Bird flu pandemic warning – or are they still trying to shift the drugs?

Scientists claim they have created a deadly form of the bird flu (H5N1) virus in the laboratory that could spark a pandemic, killing millions – but cynics reckon it is yet another attempt to boost flagging vaccine sales.
A team at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam claims to have developed a mutated form of the H5N1 virus that can pass between ferrets – an animal that is close enough to human biology to suggest it could also be passed between us.
They were due to publish the results of their work in two science journals, but the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) asked the editorial boards to halt the publication of the paper.
NSABB’s Prof Paul Keim has issued a warning to governments to prepare for a leak of the mutated virus into the public domain. He urges governments to “start getting busy” in building up a flu defence infrastructure. “The infrastructure to stop a pandemic in this area is not there. We just don’t have the capabilities. Even if we spotted it early on, I don’t think we have enough vaccines. The vaccines aren’t good enough, and the drugs are not good enough to stop this emerging and being a pandemic,” he said.
The bird flu panic reached its height in 2006 by which time governments around the world had heeded the stark warning of health ‘experts’ – who were predicting 7.4 million deaths worldwide – and had stockpiled vast quantities of the antiviral, Tamiflu (oseltamivir). The UK purchased 14.6 million doses and the US bought 20 million doses.
Now, as we are nearing the end of the shelf life of these useless drugs, we need a sudden panic…
(Sources: Daily Mail, February 8, 2012).

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