bird flu vaccination

john.sw

Murder is both a legal and a moral term, that are not always coincident. It may be legal to kill, but still murder in the moral sense.

Our government (UK) is keen to kill farm animals (that were intended for food) for political reasons.

Their response to the small outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease in 2001 was to kill all livestock on the grounds that these animals may, in the future, have contracted the disease.

I am a strict non-vegetarian, but the idea of killing something on the grounds that it may, at some time in the future, contract a disease, is anathema to me.

By all means kill animals for food, but if you kill them for political ends and dispose of their carcases in lime pits or on bonfires, this is murder.

__________________
www.nilgiris.asia your guide to the Nilgiris, Ooty, Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur

edwardseco

Boy, I think you have a new twist on things and could turn it into a movement with proper TV exposure. You sure ain't a farmer because that is the standard technique for dealing with disease outbreaks in animals. I don't think you will get many farmers willing to signup to a program where we let disease rage through the entire livestock population because its God's will. Lord helps those who help themselves my grandfather would have said..

john.sw

We farm sheep in Yorkshire UK...

I was referring to the UK government’s handling of the Foot & Mouth Disease (Pan Asian Type O FMD virus) outbreak in 2001.

The whole business of mass-slaughter makes as much sense, in everything but economic terms, as killing all the children in a school because a few of the pupils happen to have sore throats.

Foot and mouth is not a fatal disease. When government ministers prefer to shoot thousands of animals rather than wait a week or two for them to recover from an illness that does not pose a threat to human health, it is clear that something has gone hideously wrong with our relationship to the non-human world.

H5N1 Avian Flu is a completely different disease, but there are parallels with FMD.

Governments should learn from their mistakes.

When a "standard technique" is obviously wrong it should be changed, or perhaps, because migrating birds may carry bird flu, we should kill all the birds in the world?

cyberhippie

I agree with John SW the mass culling of aniamls isn't needed. In years gone by only effected animals were slaughtered not entire herds just because they were in the vicinity.
The recent culling was mostly done to try and satify trading partners who quickly seize the chance to ban meat from other countries whenever something like this comes along, It reeks of protectionism of markets rather than for the greater public health!

Having said all that I'm seriously thinking of becoming a vegetarian it seems we just can't be trusted with the care of livestock, overcrowding, unhygenic butchers, cruelty, transport issues, over use of antibiotics, feeding cow meat to cows, all contribute to making the eating of meat something to be questioned these days!

I don't have any real issues with eating meat I think that is natural in human beings. However when we turned this into a Kilogram = $ commodity. Care and respect both for the animals and peoples health took a back seat, BCE, foot and mouth, Avian flu seem to have been the results, sad when money enters the equation it seems humans will do the stupidest things, including ruin our own food chain!!!

iwanttogoback

well spoken, yet again, ch. the vegetarian option looks better and better doesn't it?

HelloSing

The Australian government was "talking up" a bird flu pandemic today. Why would the government do that, and in the same breath call for calm?

GlaxoSmithKline will commence production in Australia of a new anti-viral called Relenza ready for the next Australian winter.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...0/s1485181.htm

Lotus-Flower

Hello Marzoryy
where r u in Serbia? im also there but im in belgrade!

U can get Bird Flue Vaccination in Pharmacy

HelloSing

I fell for it!

The headline of Australia's national broadcaster says The story goes on, And finishes with, Is there a direct connection between the government's mooted "vaccination programme" and GSK's production of Relenza (a drug which has been around for a while)? I don't think so! Trials of a "pandemic vaccine" are being conducted by a publicly-listed research company called CSL.

And more from Aunty (as we call our national broadcaster)...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...0/s1484515.htm

It is obviously important to differentiate between the terms, "to treat" and "to vaccinate", and between the terms "an antiviral drug which is used for several strains of influenza" and "a vaccination for bird flu".

I'm always suspicious of our current regime. Why the spin? What are they trying to hide? Or am I just dumb?