EU Ministers Debate Bird Flu Risk @ Brussels Gettogether (so what?)

[Guest guest]

More " Hype " ...gotta keep WHO happy that you're playing by their rules...Hong

Kong and Montreal/Toronto learned the hard way on last scam (SARS), which cost

them $billions...Ck links..are you scared yet? This is completely surreal and

out of proportion to to the real world...As someone said... " Hey, I have an idea,

let's make a vaccine for fear, then scare everybody " ....think of the benefits,

both long and short term to pharmaceutical industry. Not to mention the smiling

" population control guys. " Regards, Shaaag

 

ps...Linked stories below indicate not Germany France/Italy/EU in total/Egypt/

India...not one country ...can stand up to WHO pressure....that's far more scary

to me than " bird flu " ...

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4731838.stm

 

EU ministers debate bird flu risk

 

Many farmers have been ordered to move their birds indoors

 

European Union agriculture ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss ways to

fight the spread of bird flu. France is the latest European nation to report

the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus in the past week, joining Italy, Austria,

Germany, Slovenia and Greece. Poultry farmers in Germany, France and the

Netherlands have been ordered to keep flocks indoors as a precaution.

Elsewhere, a mass cull of birds is under way in the western Indian state of

Maharashtra after H5N1 was found. The lethal H5N1 strain has killed at least

90 people since 2003. It can be caught by humans who handle infected birds,

but it is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.

QUICK GUIDE

 

Bird flu

 

Scientists have warned that if the virus mutates it could create a pandemic

that could kill millions of people. EU agriculture ministers are expected to

discuss measures including giving birds a preventive vaccination against bird

flu. The potential economic impact on the poultry industry and the issue of

compensation for farmers will also be on the agenda. Unprotected BBC Europe

correspondent Jonny Dymond says the situation is particularly perilous in the

Netherlands, where the poultry industry has only just recovered from a 2003 bout

of bird flu which led to the slaughter of nearly 31 million birds.

Scientists fear migrating birds may spread the virus further

 

 

Bird flu fears grip press

 

Both the Dutch and French governments have applied to the European Commission

for permission to vaccinate some of their flocks. This could be sensitive, our

correspondent says, because the Commission fears the relatively complex

vaccination procedure may leave some birds unprotected and so at risk of

contracting and spreading the disease. French Agriculture Minister Dominique

Bussereau has said he will support Italy in asking the EU for financial support

for the poultry industry, the AFP news agency reports. He has urged French

consumers to support farmers by continuing to eat chickens. France, Europe's

biggest poultry producer, confirmed on Saturday the H5N1 strain of bird flu in a

duck found dead last week in the east of the country.

 

 

 

The UK government has said farmers in Britain do not yet need to move their

poultry indoors, despite the spread of bird flu to France. Vets are testing

nine dead swans, reported by members of the public at different sites across the

UK, for signs of infection. Outside the European Union, cases of the H5N1

strain have been confirmed in Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia,

Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. In western India, the lethal strain was found among

thousands of dead chickens at a farm on Saturday. Vets are to cull up to

500,000 chickens in the area around the Maharashtra farm. Health officials are

testing eight people for possible infection, but no human cases have been

detected so far. In Iran, tests on more than 100 dead swans found in wetlands

in the northern province of Gilan have also shown the presence of H5N1. The

Egyptian authorities have closed a zoo in Cairo and ordered a cull of its birds

after H5N1 was confirmed in ducks, turkeys and Chinese geese there.

The government has appealed to citizens to dispose properly of any dead birds

they find, rather than throwing them in the street or the River Nile.

 

 

 

 

KEY STORIES

 

India searches for bird flu victims

German alarm over bird flu

India carries out huge bird cull

France's first case

Egypt detects lethal strain

EU approves new measures

 

ANALYSIS AND BACKGROUND

 

Bird flu journey

Watch how the lethal virus has spread

Q & A: Bird flu

Guide to countries' preparations

Map: Global impact

Indian town shocked by flu

France on bird flu war footing

Counting the cost of bird flu

Quick Guide: Bird flu

 

IN PICTURES

 

Bird flu in Nigeria

 

VIDEO AND AUDIO

TV reports