the photo opportunity with this administration.
Like Gov. Bush in the flight suit. :rolleyes

Don't question my care for people. I question this administration, and all they know how to do is deflect questions and not accept responsibility. Those people with poor access to health care do need help, and they also need to know that Bush ain't the answer, but they should already know that, seeing as how they need healthcare.
You're a good Democrat Sa210. Play by the party rules.Never look for any thing good but spread the gloom!

[JohnnyMarzetti]

You're a good Democrat Sa210. Play by the party rules.Never look for any thing good but spread the gloom!

And you are good Bush ass-kissing republican.

[boutons]

Because dubya+admin have lost all credibility (due to their 5 years of lying and bad-faith, willfully incompetent non-government), EVERY "action" will be interpreted as partisan, politicized, reacting, taken purely for narrow political objectives (eg, his mannig the military control room during RITA, GMAFB), dick-sucking his fringe base FIRST, rather than seen as a apolitical act of good-faith governing.

You make your bed, you lie in it. The Repubs succeeded in creating an extremely partisan, negative, no-holds-barred polarization of political life. Now they have to face it when it's thrown back in their faces with equal force.

The Repubs shutting down Clinton's govt was a "stunt".
Dem Harry's Rule 21 was payback stunt.
Get the fucking fucked-up picture, yet?

It's all-out partisan war, just what the Repugs wanted.
But now they're wimping out and bitchin and cryin like a bunch of wronged, self-righteous damsels. Frist's spittle-flying bitchin about Rule 21 is punk stuff.
He wants to be treat with "respect", he's got to give respect.

[BronxCowboy]

I don't like Bush anymore than the next guy, but to be fair, people were already freaking out about the bird flu thing, and no matter who the president was, it needed to be addressed.

[SA210]

Because dubya+admin have lost all credibility (due to their 5 years of lying and bad-faith, willfully incompetent non-government), EVERY "action" will be interpreted as partisan, politicized, reacting, taken purely for narrow political objectives (eg, his mannig the military control room during RITA, GMAFB), dick-sucking his fringe base FIRST, rather than seen as a apolitical act of good-faith governing.

You make your bed, you lie in it. The Repubs succeeded in creating an extremely partisan, negative, no-holds-barred polarization of political life. Now they have to face it when it's thrown back in their faces with equal force.

The Repubs shutting down Clinton's govt was a "stunt".
Dem Harry's Rule 21 was payback stunt.
Get the fucking fucked-up picture, yet?

It's all-out partisan war, just what the Repugs wanted.
But now they're wimping out and bitchin and cryin like a bunch of wronged, self-righteous damsels. Frist's spittle-flying bitchin about Rule 21 is punk stuff.
He wants to be treat with "respect", he's got to give respect.
:tu

[SpursWoman]

The Repubs succeeded in creating an extremely partisan, negative, no-holds-barred polarization of political life.


No, it's people like you who are doing this, from both "sides." If you don't see that, you're even more myopic than I think you are...if that's even possible.

[gtownspur]

^^Right on! I think Bush has been a statesman and very well mannered. THe truth is, that he has reached out to democrats from day one. HE let the Democrats write his Prescription plan, he has not engaged in partisan bickering, and he has not tried to demonize his opposition.

Democrats are still in the pre 911 world with the florida recounts. If i may say this with the forum's respected Non partisan, moderate, MIDDLE OF 'da ROAD die hard blow hard's, Ex stout's permission, the democrats are still stuck on stupid.

[SA210]

^^^ :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao

that's a good one gtown. wooo... I needed that. :lmao

[gtownspur]

^^^
I would expect that a revelation that the sky is blue to also have you rolling and laughing.

[Yonivore]

Seems I remember him reaching across the aisle to Teddy Kennedy for Education reform...only to be stabbed in the back by the manslaughterer.

[gtownspur]

Yoni, i can now see the new left slogan. "World Health Workers. Please evacuate occupied Viet chicken coops!!" " No Plan for Vaccination!"