| PANDEMIC ALERT LEVEL |
| 123456 |
| Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
STOP FACTORY FARMS = STOP BIRD FLU |
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 Posted: March 10 2007 at 9:00am |
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I do not doubt that scientists can find and study many cases of disease
originating and spreading from factory farms. But is it an argument against banning all factory farms or only the badly designed and badly managed factory farms. You only have to look at Indonesia to see that the backyard farm operations are just as dangerous if not more so. Atleast factory farms have the potential to get their act together where as to achieve uniform high standards in backyard operations is virtually impossible. |
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Posted: March 10 2007 at 9:08am |
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(Ross buy Energy:)
This zoonotic disease is shared and all types of Animal Factory Farming is harmful. This is what should not be contained in animal waste.... negates it's use.
HPAI Virus
Drugs suspected or known to be used in the feed or as a therapeutic treatment of source animals.
Pesticides used on the source animal, facility, and wastes for pest control.
Pathogenic organisms, at least to include Salmonella and E. Coli.
Heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and selenium, at least.
Parasitic larva or ova.
Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin.
.......................
http://www.pickle-publishing.com/index.htm
..................................................................... Influenza pandemics go back in history long before factory farms ...................................................... very true... but the main point here is .... modern day... imported strains
from EU, Asia, Mexico, China etc. ... the unnatural excelleration of drift and the no where to go of animal feces pollution. |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 10 2007 at 9:55am |
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Ross, I take your point that one might distinguish between qualities of factory farm production, but the term factory farm refers to concentrated production and there are no sustainable factory farms.
Chickens cannot be raised in concentrated production without breeding disease, by definition: that's what "concentrated" means. If it wasn't "concentrated", then they would have the space necessary to social distancing, by definition. So factory farms can not clean up their act any more than carbon dioxide can clean up its act :) In backyards, chickens get vitamin D from the sunshine and the exercise necessary to healthy immune systems. When a disease strikes one, such as H5N1, it dies, having perhaps infected a few other birds, instead of passing mutating virus to hundreds of thousands, and on through generations to millions and billions of other birds. We see this in Indonesia, where all of the studies show that the problem is rooted in concentrated production and complicated by trade, so that the end of the virus' path is the backyard ranch, not the beginning. We don't need higher standards of free-range, or backyard, ranching. We need to stop all concentrated production immediately. |
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Posted: March 10 2007 at 11:00am |
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Minimizing the vulnerability of poultry production chains
for avian influenza C.W. Beard |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 10 2007 at 12:40pm |
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The author of the article linked in your post, Ann, is a senior industry spokesperson, and he falsely describes the bird flu problem as one of keeping wild birds from infecting factory farms, which is, of course, too little too late. The virus is far more common now among poultry than among the wild bird population, and there isn't much evidence of continued spread from wild birds to poultry, as you know because if there was it would be posted on this thread by now :) His essay is offered as his personal opinion, it has no suggestions for easing concentrated production, of course, and it has no citations.
H5N1 continues to spread from factory farms to water fowl via feces fed to shrimp farms. |
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Posted: March 10 2007 at 7:22pm |
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Very Astute :) you totally got the point.
Live Animal Markets
cannot be discounted... not a large problem here.
over there....
where wild and domestic are mixed...bad news. (disease origins)
.................................................................
and now to go in with more dissing of factory farming....
commercial chicken farm ....
An outbreak of H5N1 was reported on a large commercial chicken farm in the northern state of Kaduna, Nigeria, in early February 2006. Unofficial reports suggest the virus is genetically related to the strain that spread from Qinghai, China, west to Turkey in 2005. This was the first reported outbreak of H5N1 in Africa, and a serious development in the continuing spread of avian flu. Initial, unconfirmed reports indicate that the virus may have infected chickens at other commercial farms in the area. It may have been present since 10th January, when chickens first began dying, but was earlier diagnosed as Newcastle disease. (It is possible that the outbreak involves both diseases). Outbreaks of H5N1 at commercial chicken farms have previously been reported in Asian countries, notably in Laos, where 42 of 45 outbreaks were confirmed on commercial enterprises. Importation of infected poultry is a suspected source of the Nigerian outbreak. In 2004, the government banned imports of live poultry, although in early 2005 it came under pressure from the country’s farmers to resume them again because the country lacked the technology to produce sufficient quantities of day-old-chicks. A 2003 United States Department of Agriculture report stated that prior to an earlier 2002 import ban on poultry meat, "virtually all imported frozen poultry entered Nigeria illegally." ......................................................................................
How has H5N1 spread? It has been widely reported that wild birds have been responsible for the spread of H5N1. The current strain has caused deaths in a number of wild bird species, mostly waterbirds. Most of these flock or nest in colonies on waterbodies or nearby farmland. Others affected are birds that often feed and scavenge in polluted waterways near towns and farms. However, the means of transmission are not clear cut. Most of the outbreaks outside Europe have not been consistent with the direction and timing of wild bird migration. The virus's spread across Russia last summer (2005), widely attributed to migrating birds, took place when birds were moulting and unable to fly. An outbreak in Nigeria took place on a factory farm far from migratory routes. These are just a few pieces of evidence that imply alternative transmission routes.
However, the earlier outbreaks show a very different pattern to the recent incidents in Europe, where the recent H5N1 outbreaks among wild birds show that wild birds are capable of carrying the virus long distances. Had wild birds been spreading the disease across continents, there would have been trails of dead birds following migration routes. This is clearly not the case, particularly as numbers of dead wild swans have not been found in Asia for example. Furthermore, certain countries on flight paths of birds from Asia remain flu-free, whilst their neighbours suffer repeated infections. How is the virus spread, if not by wild birds? Most outbreaks in southeast Asia have been linked to movements of poultry and poultry products (or infected material from poultry farms, such as mud on vehicles, or peoples’ shoes). Live animal markets,
where domestic and wild-caught birds are kept in close proximity, appear to have played a major part in spreading the virus in southeast Asia.
There is also a huge international trade in poultry.
The widespread illegal trade in cage birds has also been demonstrated to have transported flu-infected birds over large distances.
Additionally, the use of untreated chicken, duck and other poultry manure as fertiliser and feed for pigs, fish and other livestock is widespread in Asia and eastern Europe.
The manure may be transported for long distances before being used or sold, a dangerously effective way of spreading the virus.
Can ‘healthy’ wild birds carry the HPAI H5N1 virus? Yes. Mallard have been inoculated in the laboratory with certain high-pathogenicity H5N1 variants, and showed few clinical symptoms of infection. Tree Sparrows from Henan in China have also been found with a new variant of H5N1 that did not seem to make them ill (but proved lethal to chickens). So, it is possible that wild birds carry and spread the HPAI H5N1 virus. Most infected wild birds so far have been found dead. |
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 12:32am |
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AnnHara
here is an extract from the worldwatch website you have just quoted. ( and now apparently deleted ) Although there is no definitive scientific proof, those farms are very likely where avian or bird flu started and will continue to be responsible for new outbreaks, said the author of the report, Danielle Nierenberg, a Worldwatch research associate. In other words , it is a matter of opinion. Here is another quote from the same article . The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome and the WHO have also blamed wild birds and backyard flocks for the spread of the virus. As a result, at least 15 nations have restricted or banned free-range and backyard production of birds. Finally the second article that you have posted below seems to be quite fair in its attribution of H5N1 spread , to a wide range of factors ( live markets etc ) ps - Have the last word if you wish , I am done . Thankyou both for the polite way you have put forward your case. |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 4:03am |
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Ross
Your quote about "definitive scientific proof" is from the beginning of the Worldwatch report that has now been cited here a dozen times. Science is only definitive about falsifications, it cannot definitively prove an assertion such as "factory farms cause bird flu", it can support it (which it does) or falsify it. For example, all of the science is consistent with greenhouse gasses causing the global warming that we're experiencing, but science can only prove what is not the cause, not what is. This is why scientists have waited years to assert that factory farming is the cause of bird flu - we look for falsifications of the proposition. The poultry industry's scientists, who are most of the scientists working on this, have had years to falsify this most likely hypothesis and have not come up with anything, and meanwhile this proposition has evolved into a solid theory with no serious c******enge. The FAO and the WHO have - as you note - blamed wild birds and backyard flocks, etc, for the spread of the virus, but "spread" is not "cause". In a couple of clusters, humans have "spread" the virus, but we do not equate that with "caused" the disease. Of course, culling humans might end factory farming and so end bird flu, indeed that is what the virus will accomplish if we don't act first. But to suppose that the solution to bird flu is to kill all the backyard birds before it does is more than a bit absurd. The culling has likely slowed the disease (can't be proven :) the way a backburn slows a forest fire, but this backburn cannot extinguish bird flu because the poultry industry is feeding this fire with fuel as fast as possible...for the profit of a few. It's a fact that a nearly identical virus, one that also kills through pneumonia and cytokine storm, struck in 1918 and killed more than 90% of the pregnant women who caught it. If a pandemic strikes now, millions of pregnant women will likely die, and their blood will be on the hands of those who said wait for proof. Is it too much to ask that they don't speak with their mouths full of chicken. |
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 6:04am |
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I had intended to stop , but I can't resist .
In a recent study 70% of women in Bangladesh were found to be malnourished . A situation that is common in poor countries . Surely they should hardly feel guilty for eating cheap chicken nor should the people that have been providing them with cheap chicken feel guilty. Finally it is quite clear that scientists have not universally declared Factory farms as the one and only spreader of Bird flu , nor are they ever likely to do so . However I am quite happy to accept the conjecture that Bird flu originated in China , most probably in a factory farm setup originally as part of a communist communal farm. |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 7:46am |
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More than 800 million people are chronically malnourished, including over 60 million in Bangladesh, about half that country's population (http://www.mdgbangla.org/report_publication/povertyin_bangladesh.pdf).
That's about the same portion of the global population that engages in backyard ranching. Increasingly, subsistence farmers are joining the ranks of the malnourished. Cheap chicken - the only chicken they can afford - they raise themselves, and that is often the difference between health and hunger. Factory farms serve the middle class for the profit of the rich. That isn't a political position, it's how it is. This takes income from backyard farmers who had supplied that market, making them poor farmers, then subsistence farmers, then malnourished farmers, then the trees are gone for fuel, the rain is gone with the trees, and then there are no farmers, just famine. So it has been, so it is, but might not always be. Gates Foundation, for example, has recently launched an initiative to raise the income of subsistence farmers. We sometimes despair at the trouble in the world, but the fact is that Bill Gates changed the world in a heartbeat by giving away a computer operating system, many say changed for the better, so the world can be changed in a heartbeat. Now the problem is that factory farming is the ideal environment for breeding disease and studies show that the most dangerous plague in human history is likely to soon proceed out through those doors because of that. We can stop factory farming in a heartbeat by buying the industry (for example), liquidating it, and outlawing it. We'd lose money in the short term, but almost all bird flu outbreaks would cease, then small farms would resurge, fewer people would go hungry.... What's stopping us? Where's the downside? According to the UN and WHO, the poultry industry is standing in the way and will thus bear responsibility if pandemic strikes. It stands in the way by misrepresenting the problem as proceeding from backyard farms and wild birds and falsely asserting that open questions outweigh the existing evidence. It stands in the way for short-term financial profit, and perhaps in the long-term hope of eliminating backyard farming, but perhaps we go too far if we attribute a motive beyond short-term profit to an abstraction such as "the poultry industry". That industry has journals, and scientist-shills, and organizations that exist to promote it, but it is decentralized and so incapable of organizing long-term planning. Like the Democrats. In my opinion, the UN and WHO would bear greater responsibility because they have failed to sufficiently support strategies that would stop the pandemic, such as liquidating factory farms. Is it correct for these global bodies to fail in providing this leadership and instead expect the poultry industry to stop itself, or nations to act alone, when unprecedented disaster looms? By extension, CIDRAP, etc, share responsibility. These groups claim that the struggle is to raise awareness, but I think not. That is the battle that the poultry industry has chosen. The battle should be to persuade global bodies to act decisively now. Let's learn from the global warming debate v. the ozone debate. Global leaders changed the world in a heartbeat, saved it in fact, by shutting down production of chlorofluorocarbons. The air-conditioner industry doesn't have any clout, and so it couldn't control the debate. So we could say it's just a question of scale, a question of the size of the opponent. But it's really about the leadership: what fight do they pick? Liquidate factory farms, or persuade factory farmers? I support an immediate global moratorium on factory farming. |
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 6:14pm |
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The primary beneficiaries of cheap food are the poor because a higher
proportion of their income is spent on food. Factory farmed chicken is cheap food. It is impractical and dangerous for the urban poor to keep poultry , which is precisely why the Government of Indonesia just banned poultry in the City of Jakarta. Trying to ban factory farms is just another case of the "well-to-do" making the poor pay for wealthy peoples preferances and prejudices. |
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 8:39pm |
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My perception; every chicken house I've ever been in is heated and cooled with chickens protected from the elements. They have automatic feeders and waterers and do get cleaned. They do draw rats because of abundant food which often cut young chicks throats. I've always considered it safer to eat chicken from a chicken house than the hip thing now "free roaming" (we use to call yard birds) which eat all matter of things like dog manure and other things. Brown "organic eggs" is another way of marketing what used to be considered undesirable and getting paid twice as much . I believe that chickens are just more susceptible to the H5N1. Wild birds often live with it without getting sick because of chemistry and their diet. If I had chickens today they would be in a shelter and my chief concern would be rats carrying the virus in to them!
As for as H5N1 or other diseases in animals I would handle properly and fully cook to kill any virus or bacteria. |
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 8:53pm |
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hi Ross ... What was deleated?
I must be in the running for the longest snoringest posts on here...
So if I deleated anything, wow ... everyone breathe a sigh. ;)
............................................................................
yes ... I agree, most on here is a matter of opinion.
and yes, you will see me put info I find from all sides.
I will say that I sway toward the factory farms as being the most
horrendous activity... pollution, poultry swapping, virus spreading,
danger to all. Transport of animals...vaccinations... antibiotics, antivirals...
transport of guano... pollution from guano... diseased meats on the
market.... samonella... etc. :/ remember they tested the meat in the
stores and a high percentage was bad news.
...................................
The problem is that the Chinese/Asian mix wild animals with domesticated animals in Live Animal Markets, and disease spreads easily to humans in close proximity to the birds/poultry they raise.
wild birds partake of infected water, it's that polluted...
waste from factory farms... is a problem....they spread infected waste on fields...waste is fed to farmed fish....wild birds pick it up.
Diseased wild and domestic birds/poultry are transported all over the world.
.........
Seems like the well to do Animal Factory Farm Owners could make poor people pay with their lives.
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 10:04pm |
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Ok guys I surrender ,
burn the factory farms , set free the chooks , hang the owners . |
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 10:21pm |
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:) we got that in writing...
(what's a chook... is that English?... like on Wooster & Jeeves...
tossed in the Chookie?)
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Posted: March 11 2007 at 11:01pm |
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chook = an informal term for a hen or chicken
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kparcell
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 6:14am |
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Maysday, the issue isn't shelter or temperature, and Ross, the issue isn't the culpability of individuals or groups. The issue is concentrated production breeding disease, as described by the Humane Society, the WHO, the UN, Lancet, Worldwath, etc, etc.
Here is the link, again, to the Humane Society video showing how factory farming is the source of the current pandemic threat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcYRm0wxgOw |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 6:24am |
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Ross you write that the poor are the main beneficiery of cheap food, implying that factory farms feed the poor. The evidence linked from this thread shows that people are starving because of the loss of backyard farming, and throughout most of the world the poor have no money to shop in the markets that factory farms supply (poor=no cash).
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poultryvet
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 1:27pm |
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Probably too simple, but the countries having the problems with H5N1 on a continuing basis, with the highest human exposure over lengthy time periods (conditions most likely to promote development of a pandemic strain) are those relying most extensively on non-confined poultry, or a close mixture of the two.
The countries with the most confined fowl segregated from backyard fowl (EU, most of Western Hemisphere, Australia, individual operations throughout Asia housing breeder birds) remain free, with no human cases. Mixing backyard birds and large operations together is not good, housing waterfowl and other fowl together is not good. But then, factory farming (whatever that is) doesn't do either one since it concentrates on single species/ages under controlled conditions. Kind of inherent in the process. Regards, |
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 1:45pm |
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poultryvet, thank you. I think chicken farms as we know then are coined "factory farming." I do know a little about chicken farms here and the chickens live better than some people. It's six weeks from chick to poulet (to the table).
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 4:12pm |
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I actually agree with doing away with factory ranching, breeding food livestock in filth. But the reality is getting big business like that to go away would be like getting congress to vote themselves a pay cut.
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kparcell
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 4:46pm |
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Sure, the poultry industry says that culling backyard fowl is the path, ching ching, but the UN, the WHO, Worldwatch, the Humane Society, Lancet, etc, say the problem is factory farms.
The reality is that the poultry industry is wealthy and hard to fight while the backyard ranchers are poor and so easier to oppress. However, we can still choose to do the right thing: Stop buying dead or live birds until factory farms are shut down globally. |
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 5:37pm |
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Deleted. .....( damm ! this much restraint stuff is hard work
 )
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kparcell
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 6:31am |
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That's ok, Ross, I suspect folks know what you (and me) have to say :)
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poultryvet
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 9:02am |
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How odd that factory farmers are portrayed as demanding the culling of backyard flocks. Any prudent poultry producer would segregate the two, but I recall no ad hoc demand for culling backyard flocks from the UK break at Bernard Matthews, the breaks 1-2 years ago in Germany and France, the END outbreak in the US several years back, or the previous LPAI and HPAI breaks where factory farming is practiced in Italy, the US, Canada or Mexico, whether the breaks occurred in large or small flocks. To my knowledge, the regulations for control of such diseases in the US make no reference to flock size at all, and I have heard of nothing like this in other countries.
There are laws on the books in a number of jurisdictions attempting to control or eliminate cockfighting, but that's a somewhat different agenda, with different groups grinding a different set of axes. As a point of curiousity, how big does a poor rural farmer have to get before the "factory farming" label is applied? 50 chickens? 500? 5000 raised inside? 5000 raised outside? If the poor rural farmer is successful and expands, at what point does the government step in and demand no further expansion of the business? Or is remaining poor and rural the important requirement rather than whether the birds are cared for properly? Regards, |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 9:23am |
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"Factory farming" is concentrated production. Read this thread, you'll find links and videos. Also, see poultry industry journals to read about support there for backyard culling, often linked on this site.
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poultryvet
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 10:35am |
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Replacing one undefined term with another doesn't advance the discussion beyond hyperbole. Poultry industry journals, as with most magazines/newspaper (and most forums, for that matter) are vehicles of discussion, not regulatory bodies. At least in the US, regulatory bodies seem very aware of small-holder interests. The national animal ID program is a good example. The large companies favor it because they've got the pockets and programs to support it in-house, and can achieve a marketing advantage. Small-holders have successfully opposed it since the government refuses to pick up the tab for them, and they probably can't recover the marketing advantage.
Videos depend on who's shooting - a paid infiltrator with undated video who doesn't report abuse until the infiltratree puts out an unrelated press release months later (if in fact the infiltrator didn't stage the abuse) or a company PR flack. Most of either one aren't worth the view time. Propaganda from one side, then propaganda from the other. If one does less concentrated production - how much less concentrated should it be? 100 chickens per hectare? 1000? 10? The question sounds trivial but has a magnitude of impact on land use policy that must be considered. Regards, |
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 1:27pm |
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........................................................................................................... all the .... rhetoric ..... in the world will not change the facts.
in which animals .... LIVE ...
or FECES .... concentrated near where humans LIVE... or FECES.... concentrated near water.... contaminating ponds, lakes, rivers, ocean,
period. ............................................................................................................. one more time... with feeling. VIDEO
..................
Kparcell..... has this been posted?
Hope any doubters have a look at this One... :O
Bird Flu: A virus of our own hatching
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poultryvet
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 2:36pm |
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There's facts, and then there's faith, blind belief and propaganda. HSUS has had an announced campaign to destroy animal agriculture for some time - this is the latest round. Confusing "western" agriculture with that practiced in SE Asia presents a convenient vehicle, whether it's appropriate or not.
The lack of answers to the questions I've posed makes it difficult for the discussion to evolve beyond me-bad/you-good. Policies derived from discussions of this nature should have to answer these very questions. Proceeding on faith, bias, and flawed facts in setting policy has not played well in the past (or currently, for that matter). The main problem I've got with the feces argument is why New York City is still populated......and then the logistician in me cries out to know how much feces is too much? I had an interesting article here somewhere comparing the amount of nitrogen loading from two overweight Labradorsand a septic tank on a quarter-acre lot compared to a hog lagoon sprayfield, but I can't put my hands on it. Regards, |
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 2:47pm |
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so you are saying the people in NYC sleep and eat in their feces like chickens in a factory farm? I've been to NYC. In fact I work there, I haven't seen that yet. Also haven't seen a chicken factory farm with flush toilets for the chickens. Not sure how the comparison you made makes an argument |
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 3:45pm |
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Confusing "western" agriculture with that practiced in SE Asia
........................................................................................................
There is no confusion in...
too much unhealthy poultry Doo in any one place
near humans....Animals ... or their drinking water.
No matter the country...
..........................................................
Tibetan Plateau in CHINA....
Fish Farming and Poultry Waste....
Imagine a pollution soup at the source of the Words Great Rivers...
and make wildbirds drink it :/
Read the ProMed post on FULL here....
AVIAN INFLUENZA, POULTRY VS MIGRATORY BIRDS (20)
************************************************ A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org> ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org> except....
Since the Qinghai Lake outbreak in 2005, outbreaks in other parts of world
have occurred along major transport routes. However, increasing evidence suggests that commercial poultry and its products, not migratory bird populations, are the likely vectors of avian flu. At present, a new theory is gaining ground that the outbreak in wild birds near Qinghai Lake may be linked to fish farms around the lake. As early as 1998, scientists cautioned that human health hazards like an influenza pandemic could arise from the practice of bringing together fish farms with farm livestock. Some researchers say that bird flu may be spread by using chicken dung as feed in fish farms, a practice now routine in Asia. According to Le Hoang Sang, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute, Chicken excrement is one of the main carriers of the H5N1 virus, which can survive in a cool and wet environment for a month and slightly less if in water." In January 2006, a 9 year old boy died from bird flu in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh after he caught it while swimming in water in which the bodies of infected poultry had been thrown. BirdLife International, a global body for bird protection groups in more than 100 countries, is calling for an investigation into the possibility that the fish in these ponds, which are fed with chicken dung, may be the means by which the new strain of avian influenza, H5N1, is being spread.
It says that outbreaks of H5N1 have occurred this year at locations in China, Romania, and Croatia where there are fish farms.
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Posted: March 13 2007 at 4:10pm |
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...
Tibet Pours Troubled Water on Asia
[WTN-L World Tibet Network News. Published by The Canada Tibet Committee. Issue ID: 00/09/20; September 20, 2000.]
Shrinking forests are causing flood havoc, reports Lynne O'Donnell in Lanzhou
The Australian, 19 Sep 2000.
THE Chinese Government has established a nature reserve on the Tibetan plateau in a last-ditch effort to reverse decades of environmental degradation that is threatening the water supply of hundreds of millions of people throughout Asia.
The pollution levels of six of Asia's biggest rivers, originating in Tibet, have risen as Chinese exploitation of natural resources in the remote and isolated Himalayan region has expanded unchecked.
The new nature reserve, covering 318,000sq km of Qinghai province, was set up last month to protect the headwaters of the Yangtse, Yellow and Lancang rivers, officials said. Experts fear it may be too late to prevent long term and far-reaching damage to the ecological balance across an area that stretches from Calcutta to Shanghai.
The latest floods in the Mekong basin - said to be the worst in decades - have been blamed on logging in Tibet that has left vast swaths of the Chinese-controlled region denuded of forest cover.
The tragedy echoes devastating floods on the Yangtse in 1998 that prompted the Government to introduce limits on logging in the river's upper reaches. Indiscriminate tree-felling destabilises topsoil, which is washed by rain into rivers, raising the water level and diminishing the rivers' ability to absorb annual rains.
In Tibet and areas that were formerly part of the region annexed by Chinese troops in 1950, the impact is felt far beyond its borders, as rivers with their source on the Tibetan plateau flow through almost a dozen countries, nourishing the land and providing drinking water.
The recurrence of flooding indicates that China's program of extracting Tibet's natural resources to fuel the development of its eastern provinces has neither slowed nor become sustainable.
"Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet, widespread environmental destruction has taken place due to logging of virgin forests, uncontrolled mining, water pollution and nuclear waste dumping, which has resulted in the degradation of grasslands, extinction of wildlife, desertification, floods, soil erosion and landslides," says a report, called Tibet 2000: Environment and Development Issues, compiled by the Tibetan government-in-exile.
"Projects to build dams and reservoirs to harness Tibet's rivers for hydro-electricity schemes to power western China have caused fragmentation of ecology and fish species and finally extinction to already endangered plant and aquatic species," the report says.
As Beijing escalates mining in Tibet, main rivers in Asia, including the Yangtse, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra, risk devastating pollution.
Experts on China's colonisation of Tibet said Beijing regards the region as sovereign territory and claims rights to all its resources.
"China has a voracious appetite for Tibetan resources," said Steven Mars****** and Susette Ternent Cooke, authors of a recent study on Chinese policy towards Tibetan areas.
China's media provides a constant stream of reports on the discovery of minerals, metals, oil and gas in Tibet. The region, which before 1950 had never been fully incorporated into China as Beijing claims, is rich in high-quality minerals and metals such as iron, uranium, copper, gold and magnesite.
It also has the biggest salt lake in the world in the Tsaidam basin that Tibet policy analyst Gabriel Lafitte, of the University of Melbourne, said could meet global demand for table salt for 10,000 years. The Tsaidam basin potash reserve is the world's largest, and provides fertiliser for agriculture in central and eastern China.
China's exploitation of these reserves had "failed to produce real benefits for Tibetans as the majority still live in impoverished conditions", the government-in-exile's report says. Tibetan farmers and nomads were being forced off the land, mostly without compensation, to make way for new mines.
The International Campaign for Tibet has linked deaths, injuries, and human and animal birth deformities to mining in Tibet. Rivers with their source in Tibet flow through China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Kashmir, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
Experts fear that as China pursues the same destructive development policies in Tibet that have led to widespread water shortages and pollution throughout China, the water resources of these countries will be similarly spoiled.
About 700 million Chinese consume water polluted with human and animal waste as 45 billion tonnes of untreated waste water enter China's rivers annually.
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Excerpts....
FISH AND FISHERIES IN WESTERN CHINAby ABSTRACTThe remote provinces of Qinghai, Xinjiang and Xizang (Tibet) in western China have fishery potential that is small by world standards, but significant nonetheless. Although the region is arid and cold (altitude >3000 m) there are many lakes and rivers fed by runoff from nearby mountains, and the region supports 190 fish species, notably the native naked carp (or "snow trout"; Cyprinidae: Schizothoracinae). Fisheries have been established for more than 30 years, but contribute less than 0.2% of agricultural production. A growing population (21 million) has encouraged the expansion of capture fisheries and aquaculture. Large-scale fishing in several lakes began in 1958. Production followed a typical pattern, with high initial yields later declining as the larger fish were removed. ................
Qinghai Lake is at high altitude (3194 m) on the north-eastern margin of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, about 135 km from the city of Xining. It has a surface area of 4437 km2 and maximum depth of 26.9 m. The surrounding region supports more than 90,000 people, most of whom earn their livelihood from crops of barley and rape and herds of sheep, goats, yaks and other stock.
The regional climate is typical of high-plateau semi-arid grasslands, with average monthly temperatures between -12.7°C in January (minimum -30°C) and 12.4°C in July (maximum 28°C).
Ice covers the lake in November-March each year. Annual precipitation is about 386 mm and evaporation about 1460 mm. The lake has a dimictic circulation pattern despite being moderately s******ow (mean depth 18.4 m) and exposed to strong northwesterly winds.
The basin has been endorheic since the Quaternary, when tectonic changes sealed its outlet to the Yellow River (Academia Sinica, 1979; Chen 1982, 1991) and isolated G. przewalskii from its original stock (cf. G. eckloni). Since then the lake has regressed to about one third of its original size and became saline (presently 12.5 g l-1). The water is strongly alkaline (pH 9.2) and predominantly sodium chloride, but with significant amounts of magnesium sulphate. 1989...
4.3.3 Aquaculture Aquaculture has expanded following recent economic reforms, and there are now about 5000 ha of ponds in Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces. Numerous hatcheries and fingerling farms have been established, especially below dams.
In Xinjiang the total production of fingerlings is about 100 million, with a potential capacity of 500 million, and the province is able to supply most of regional demand for stocking.
Fingerlings of common carp, grass carp, crucian carp and common bream are used extensively for stocking in Qinghai.
Techniques used include cage culture, raceway culture, warm-flowing water culture and pen culture. |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 14 2007 at 6:02am |
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Ann
You did post the Humane Society Video earlier but I still can't watch it :) Great Posts! Factory Farms dump chicken feces into fish farms > Qinhai strain of H5N1 spreads to wild birds, shake, repeat everywhere Here in US, waste from factory farms has destroyed most of our estuaries along the southeast coast. It was big news a few years ago when hurricanes destroyed the factory farms, washing the debris into the estuaries and destroying the estuaries perhaps for generations, and then our government (taxpayers) funded complete restoration of... (are you ready?) ...the Factory Farms ! Citizen response: "!@#$%" k |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 14 2007 at 9:26am |
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Here is a commentary published yesterday in Jakarta Post about causes of recent disasters that states "Unless we understand them, we may see further technological or human-induced events cause disasters in the future." I emailed the author to ask how we can expect an effective response with a news blackout.
Anyway, I think the point is good: humans can stop disasters if they address causes. The commenter writes, "He argued that the government should take over responsibility for the victims, rather than allowing the company many accuse of causing the disaster to remain in the lead role. If this conclusion is enshrined as state policy, it will have far-reaching social and political impacts in the management of the mud disaster. " And, I would add, it would make quite a difference if the Indonesian goverment took control of health in factory farming. ............................................................................................... Feeble response makes disasters more dangerous Tuesday, March 13, 2007 Rochman Achwan, Jakarta In less than five years, Indonesians have experienced an extraordinary series of deadly natural disasters in the air, on land and at sea, killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing millions more. The time has come to reflect on the root causes of these disasters. Unless we understand them, we may see further technological or human-induced events cause disasters in the future. Disasters represent a breakdown of the lifeline of economic and social activities in a society. Nature may or may not trigger a disaster, but its catastrophic effects stem from failures in human governance. Indeed, disasters are merely the actualization of longstanding vulnerabilities in state and societal governance systems. Each systemic vulnerability triggers another, finally cascading into the disintegration of ties between state and societal institutions. It is ironic that in an era of democracy, civilized Indonesians are so vividly witnessing the feebleness of these institutions in dealing with disasters. Institutional feebleness is clearly visible in the investigation of and response to disasters. Recently, the chairman of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) announced the results of an international conference which concluded that the mud volcano in Sidoarjo, East Java, was triggered by natural causes. He argued that the government should take over responsibility for the victims, rather than allowing the company many accuse of causing the disaster to remain in the lead role. If this conclusion is enshrined as state policy, it will have far-reaching social and political impacts in the management of the mud disaster. Both the conference's conclusion and the way in which BPPT organized the event are rather surprising. There was little media coverage on the eve of conference, and little information on who was invited. Furthermore, it is very rare for an international scientific conference to come to a single and homogeneous conclusion. From its historical beginnings, science has always put a high value on freedom from political interference in analyzing and drawing conclusions. Without questioning the dedication of the scientists who participated in the conference, one must ask the organizing committee whether the conference's participants represented the entire spectrum of geological thought, and whether they were fully independent. Science and power are often closely connected in order to legitimize state policy. It is dangerous, however, for policy to fly in the face of society's perceptions and experience. The ignorance and incompetence in defining the causes of disasters have influenced the ways in which state institutions respond. Jakarta's recent floods are a good example. It is even more disturbing to note society's increasing inability to organize. This is alarming, because vibrant social associations are a prerequisite for the rise of responsive state institutions. The breakdown of social associations coupled with the unresponsiveness of state institutions not only contributes to the catastrophic effects but also gives rise to violent conflict in the wake of disasters. What has to be done to prevent and mitigate future disasters? The National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Mitigation needs to become a focal agency with a prime task of reforming and strengthening governance at the district level. Together with all involved stakeholders, the agency needs develop social bridging, energizing social associations so that they are capable of reaching out to other organizations inside and outside their communities. This will help mitigate the catastrophic effects of disasters. The writer is a sociologist at the University of Indonesia. He can be reached at rachwan@indo.net.id. http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20070313.F04 |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 14 2007 at 9:40am |
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And for your convenience :) Here is a link to brief video that spells it out beautifully, even though it doesn't mention that we expect almost all pregnant women who contract bird flu to die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcYRm0wxgOw |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 16 2007 at 7:15am |
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It seems clear that a moratorium on factory farming (concentrated production) of poultry would likely give us years more to develop a vaccine, possibly even allow the control of H5N1, so that such an action would probably save millions of lives.
Here is what the Chief Vet at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization says : Domenech said H5N1 should be seen as a "permanent" problem, but one that can be controlled with the right procedures. "The virus will be introduced into countries, it's a permanent risk." As noted many times above, the UN recommends an end to concentrated production to accomplish this. An informal survey on this site suggests an overwhelming majority of informed citizens would support a Great Bird Boycott :) to accomplish that change and save those lives. My guess is that even the beginning of such a public action would crash the poultry market and compel a global moratorium on factory farming. Perhaps when bird flu shows up in the Americas... ................................................................... Indonesia, Egypt lack good bird flu controls-UN vet Thu 15 Mar 2007 14:37:36 BST By Robin Pomeroy ROME, March 15 (Reuters) - Detection of bird flu has improved greatly over the last three years, but three countries -- Egypt, Nigeria and, especially, Indonesia -- still do not have sufficient controls in place, a United Nations expert said. The chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) urged Indonesia to step up surveillance and control systems to prevent a possible pandemic in a country where the virus has already killed 63 people. "In Indonesia we have the same problem that we had in Thailand, Vietnam and China and others three years ago -- a lot of outbreaks, a lot of the virus in the environment, human cases," Joseph Domenech told Reuters in an interview. "It means a possible occurrence of the virus which could lead to a pandemic." In Egypt, where there have been 13 reported human deaths from H5N1, the risk is "statistically" smaller than Indonesia because the population is smaller, but the problem of human proximity with poultry and a lack of controls means the situation is similar, Domenech said. Nigeria, which reported its first human bird flu death in January, is considered less of a risk, but also needs to improve its controls, he added. Domenech said that outbreaks in poultry elsewhere in the world, some 15 countries in the last six months, should not be seen as evidence that the surveillance and control systems recommended by FAO were not working. "If you take all these countries, the warning (system) is good, the capacity of government services to respond is good. "When you compare to what happened one, two, three years ago, the delays between the introduction of the virus then reporting and response, it's been so much improved." Domenech said Vietnam, which has reported 42 human deaths from H5N1, had made great strides in controlling the virus in birds. It lifted a ban on owning ducks which was being flouted and instead established an effective vaccination programme, he said. Domenech said H5N1 should be seen as a "permanent" problem, but one that can be controlled with the right procedures. "The virus will be introduced into countries, it's a permanent risk." Since 2003, H5N1 has spread to more than 50 countries as far apart as China and Britain. The real fear is that the virus could mutate into a form that people can easily pass from one to another and spark a pandemic. So far it has infected 278 people and killed 168 of them, according to the World Health Organisation. Domenech said the advances in controlling the virus should put a stop to poultry import bans from countries where the virus has not been shown to be present, and to consumer fears. "We have had human cases only through contact with sick animals ... compare that with the millions and millions of people who have been in contact with the virus. "The public should be aware that there's not risk today to get the virus through eating the food." © Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. ............................................................... http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L14288148 |
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Posted: March 17 2007 at 8:33am |
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Factory Farming..... Russia discovers salmonella in German chicken March 17, 2007 Russia's food monitoring agency said Friday it had discovered salmonella in chicken meat imported from Germany, the latest violation in an ongoing dispute over meat imports from the European Union. Russia's food monitoring agency said Friday it had discovered salmonella in chicken meat imported from Germany, the latest violation in an ongoing dispute over meat imports from the European Union. The bacterial infection was discovered in a delivery of approximately 65,000 tons of meat from three German companies, whose exports have since been halted pending a German investigation, Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement. The agency, which claims some recent EU meat exports have fallen short of Russian sanitary standards, has warned it would halt all imports of animal products from the bloc unless detailed sanitary reports from each member state are provided by March 31. In recent months salmonella has been found in meat deliveries from Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, while listeria has been discovered in Dutch meat imports, the agency said. An EU delegation tried in vain to resolve the dispute in talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday. A Russian embargo on meat from Poland, which continues to block negotiations on a wide-ranging Russia-EU partnership agreement, was also discussed. http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=335269&ChannelId=19 |
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Posted: March 17 2007 at 6:22pm |
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Calling Poultry Vet....
.......................................
In recent months salmonella has been found in meat deliveries from Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, while listeria has been discovered in Dutch meat imports, the agency said.
An EU delegation tried in vain to resolve the dispute in talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday. |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 20 2007 at 4:38am |
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Given enough time, development of efficient B2H transmission of high path H5N1 will likely occur through concentrated production. This same mutation would likely permit efficient H2H. Through culling backyard poultry in favor of factory farming we breed a superbug.
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kparcell
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Posted: March 23 2007 at 4:45am |
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factory farming known by leading experts to be cause of bird flu, but poultry industry says no and continues business as usual
........................................................ http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/NEWS/703230388/-1/BUSINESS04 Official links poultry confinement to flu But an industry representative says that the facilities actually make an outbreak of the disease less likely. BY LISA ROSSI AND TONY LEYS REGISTER STAFF WRITERS March 23, 2007 Add comment Ames, Ia. - A national Humane Society official condemned the poultry industry on Thursday for creating large confinements that he said could create "the perfect storm" of conditions to spark a large-scale avian flu pandemic. Poultry industry representatives said the opposite is true - that confinements make a disease outbreak less likely. Dr. Michael Greger, director of public health at the Humane Society of the United States, spoke to Iowa State University students over the noon hour Thursday. He said he believes large poultry confinements are conducive to the spread of avian flu. He also delivered a presentation Thursday evening on ISU's campus. Greger, a graduate of Cornell University School of Agriculture and Tufts University School of Medicine, is the author of the book "Bird Flu, A Virus of Our Own Hatching," published in November 2006. The issue is crucial in Iowa, which leads the nation in egg production. Most of those eggs come from large confinement operations. "The poultry industry is not only playing with fire," Greger told students at ISU's College of Veterinary Medicine. "They are fanning the flames." Greger said overcrowding in chicken confinements, where there are large numbers of chickens in inadequate ventilation, with little sunlight, all create an environment that could create a "super strain" of the influenza. A chicken industry spokesman said such confinements actually make an avian-flu outbreak less likely here. "The reason we put these birds in these facilities is to protect them," said Kevin Vinchattle, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association. Vinchattle said chickens raised in traditional fashion are at greater risk of catching viruses from wild birds. He also said the industry is actively monitoring chicken flocks for any problems and is poised to snuff out the avian-flu virus if it crops up here. Greger disputed that claim, saying, "It's really wishful thinking that we could somehow protect industrial poultry populations." He said wild birds are attracted to large poultry sheds because there is food there. He said he is concerned that the virus could mutate into one that more easily spreads to humans. He said the virus has already changed from an intestinal virus in ducks to one that is spread through the air between chickens. "By adapting to chickens, (the virus) is partially adapting to human beings," he said, explaining that the respiratory tract of chickens resembles the respiratory tracts of primates, like monkeys. An ISU veterinary professor agreed with Vinchattle that chickens raised in large confinements pose less of a risk than chickens raised outside. "They're controlled populations. The bio-security is so much higher," said Dr. Don Reynolds, the veterinary school's associate dean. Reynolds acknowledged in an interview that if viruses get into a large flock, they could mutate quickly. But he said indoor flocks have less of a chance of getting infected because they have less exposure to wild birds and humans. He also said vigilant testing detects infections before they spread out of control. Reynolds said there has never been a case of a human catching the flu from a U.S. chicken flock, while there have been several cases of people catching the disease from small, outdoor flocks kept in developing countries. |
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kparcell
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Posted: March 23 2007 at 4:56am |
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First bird flu outbreak in Bangladesh is at factory farm.....
............................................ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_MED_BANGLADESH_BIRD_FLU_ASOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-03-23-04-34-58 Mar 23, 4:34 AM EDT Bangladesh confirms detection of first bird flu at a state-run poultry farm By FARID HOSSAIN Associated Press Writer AP Photo/Pavel Rahman DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- The strain of bird flu deadly to humans was detected at a state-run poultry farm near the Bangladeshi capital where workers recently slaughtered about 30,000 chickens, the government said Friday. Laboratory tests i 1/4n Bangladesh and Thailand confirmed that the farm was infected by the H5N1 virus, the government Press Information Department said in a statement. The tests were conducted at the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute in Dhaka and National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok, Thailand, the statement said. "The results showed the existence of influenza virus of the H5N1 variety," the statement said. Preliminary tests at three local laboratories had said earlier that the chickens died from Exotic Newcastle, a fatal respiratory virus in birds, an official at the government's livestock department said last month. But the government later sent the samples for more tests, including at a laboratory in Thailand, said the official on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. The latest tests confirming H5N1 were discussed at a meeting of the interim government's Council of Advisers late Thursday before the formal confirmation of the country's first reported cases of bird flu, the statement said. Fisheries and Livestock Adviser C.S. Karim told the meeting that the virus has been found only in Savar. Karim said authorities have been asked to take "all precautionary measures to prevent any spread of the virus." "There is no reason for any panic," the statement said. It did not name the infected farm, but said it was located at Savar, an industrial area just outside Dhaka. Officials earlier said chickens at a farm owned and run by Biman Bangladesh Airlines began dying last month, prompting authorities to cull all the birds in the farm this month. Bangladesh has already banned import of poultry products from more than 50 countries as part of a preventive measure to check bird flu from entering the country. An outbreak of H5N1 virus in Bangladesh could devastate the impoverished country's poultry industry, comprised of about 150,000 farms with an annual turnover of about US$750 million (euro625 million), officials said. © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. |
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Posted: March 23 2007 at 10:34pm |
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"We're failing to address the problem at its most effective and
earliest step," Thiermann said. "We are not doing the right thing with poultry." Thiermann said that so far the virus had remained
remarkably stable, given the usual unpredictability of influenza viruses. "I fear us becoming too complacent. The virus has not significantly changed in its behavior, but how much longer can that last?," he asked. ............................................................................................................
AVIAN INFLUENZA (16): HUNGARY H5, OIE INTERVIEW *********************************************** A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org> ProMED-mail, a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org> [1] Date: Wed 24 Jan 2007 From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org> Source: Reuters Alertnet [edited] <http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=160337> Bird flu returns to EU with confirmed case in Hungary ----------------------------------------------- Hungarian authorities on Wednesday [24 Jan 2007] reported an outbreak of bird flu in the southeast of the country, the 1st instance of the virus in the EU since August 2006, the European Commission said. "The European Commission has been informed by the Hungarian authorities today [24 Jan 2007] of an outbreak of avian influenza in Csongrad County, southeast Hungary," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement. The virus was detected after an abnormally high mortality rate was reported in a flock of over 3000 geese, and tests carried out by Hungary's national laboratory confirmed the virus to be the highly pathogenic H5 strain. Samples are to be sent to an EU laboratory in Weybridge, near London, to determine whether it is the H5N1 virus, which is potentially fatal to humans. Acting on suspicion of the disease, the Hungarian authorities have already culled the infected flock in order to prevent the spread of the virus, the EU's executive arm said. They were also said to be enforcing EU rules requiring a 3-km (2-mile) protection zone and 10-km surveillance zone to be set up around the infected farm. It is the 1st incidence of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in the EU since August 2006, when one case occurred in a zoo in Dresden, eastern Germany. The disease situation will be reviewed at an EU expert meeting on Friday [26 Jan 2007]. Earlier Wednesday [24 Jan 2007], Croatia announced it had banned imports of poultry from neighboring Hungary amid bird flu fears. -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org> [Final lab results and official confirmation -- or otherwise -- of the outbreak are expected. - Mod.AS] ****** [2] Date: Tue 23 Jan 2007 From: Mary Mars****** <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com> Source: Reuters Alertnet [edited] <http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23203165.htm> Europe may face repeat of winter's bird flu: OIE interview ----------------------------------------------- A flare up of bird flu in Asia and a suspected case in Hungary highlights a failure to tackle the virus at the source and may herald a repeat of the disease's sweep across Europe last winter, a health expert said on Tuesday [23 Jan 2007]. The start of 2007 has brought fresh outbreaks of bird flu across Asia. Five people have died of the H5N1 virus in Indonesia since 1 Jan 2007, while new cases in poultry have been reported in Japan, Thailand and Viet Nam. "In some parts of the world, we have not done what should have been done, and that's to fight the disease in birds," Alex Thiermann, head of the standard-setting committee at the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE), told Reuters. "The disease reporting and the rapidity of detection is better, but something we're not doing is to break the cycle from wildlife to domestic birds," he said in a telephone interview. While H5N1 is essentially a poultry disease, it can be carried by wildfowl and can be fatal to humans if they come into prolonged close contact with diseased birds. In many countries like Indonesia, millions of backyard fowl live in close proximity to humans, and health education campaigns often have been patchy and rules difficult to enforce. "We're failing to address the problem at its most effective and earliest step," Thiermann said. "We are not doing the right thing with poultry." Thiermann said that so far the virus had remained remarkably stable, given the usual unpredictability of influenza viruses. "I fear us becoming too complacent. The virus has not significantly changed in its behavior, but how much longer can that last?," he asked. Thiermann said that while more information on what exactly was the cause of the suspected bird flu in Hungary [now confirmed; see previous item. - Mod.AS] , it was a worrying sign and could mean the virus was on the move again. "If it is beginning to show up again, is it the beginning of the cycle all the way from the north to the south again? Or is it flaring up from pockets that were already there?" he said. "I suggest the former, and if it's moving as it did last year [2006], we know at least in part it's going to be related to migratory waterfowl," he said. "And if the story is repeating itself, it's because we didn't do the right thing where we should have done." However, he said governments had learnt a lot from last winter's cases and generally Europe was well prepared to handle further outbreaks, although there are weak spots, particularly in central and eastern Europe. "If the virus were to come back to Europe, we should not see a worse picture than we saw last year [2006]; I would be very surprised if it goes beyond one or 2 establishments," he said. "The problem is what happens if it comes back to Turkey or Africa. If we get a new wave there, the picture could be as bad or even worse, he added. "We need to emphasize to countries the importance of immediate reporting. We may need to mobilize forces to help countries that have not even detected it yet," he said. "And the next couple of weeks will be interesting; will we begin to see the 2006 picture all over again?" [Byline: David Evans] -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org> [see also: Avian influenza (15): China, Japan, Thailand, Nigeria, Hungary 20070124.0313 Avian influenza (14): Viet Nam, Thailand, S. Korea 20070122.0295 Avian influenza (13): Japan H5N1, Viet Nam, Indonesia 20070120.0260 Avian influenza (12): Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, OIE 20070118.0237 2006 ---- Avian influenza (148): Hungary, OIE 20060705.1845] .............................................................arn/msp/jw *##########################################################* ************************************************************ ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the information, and of any statements or opinions based thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID and its associated service providers s****** not be held responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted or archived material. ************************************************************ Become a ProMED-mail Premium Subscriber at <http://www.isid.org/ProMEDMail_Premium.shtml> ************************************************************ Visit ProMED-mail's web site at <http://www.promedmail.org>. Send all items for posting to: promed@promedmail.org (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help, etc. to: majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance from a human being send mail to: owner-promed@promedmail.org. ############################################################ ############################################################ |
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kparcell
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Location: Florida Joined: June 03 2006 Status: Offline Points: 541 |
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Posted: March 26 2007 at 4:36am |
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Here is an article about ornithologists' study that concludes:
1. Migratory birds are not spreading high path bird flu; 2. Commercial poultry practices are the culprit; 3. Falsly identifying migratory birds as culprit increases problem because promotes battery farms (concentrated indoor production = factory farms = battery farms) and discourages healthy free range practices, which could result in reversal of trend towards better practices. ......................... Bird Flu :: Migratory birds are not to blame for bird flu A review to be published shortly in the British Ornithologists' Union's journal, Ibis, critically examines the arguments concerning the role of migratory birds in the global dispersal of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1. Ecologists of the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat and of the GEMI-CNRS in the Camargue (France), Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Camille Lebarbenchon and Frédéric Thomas conclude that human commercial activities, particularly those associated with poultry, are the major factors that have determined its global dispersal. Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5N1 was first detected in poultry in November 1996 in south-east China. The virus subsequently dispersed throughout most of Asia, and also to Africa and Europe. From mid-2005, migratory wild birds have been widely considered to be the primary source of the dispersal of H5N1 outside Asia. This claim was based on the discovery in May 2005 that hundreds of wild birds had died on Lake Quinghaihu, on the high Asian plateau in China. It is however clear that the trajectory of the virus does not correspond with to the main migration routes of wild birds. The global network of migration routes seemed to hide the globalisation - without strict health control - of the exchanges of poultry, the more likely mechanism for disease spread. During the previous epizooties of highly pathogenic subtypes of H5 and H7, it was shown that the expansion of these viruses was due to human activities, in particular, movements of poultry or their products. This commercial scenario is the one that explained the expansion and the maintenance of the H5N1 virus in south-east Asia until 2004, via the legal and illegal trade in poultry. The cases in western Europe in February 2006 after a cold spell on the Black Sea showed that virus can spread through infected wild birds travelling short distances, but no evidence for long distance transmission during seasonal migration has yet been found. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the hypothesis that human movements of domestic poultry have been the main agent of global dispersal of the virus to date. The occurrence of an outbreak at a commercial turkey farm in Suffolk, England, in February 2007 fits this wider pattern. Wild birds, particularly waterfowl, are a key element of the viral ecology of low pathogenic avian influenza. Very high densities of domestic animals and increased stress factors are particularly favourable for the maintenance and transmission of virulent agents, in particular subtypes of highly pathogenic influenza. Paradoxically, the H5N1 virus coupled with a fear of transmission by wild birds could lead to a reversion to battery farming which increases risk of outbreaks. This would stall the current trend to better animal welfare resulting from free-range agriculture. Maintaining these trends, whilst controlling disease through strong veterinary scrutiny and control of trade, is more likely to be a successful strategy. (Last updated on Monday, March 26, 2007, and first posted on Monday, March 26, 2007) http://www.spiritindia.com/health-care-news-articles-7720.html |
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poultryvet
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Joined: July 24 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 96 |
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 3:17pm |
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Sorry, been traveling.
If ya'll get tired of bashing agriculture and have any answers to the questions I've raised previously, please feel free. For other readers, I've addressed these issues in the past - please search under poultryvet. All I seem to be doing by responding to these posts is providing a vehicle for repetition of the same anti-agriculture material. Obviously, I believe people should be allowed to eat what they want, and just as obviously, others believe the market should be dominated by whoever can shout the loudest - probably why I'm in production instead of advertising. Still intrigued by why the countries with the most intensive agriculture (factory farms!) seem to have the least problems with BF. I also believe that to get the best production from animals you have to take excellent care of them. What does it mean that when you raise poultry indoors the mortality is lower than when you raise them outdoors? Yet another question I'm sure will remain unanswered by the loyal opposition to meat production.... And yes, the New York City analogy was tortured. However, confined birds eat out of feeders, as do non-confined birds - not off the floor. And of course, the birds with the least exposure to their own feces are caged layers......that may be why enteric disease in table egg layers virtually disappeared when cages became common, and is re-emerging now as free-range becomes popular. Believe what you will - people generally do. Regards, |
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 3:44pm |
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PoultryVet ,
well said as usual . It is a delight to read you clear logical argument based on obviously true facts . |
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poultryvet wrote: