bird flu- a hoax?

[blondie58]

I have not read the book, but I could believe it, in this era where making a dollar is the bottom line. From Dr. Mercola's website www.jmercola.comhttp://www.mercola.com/2005/oct/25/rumsfeld_to_profit_from_avian_flu_hoax.htm

What do you think?

[NNN0LHI]

1. Got Tamiflu?

H5N1 was first identified in Scotland in 1959. Some people in the field suspect that after these many decades it may be that H5N1 may not be capable of causing a pandemic. They could be wrong. Or it could something completely different that causes the next pandemic.

Thats my take.

Don

[nebenaube]

2. maybe...

it has been over-hyped to provide cover for PNAC's wave of genetically-targeted bioweapons... :tinfoilhat:

[Avalux]

3. NO - a possible threat being exploited by people like Dr. Mercola.

Avian flu is very real in the bird world, and the predictions of it mutating into a human-to-human form is very possible in the next several years. There's usually some sort of pandemic on this planet every 100 years or so, and there was a form of this virus that caused a pandemic in the past. The surveillance data we have on this virus and other forms of influenza A in all species leads us to believe a pandemic that could kill millions is a possibility. We don't know if it will happen for sure, and we don't know how deadly it will be.

So go ahead and read the book, but keep a couple of things in mind while doing so. It's human nature for people to sensationalize and try to drum up hysteria over the threat of a pandemic to make money off of it. And anyone who calls himself a 'doctor' and completely discounts the possibility of an avian flu pandemic or calls it a hoax is probably a quack trying to make money.

[Mojorabbit]

4. Oh for heck's sake

The entire world is preparing for a possible pandemic. There are three docs I know of who are poopooing it. One is Dr Mercola who is not a virologist, One is Dr Seigal who admitted people should be preparing for it on the Effect Measure blog, and one is a doc who works for the poultry industry. Every top virologist in the world is worried this might be the one that might do it and if not this one that we are overdue.

Fortune 500 companies are preparing, insurance companies are trying to figure out how to weasel out of paying claims, Millions of poultry have been culled. I don't think it is some kind of global conspiracy.

[Eugene]

5. Bird flu is not a hoax, but beware of the hype.

A flu pandemic will happen sooner or later. It won't necessarily
be a repeat of 1918. H5N1 is the most plausible candidate to come
along in recent years. It is killing people, but it is not readily
contagious in human-to-human contact. There is a chance it will
mutate and become contagious. That is the threat.

As for Dr. Mercola, I'd take him with a grain of salt. Big Pharma
may be corrupt, but can you really accept his claims that public
health is just one big conspiracy?

[blondie58]

8. very sage advice, Eugene

and that is the way I try to view things, with an open mind and a grain of salt. I do feel, however, that I am a little biased with anything to do with the pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Mercola is making his share of money on his website, although it is loaded with interesting tidbits. It is another thing that I take with a grain of salt.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. No it is not

it has been around and identified since at least 1995

And the earliest Wold Health Organization alerts regarding possible bird to human contamination went out as early as '97, well before this madness started

And there is quite a bit of science behind it too.

But I guess the black Plague and the 1917 Flu Epidemic were also hoaxes.

[blitzen]

7. here's Snopes on Rumsfeld and Tamiflu

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tamiflu.asp

[cgrindley]

9. Bird flu is NO hoax

It's a very troubling thing.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. Mercola - a hoax?

Why yes indeed!

http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html

FDA Warnings

In 2005, the FDA ordered Mercola and his Optimal Wellness Center to stop making illegal claims for products sold through his Web site <7>. The claims to which the FDA objected involved three products:

* Living Fuel Rx, claimed to offer an "exceptional countermeasure" against cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, etc.
* Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil, claimed to reduce the risk of heart disease and has beneficial effects against Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and many infectious agents
* Chlorella, claimed to fight cancer and normalize blood pressure.

In 2006, the FDA send Mercola and his center a second warning that was based on product labels collected during an inspection at his facility and on claims made on the Optimum Wellness Center Web site <8>. This time the claims to which the FDA objected involve four products:

* Vibrant Health Research Chlorella XP, claimed to "help to virtually eliminate your risk of developing cancer in the future."
* Fresh Shores Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, claimed to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and degenerative diseases.
* Momentum Health Products Vitamin K2, possibly useful in treating certain kinds of cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
* Momentum Health Products Cardio Essentials Nattokinase NSK-SD, claimed to be "a much safer and effective option than aspirin and other pharmaceutical agents to treating heart disease."

The warning letters explained that the use of such claims in the marketing of these products violates the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, which bans unapproved claims for products that are intended for curing, mitigating, treating, or preventing of diseases. (Intended use can be established through product labels, catalogs, brochures, tapes, Web sites, or other circumstances surrounding the distribution of the product.)

[LeftishBrit]

11. No, it's not a hoax

Bird flu is already prevalent among birds and it could mutate into a form that would cause a human pandemic. Or we might be very lucky and it might not. No way of telling at this stage whether and, if so when, it will happen. I don't believe that there's a reason to panic about it at this time; but it could well happen eventually, and the best hope for its *not* doing so is timely, adequate medical research.

If it were just a hoax to raise money for 'Big Pharma', then it would not be treated as a serious issue in countries like mine with National Health services, where governments have a serious motivation NOT to get believe in health issues that will cost them money.