India Meet: Minister, handle Swiner Flu with care.

[Guest guest]

Respected Sirs/Madam,

 

We had a very lively workshop. There were presentations by activists, doctors

and legal experts. The dangers from Tamiflu and Swine Flu Vaccines were

discussed. Parents who have not vaccinated their children spoke about the

hurdles they had to face from friends and relatives. Friends from the media were

present. TV channels aired footage, english newspapers have published the days

activities. It was felt that there should be a doctors network to tackle the

Swine Flu Menace.

 

Regards,

Jagannath & Others. 

 

 

 

BHUBANESWAR | Saturday, September 19, 2009 |

Workshop urges Minister to handle swine flu with care

 

PNS | Bhubaneswar

 

Focussing on the treatment method and the necessary precautions to be taken, a

workshop called by the Deccan Development Society and Living Farms discussed

various issues related to swine flu.

 

The speakers talked at length about the possibilities of virus mutating on its

own to become a human-to-human transmitted disease. Pigs have faced the problem

but animal to human transmission is rare. Researches are on since 1930 to try

and isolate all strains of the Influenza A virus, they said.

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) feels that flu is the outcome of a

faulty vaccine being given to pig in North America. This was discovered by

Adrian Gibbs and Jean Downie, virologists who are studying pigs in North America

to trace the origin of the virus, it was revealed.

 

The researchers say, The virus had three parents from two continents and

appeared suddenly without warning. The sequence of data suggests that it may

have been created from a faulty vaccine given to pigs in North America. The

report has been submitted to the US FDA and CDC, and to Sir Liam Donaldson, UK

Chief Medical Officer.

 

Vaccine manufacturer Baxter is also under lens and is suspected of releasing a

batch of vaccine material which had live bird flu virus. If inoculated, it would

have resulted in a bird flu epidemic. Another manufacturer Merck has also been

accused of similarly dispatching serum-based medicines, contaminated with the

AIDS virus in the early 1980s when AIDS first appeared.

 

Baxter has applied for a patent on the vaccine one year before the swine flu

emerged prompting media to question Margaret Chan, the Director General of WHO.

Chan admitted that the WHO knew swine flu could emerge as a pandemic. The WHO

feels that the flu may explode in the coming winter months.

 

The vaccine to the swine flu is being rushed through prompting doctors to

protest its hasty introduction. In India, Director General ICMR VM Katoch has

observed that the vaccine should be tested in India before release. In case of

anti-viral drug Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) too, the health officials have restricted

its use. Tamiflu has adverse effects on the body and mind. Teenagers, given

Tamiflu in Japan, reported psychiatric ailments including suicides.

 

Outbreaks of swine flu occurred amongst soldiers in 1918 and 1976. This made

doctors to question the vaccines that were being given to them prior to the

disease outbreak.

 

The speakers at the workshop entreated the Union Health Minister to be careful

in dealing with flu. Indians have natural resistance to the flu. There are also

alternative systems of treatment which can be very efficacious against this

disease which has spread in India. These systems have very safe medicines to

offer. Modern doctors too stress that rest and isolation is the best way to

tackle swine flu.