Joseph Mercola - The Great Bird Flu Hoax: The Truth They Dont Want You to Know About the Next Big Pandemic

Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. The purpose of this book is to educate. It is a review of scientific evidence that is presented for information purposes. Any application of the information herein is at the readers own discretion and risk. Therefore, any individual with a specific health problem or who is taking medications should first seek advice from his or her personal physician or health-care provider before starting a nutrition program. Similarly, any individual with a specific health question or health problem should first seek advice from his or her personal physician or health-care provider. The author and Thomas Nelson, Inc. shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

Copyright 2006 by Dr. Joseph Mercola

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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ISBN 0-7852-2187-5

Printed in the United States of America

06 07 08 09 10 QW 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

1. The Plague That Never Was
What You Really Need to Know about the Bird Flu

2. Sensation Sells
How and Why the Media Deceives You about the Bird Flu

3. Bird Jails
Corporate Agribusiness and the Real Source of Bird-Borne Illness

4. Shifting the Blame
How the Big Poultry Companies Make Money from the Bird Flu Scare

5. Follow the Money
How the Drug Companies are Profiting from Fear

6. Natural Cures
Improving Your Immune System to Protect Yourself from the Bird Flu

7. A Silver Lining
Could the Bird Flu Be a Blessing in Disguise?

8. Resources and Organizations to Help You
Stay Informed

In 1918 children would skip rope to this rhyme:

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza.

S ince 1997, when the first human contracted the highly pathogenic bird flu virus (H5N1) in Hong Kong, the disease has affected nearly fifty countries. Bird flu has taken its toll in many areas of Asia, Africa, and Europe, killing 132 people as of the writing of this book. Millions of birds, both domestic and migratory, have also been killed as a result of the spread of this disease. To date, however, there hasnt even been one single reported case of the highly infectious bird flu in North America.

The title of this book, The Great Bird Flu Hoax, is not meant to suggest that the H5N1 virus does not exist, or that people have not died from this strain of the bird flu. The H5N1 virus is genuine, and the deaths it has caused are tragic and not to be disregarded or belittled in any way.

But after years of media-driven panic about the illness, only a relatively small number of people have been affected by it, compared to the millions of people who have died from many other acute and chronic diseases that genuinely threaten us today. The widely forecasted bird flu pandemic has not yet arrived, and as you will discover by reading this book, it is never going to arrive.

The widely forecasted bird flu pandemic has not yet arrived, and as you will discover by reading this book, it is never going to arrive.

The bird flu hoax is the deliberately disproportionate attention the media and government are putting upon this specific infection in an attempt to frighten you about a nearly baseless threat. Once you understand the factors we review in the book, it will become quite clear that the motivation behind this media promotion is straightforwardthere are a number of individuals and corporations that are profiting greatly from the frightened frenzy that is being created.

Before taking a closer look at those groups and their motives, first Id like to tell you the information about the bird flu that you arent being toldwhat it is, how far it has spread, and why, in all probability, you will never catch it.

What Is the Bird Flu?

The bird flu virus itself is nothing new; its been around for ages. There are several strains of avian influenza, some of which have been shown to infect humans: these include viruses of the H5 subtype (H5N1), the H7 subtype (H7N2, H7N3, H7N7), the H9 subtype (H9N2), and the H10 subtype (H10N7). In total, there are 144 possible strains of the bird flu.

For many centuries, the bird flu has typically been a relatively minor illness even in birds. The recent appearance of the highly infectious bird flu strain H5N1 that has killed poultry and now people is a new phenomenon, and it is likely not due to some unfortunate and random genetic mutation. Rather, the occurrence of this more dangerous form of the virus coincides quite nicely with the increase of large poultry operations (factory farms) and transnational poultry production. As I will explain in more detail later, the emergence of this highly infectious bird flu virus is closely related to the current practices of the poultry industry.

Many experts have blamed wild birds, rather than the primary culprit, factory farming practices, for the spread of the virus. Some have alleged that wild water fowl can act as hosts by carrying the virus in their intestines and shedding it in saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. But the viruses circulating in wild birds are generally not the highly pathogenic avian influenza strains (called HPAI viruses) that cause deadly bird flu; they are low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses that often do not even cause symptoms in the birds themselves.

Highly infectious bird flu viruses can cause severe epidemics in domestic chickens. Infection can result in a wide spectrum of symptoms in birds, ranging from mild illness to a very contagious and rapidly fatal disease. Symptoms of the bird flu infection in humans can depend on the particular strain of virus.

Several outbreaks of different strains of avian flu have been identified in various countries around the world, almost always with no reported human deaths. While HPAI viruses such as H5N1 have not appeared in North America, one variant that is less infectious to humans, H7N2, has been found in poultry in eight states since 2001. In 2004, another similar strain (H7N3) was found in large poultry operations in British Columbia, Canada. As a result of these outbreaks, millions of poultry were killed in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.

Whenever a bird flu virus has been detected among poultry, millions of birds have typically been destroyed as a control measure intended to limit or halt the spread of the disease. As H5N1 has been found in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, about 200 million birds have been sacrificed at the altar of disease prevention. One of the problems with this approach is that many, if not most, of the birds that are killed in this manner are not necessarily sick at all; they are simply considered to be at risk. In addition to culling birds, in some cases vaccines have also been used as an extra measure to stop the reemergence of the virus.

If youre worried about catching the bird flu, its important to note that most varieties are not fatal to humans; but more importantly, nearly all of those who have been infected with any strain, including the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, have been in close contact with sick poultry. So if your circumstances dont bring you in close contact with sick birds, your risk for acquiring this infection is remote at best.