Influenza
- "a human respiratory infection of undetermined cause" according
to Webster's dictionary. Most people have at some stage in their lives
felt its effects, and while the normal human virus is not lethal to humans
there exists the possibility that lethal "mutated" strains can
develop.
Each
winter the flu virus makes its expected appearance, commonly known as
the "Flu season". The standard government response is to commission
the large pharmaceutical companies to manufacture vast amounts of a vaccine.
The
vaccine is essentially a dose containing several, either dead, or alive
but weakened, flu virus strains (among other things as we shall see).
When introduced into the body these supposedly immunise us against those
particular strains. However the vaccine does not cover all the possible
Flu virus strains and if the predominant flu virus in any given season
is not contained in the vaccine then naturally no protection will be afforded
by the vaccine. Interestingly, this was the case this 2003/4 season, yet
it did not stop the government from urging the public to "get immunised!"
While
initially being recommended for the elderly and young, now it is advised
that everyone who wants to avoid the flu should receive the shot. The
question is, how much do you trust your government, and how much of that
trust is warranted. As we shall see, there is cause to be highly suspicious
of government advice. In regards to this years flu virus the Government
Center
for Disease Control has said:
"It
is not possible to accurately predict in advance what type of flu season
we are going to have. However, current surveillance data show that people
in the United States are getting sick with flu earlier in the year than
usual. Also, in laboratory tests from across the country, a greater
proportion of specimens testing positive for influenza are type A (H3N2).
Historically, A (H3N2) viruses have been associated with more-severe
flu seasons during which higher numbers of influenza-related hospitalizations
and deaths have occurred."
2004
Flu spreads to all 50 US states
Half are considered "hit hard" by the epidemic...
2004
Flu Outbreak Now Widespread in 24 States
By ANGIE WAGNER,
Associated Press Writers
December 12, 2003
LAS VEGAS -
With the flu now spread to all 50 states and nearly half of those considered
hit hard, the government is scrambling to ship 100,000 vaccine doses
to combat shortages, hoping to head off what could become one of the
worst outbreaks in years.
The number of
states with widespread infections nearly doubled to 24 in the past week,
and the season has not yet peaked nationally, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Worried parents
are rushing to find shots even though many local health departments
and doctor's offices are either out or about to run out of the vaccine.
[...]
She found 300
people waiting to get the vaccine at her daughters' pediatrician's office
Saturday, but couldn't endure the three-hour line. She later got the
vaccine from her mother, who is a nurse. [...]
Comment:
Ah, hysteria... Worried parents are stampeding to get their children
injected with a dangerous vaccine that offers no protection against
the latest strain spreading across the country.
Flu
forces public school to close
Associated
Press
December
11, 2003
COLCHESTER,
Conn. -- A public high school closed Thursday afternoon because of an
apparent outbreak of the flu.
Bacon Academy
in Colchester sent students home
at 12:30 p.m.
School officials
said about 300 students, more than one-third of the student body, and
17 faculty members called in sick Thursday with flu-like symptoms. That
was up from 175 student absences Wednesday. Officials said the school
will be closed Friday as well. [...]
Scientists
Predict Worldwide Flu Outbreak
By MALCOLM RITTER,
AP Science Writer
Sat Dec 13, 4:48 PM ET
NEW YORK - As
bad as this year's flu season is, it hasn't brought the worldwide outbreak
known as a pandemic. But experts warn that a pandemic is coming, it's
just a question of when. "It's going to happen," said Dr.
Greg Poland of the Mayo Clinic. "For the American public in particular,
I think it will be horrific."
[...]
Panel
reluctantly backed flu vaccine to FDA
Saturday,
December 13, 2003 Posted: 10:52 PM EST (0352 GMT)
(CNN) --
Members of an advisory panel that backed this year's flu vaccine expressed
doubts about its potential effectiveness before recommending it for
the Food and Drug Administration's approval.
Some said
they were concerned the vaccine would not provide as much protection
against the Fujian strain of flu that was thought most likely to dominate
this year's flu season, according to a transcript of the group's deliberations.
The Fujian
strain, which emerged in the Far East, is now responsible for 75 percent
of U.S. flu cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
But drug
makers could not culture the Fujian strain in a way to meet FDA standards,
forcing the advisory committee to make this year's flu vaccine the same
as it was last year.
The committee's
decision in March has come under a microscope now because the flu is
reaching near epidemic proportions in the United States.
Experts
cast bet on flu vaccine - Imperfect shield beat delivery delay
By SARAH
AVERY, Staff Writer
November 29, 2003
Despite
evidence that a flu bug had mutated and was defying the current vaccine,
health officials around the world took a calculated risk not to change
the formula for this year's flu shots.
Part of
the reason was that the new strain was difficult to grow in the lab.
That could have delayed the vaccine's development and, thus, its availability.
About 10
percent to 20 percent of U.S. residents will get influenza each year.
Most will recover in one to two weeks, but some will develop life-threatening
complications. An average of about 36,000 people per year in the United
States die from influenza, and 114,000 per year are admitted to a hospital.
People age 65 and older, people of any age with chronic medical conditions
and very young children are more likely to get complications such as
pneumonia, bronchitis, and sinus and ear infections. The flu also can
exacerbate chronic health problems such as asthma and congestive heart
failure.
Given
two options -- a late but better vaccine or a timely but flawed shot
-- health officials chose the latter.
"Obviously,
the hope was that the current vaccine would provide enough degree of
protection," said Dr. Samuel L. Katz, a professor emeritus at Duke
University and member of the advisory panel that recommends the nation's
flu vaccine.
Whether
that hope was valid is not yet known.
Study
shows flu vaccine was ineffective
Friday, January 16, 2004
ATLANTA,Georgia
(CNN) -- This year's flu vaccine had little or no effectiveness against
influenza-like illnesses, according to a preliminary study released
Thursday.
The study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, looked at workers at Children's
Hospital in Denver, Colorado.
Of the
1,000 people who got the vaccine before November 1, 149 went on to develop
influenza-like illness (14.9 percent). Of the 402 people who did not
get the vaccine, 68 got an influenza-like illness (16.9 percent), the
study said.
This year's
outbreak started early and more severely than usual, sparking a run
on vaccine by people eager to protect themselves. That depleted supplies.
But the
vaccine did not contain the Fujian A virus that proved to be the predominant
strain this year. Despite public health authorities' hopes that there
was enough overlap with the vaccine's other strains that some protection
would be conferred, that does not appear to be the case.
The preliminary
findings "demonstrated no or very low effectiveness," against
flu or flu-like illnesses, the report stated. But
officials said the vaccine is not designed to combat flu-like illnesses.
This
is an important point. There are many temporary illnesses that cause symptoms
similar to that of the flu but which are not in fact caused by the flu
virus. Despite this, due to the ramping up of the fear factor, the first
sign of a sniffle or ache is enough to send people running for the flu
vaccine.
Flu
Outbreak Strains Demand for Test Kits
By JOHN
NOLAN, Associated Press Writer
CINCINNATI
- Manufacturers of tests used to determine if a patient has the flu say
the current outbreak has strained their ability to meet demand from hospitals,
medical laboratories and doctors' offices.
Jack Kraeutler,
president of test kit distributor based Meridian Bioscience Inc., said
the company is running about a week behind in filling orders.
"I
don't think that there's a manufacturer or a health professional who hasn't
been overwhelmed with how quickly it's moved," Kraeutler
said.
The number
of states hit hard by the flu has doubled to 24 over the past week and
now includes most of the western half of the country. Nationwide,
at least 20 children have died in what could become the worst flu season
in years.
"Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist,
fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria.
The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled
and those who have no such desire." -
Robert Heinlein
US
'wants British flu vaccine'
US health
officials are considering buying thousands of doses of flu vaccine from
Britain because it is running short of supplies.
Parts of
the US have been affected by the Fujian flu strain, which has also hit
the UK.
[...] Last
year, flu-vaccine manufacturers in America overproduced and had to scrap
12 million doses of the vaccine.
But this
year, a combination of more cases of flu and an increase in the numbers
choosing to have the flu jab has led to the shortage, experts said.
Madison
closed until Monday (Ohio)
By J. Ameer
Rasheed, Journal Staff Writer
12.11.03
After three
days with 30 percent of the student body missing school, largely
because of the flu, Madison Jr./Sr. High School officials
decided to close school doors until Monday.
The 70 percent
attendance rate is 25 percent lower than the school’s average
daily attendance rate, according to school Principal Curtis Philpot.
Madison Primary and Madison Intermediate are not affected by the cancellations.
[...]
Of
course, we are not surprised that the fear factor was used to ensure that
the popoulation scrambled to get the shot, vaccines have less to do with
protecting the public and more to do with making money...
MedImmune
Seeks Help In Relaunching FluMist
New Plan to Be Rolled Out in January
By Michael Barbaro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
MedImmune
Inc. hired a consultant to discover why its needle-free flu vaccine
FluMist disappointed
sales expectations this fall and is considering emphasizing
what it says is FluMist's safety as well as its convenience, said an
analyst who spoke to the Gaithersburg drug company's managers.
Mark Schoenebaum
of Minneapolis investment bankers U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc. said
MedImmune executives were surprised to learn that doctors
and patients say they believe FluMist, which contains a live
but weakened form of the influenza virus, might give them the
flu. The
company told him "many physicians are actually advising against
FluMist," Schoenebaum said. [...]
Comment:
And lo and behold, the "help" to MedImmune is provided, despite
the fact that even the corrupt FDA has "health concerns" about
the vaccine.
Flu
Shot Shortage Could Help FluMist
By STEPHEN MANNING
ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 09, 2003
COLLEGE
PARK, Md. (AP) - Shortages of flu shots
could boost disappointing sales of the needle-free vaccine FluMist this
winter, but analysts say the drug's long term outlook
is dogged by a high price and limits on who can use it.
The news
last Friday that the nation's two producers of traditional flu vaccine
injections have run out of stock and won't be able to produce more this
season has led some health agencies and consumers to turn to FluMist.
There is
plenty of the nasal spray vaccine available - only 400,000 doses out
of the roughly 4 million doses made by Gaithersburg-based MedImmune
and its partner, Wyeth, have been distributed to pharmacies and flu
vaccine sites.
State
health agencies are recommending that healthy people between the ages
of 5 and 49 use FluMist and save what remains of the traditional vaccine
for others.
Until last
week, MedImmune had a hard time selling FluMist. Its wholesale price
of $46 per dose is much higher than the cost of flu shots. And the drug
- originally billed as a painless alternative for those scared of needles
- hasn't been approved for use by toddlers
and seniors.
At pharmacies
in 33 Giant Food grocery stores in Virginia, FluMist sales tripled last
week over the previous week, company spokesman Jamie Miller said. FluMist
sells for $59.95 at Giant, while a flu shot is $20, he said.
"FluMist
will probably be the last place to turn," said Philip Nadeau, an
analyst with SG Cowen Securities. "I think most physicians would
think that FluMist is better than nothing."
MedImmune
spokeswoman Jamie Lacey said it was too early to tell how the vaccine
shortage would affect FluMist sales.
FluMist,
which contains a live but weakened flu virus, is meant to be a painless
alternative to the traditional flu injection, which is made from a dead
flu virus.
MedImmune
hoped FluMist would be a blockbuster drug, much like its childhood respiratory
drug Synagis that had $668 million in sales last year. The company pumped
$25 million into an ad campaign touting the drug to consumers and another
$25 million pitching it to pharmacies.
But the
drug's introduction was hampered by several factors.
Citing
safety concerns, the Food and Drug Administration did not approve FluMist
for children under 5 years and those above 50, the two groups at the
greatest risk for the flu. [...]
Two
Flu Shot Makers Run Out of Vaccine
Dec 5 2003
By DANIEL Q. HANEY
The two
makers of flu shots in the United States said Friday they have run out
of vaccine and will not be able to meet a surge in demand resulting
from fears of a particularly bad flu season.
Nevertheless,
the companies said people who have put off getting their shots may still
be able to find them, since distributors and doctors' offices may still
have some left.
The companies,
Chiron and Aventis Pasteur, together made about 80 million doses of
the injected vaccine, which ordinarily would be enough to take care
of U.S. demand.
"Because
of the recent outbreak, we've seen an unprecedented surge of vaccine
orders late in the season," said Len Lavenda, an Aventis spokesman.
"As a result, we have now shipped all our available supplies."
"It's
all been shipped out," said Chiron's John Gallagher. "We began
shipping in August. It's all gone at this point."
The companies
said they cannot make more vaccine this year, because the process takes
four months. By that time, the flu season would be over.
Another
alternative is the FluMist, the more expensive inhaled version of the
vaccine. Its maker, MedImmune Vaccines, made between
4 million and 5 million doses this year. Spokeswoman Jamie Lacey said
that as of Nov. 18, the company had sold 400,000 doses, and "there
is still a wide supply available."
Revealed:
how drug firms 'hoodwink' medical journals
Pharmaceutical giants hire ghostwriters
to produce articles - then put doctors' names on them [...]
Glaxosmithkline
chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
08 December
2003
A senior
executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most
prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Flu
shot, anyone?
By John
McCaslin
The Washington Times
Gotten
your flu shot yet? Whether you have or not, one leading congressman's
warning might frighten you more than the needle.
If your
doctor hasn't told you, Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, feels it
is his duty to inform Americans about the "contents" of their
influenza vaccines.
"As
we approach the flu season, many of you will visit the doctor's office
and receive an annual influenza vaccine. This might prevent the flu,
but what else will it do?" Mr. Burton said. "You should be
aware that the vaccine you are about to receive contains thimerosal
— a mercury-laden preservative."
Mr. Burton
says scientific evidence "continues to accumulate" regarding
a biologically plausible connection between the preservative and certain
neurological disorders. Some scientists have attributed the growth in
Alzheimer's disease and autism to mercury found in certain vaccines.
During
his chairmanship of the Government Reform Committee, Mr. Burton held
numerous hearings on possible adverse effects of thimerosal.
As for
a second opinion, we call upon Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of
Tennessee — a doctor in real life — who actually reminded
friends in his Christmas cards last year: "Don't forget your shots:
flu shot annually."
Comment:
Notice how this Moonie-owned, Bush, Sr. backed rag manages to belittle
Rep. Dan Burton. It is interesting that Bill Frist,
[...]
authored a bill intended to protect vaccine makers, such as Eli Lilly
& Co, from lawsuits regarding thimerosal found in vaccines and
argued is linked to autism in children. While Frist denies having
any role in the provision that was slipped into the homeland
security bill passed in November 2002 protecting Eli
Lilly from legal matters for their thimerosal containing vaccines,
Frist is hoping to pass his original bill, which will have liability
protection regarding vaccines. [...] [Tennessee
Senator hoping to protect vaccine makers from legal problems]
See
the Toxic
Exposure Study Trust Foundation for more information.
It
is clear that a healthy, happy, unafraid population does not make for
good profits in the pharmaceutical industry, which in turn means less
money in "contributions" to political parties.
But
hang on to your hats, the intrigue does not stop there...
In
fact, a more appropriate title for this supplement may be The Flu Vaccine
Threat. As we shall see, there is more to the vaccine than a
mere dose of dead viri.
Should
you get the Flu shot?
By Dr Sherri
Tenpenny
www.nmaseminars.com
News reports
have been flooding us with articles warning that the impending flu season
may be the worst in years. Even though
it is difficult to separate the facts from the hype, a close evaluation
of the flu vaccine will reveal that serious questions must be raised
about the recommendations that are routinely touted, namely high efficacy
with little risk. Anyone
considering a flu shot should become informed about the substances coming
through that needle,
and should be determined to investigate the safety
and efficacy issues that are still unresolved.
What's
in a flu shot?
The
influenza virus is grown in "specific pathogen-free" (SPF)
eggs. Eggs are tested for a variety of agents usually between 23 and
31-to confirm the absence of those specific pathogens. Laboratories
limit the number of agents that are screened due to the shear abundance
of potential viruses and/or bacteria to choose from. In addition, screening
for every potential agent would be cost prohibitive. If none of the
tested agents are detected, the vaccine is reported as "pathogen
free.
However,
it should be understood that there is a distinct difference between
"pathogen free and "specific pathogen-free. In its July 1996
report, the Institute of Medicine acknowledged that "although it
is not possible to produce a completely uncontaminated animal, it is
possible to produce an animal [or egg] certified to be free of specific
pathogens. Viruses that are harmless to their animal host, however,
may be potentially harmful to humans.
During
the manufacturing process, antibiotics (neomycin, polymyxin B and gentamicin)
are added to eliminate stray bacteria found in the mixture. The
final solution can contain the following additives in any combination:
Triton X-100 (a detergent); polysorbate 80 (a potential carcinogen);
gelatin; formaldehyde; and residual egg proteins. In addition, many
of the influenza vaccines still contain thimerosal as a preservative.
Thimerosal (mercury) is being investigated for its link to brain injury
and autoimmune disease.
Does the
flu shot protect?
There are
no guarantees that the influenza viruses selected for the vaccine will
be the identical strains circulating during a given flu season. In
fact, it has recently been announced that this year's flu vaccine does
not include the strain that is being reported by doctors in the community
called the "A Fujian strain. Outbreaks have been
reported in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere that involve strains that
do not match the current flu vaccine. CDC tests have confirmed that
more than 80 per cent of the 55 strains of influenza virus isolated
thus far are the A Fujian strain. Even so, the CDC still maintains that
the current vaccine could provide cross-protection against the new variant,
but the fact is, no one knows for sure.
Moreover,
the majority of illnesses characterized by fever, fatigue, cough and
aching muscles are not caused by the influenza virus. Non-influenza
viruses (e.g., rhinoviruses respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], adenoviruses,
and parainfluenza viruses) can cause symptoms referred to as influenza-like
illnesses. Certain bacteria, such as Legionella spp., Chlamydia pneumoniae,
Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, have been documented
as the causes of ILI.
Notably,
these microbes are not part of the flu vaccine. Unless
an organism's antigen is contained within the vaccine, there is no protection
conferred by the vaccine.
Targeting
the elderly
The flu
vaccine is generally recommended for persons aged 65 and older, and
those with medical conditions who could experience serious complications
from the flu. Medical journals report broad differences in effectiveness
for the elderly, ranging from 0 to 85%.
The CDC
states that 90% of deaths from influenza occur among the elderly. Considering
that nearly 65% of all deaths (from any cause) occur in this age group,
it is nearly impossible to prove that flu shots significantly increase
life expectancy in this group. The truth is that most people-young and
old-will weather a bout of the flu without hospitalization or complications.
A serious
concern: Alzheimer's Disesase
Hugh Fudenberg,
MD, an immunogeneticist and biologist with nearly 850 papers published
in peer review journals, has reported that if an individual had five
consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied), his/her
chances of getting Alzheimer's Disease is ten times higher than if they
had zero, one, or two shots.
Dr. Boyd
Haley, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University
of Kentucky, Lexington has done extensive research in the area of mercury
toxicity and the brain. Haley‚s research has established a likely connection
between mercury toxicity and Alzheimer‚s disease.
In a paper published in collaboration with researchers at University
of Calgary, Haley stated that "seven of the characteristic markers
that we look for to distinguish Alzheimer's disease can be produced
in normal brain tissues, or cultures of neurons, by the addition of
extremely low levels of mercury."
Does this
prove that the mercury contained in the influenza shot can be directly
linked to Alzheimer's? No, absolutely not. But further research in this
area is critically needed because the absence of proof is not the "proof
of absence."
Flu vaccine
now for children
The Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) adopted a resolution effective
March 1, 2003 that expanded the use of the influenza vaccine to include
children aged 6-23 months. The recommendations also included vaccinating
those aged 2 to 18 years who live in households containing children
younger than 2 years of age.
The flu
vaccine most commonly given to children is Fluzone, a trivalent vaccine
grown in chicken eggs. Harvested with formaldehyde and containing the
recommended ratio of 15 ug of each of the three prototype viral strains,
each dose of Fluzone also contains 25 ug of mercury. The new CDC recommendations
include giving the influenza vaccine to children beginning at six months
of age and then annually, for the rest of their lives. Children less
than age 9 receiving their first flu shot, two doses of vaccine are
recommended, with a minimum interval of one month between the two doses.
However, the CDC does not provide a direct reference to substantiate
this recommendation.
On June
17, 2003, the FDA approved an intranasal influenza vaccine for use in
healthy persons aged 5 - 49 years. Flumist is a live-virus vaccine that
can cause a litany of problems.
Alternatives?
If you
choose not to receive the flu shot, have a discussion with your doctor
regarding other options. However, some simple and possibly quite effective
things you can do for yourself to prevent the flu include: 1) avoid
white sugar;[xiv] 2) exercise regularly; 3) get adequate sleep; 4) eat
a healthy diet, omitting trans-fats; 5) drink plenty of purified water
daily and 6) wash your hands. A common way people contract viral illnesses
is by rubbing their nose or their eyes after their hands have been contaminated
with a virus. The CDC states, "the most important thing you can
do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands.
We are
so used to taking medications-for prevention and treatment-that it is
difficult to comprehend that these modest recommendations are really
the most powerful ways to minimize the likelihood of getting the flu.
Unusual
and frightening complications with Flu outbreak
At left:
Kim Collins talks to her son, Nick Collins, 9, both of Texarkana, Texas,
as he opens his eyes briefly in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Arkansas
Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., Monday, Dec. 8, 2003. Nick,
who arrived at the hospital on Nov.10, needs four chest tubes to drain
air and fluid from three holes in his lungs caused by bacterial pneumonia.
Doctors are
trying to prevent a blood clot from killing him. He's also developed a
drug-resistant bacteria infection, a worrisome find thatdoctors are starting
to see in other flu cases. Doctors are reporting
unusual and frightening complications with this year's flu outbreak, particularly
among young patients.
Essentially then, in the "flu shot" you are getting a host of
deadly chemicals along with supposedly a small dose of the actual dead
or live flu virus. Leaving aside the mercury (extremely poisonous to humans)
and formaldehyde (the main ingredient in rat poison), how are any of us
to know just what virus the Pentagon has chosen to introduce into our
bodies? Ask yourself, would you be happy to rely on the moral integrity
of someone like Donald Rumsfeld to safeguard your own life and the lives
of your children? You may be thinking, "they wouldn't do that!",
if so, we recommend that you read on.
Few
people alive today are old enough to remember the Spanish Flu
outbreak of 1918
"The
effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life
span in the US was depressed by 10 years. The influenza virus had a
profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% compared to the previous
influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%. The death rate for 15
to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918
than in previous years (Taubenberger). People were struck with illness
on the street and died rapid deaths. One anectode shared of 1918 was
of four women playing bridge together late into the night. Overnight,
three of the women died from influenza (Hoagg). Others told stories
of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying
within hours (Henig). One physician writes that patients with seemingly
ordinary influenza would rapidly "develop the most viscous type
of pneumonia that has ever been seen" and later when cyanosis appeared
in the patients, "it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate,"
(Grist, 1979). Another physician recalls that the influenza patients
"died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth
that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth," (Starr, 1976).
The physicians of the time were helpless against this powerful agent
of influenza.
The
influenza pandemic circled the globe. Most of humanity felt the effects
of this strain of the influenza virus. It spread following the path
of its human carriers, along trade routes and shipping lines. Outbreaks
swept through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Brazil and the South
Pacific (Taubenberger). In India the mortality rate was extremely high
at around 50 deaths from influenza per 1,000 people (Brown). The Great
War, with its mass movements of men in armies and aboard ships, probably
aided in its rapid diffusion and attack. The origins of the deadly flu
disease were unknown but widely speculated upon. Some of the allies
thought of the epidemic as a biological warfare tool of the Germans.
Many thought it was a result of the trench warfare, the use of mustard
gases and the generated "smoke and fumes" of the war. A national
campaign began using the ready rhetoric of war to fight the new enemy
of microscopic proportions. A study attempted to reason why the disease
had been so devastating in certain localized regions, looking at the
climate, the weather and the racial composition of cities. They found
humidity to be linked with more severe epidemics as it "fosters
the dissemination of the bacteria," (Committee on Atmosphere and
Man, 1923). Meanwhile the new sciences of the infectious agents and
immunology were racing to come up with a vaccine or therapy to stop
the epidemics.
The
origins of this influenza variant is not precisely known. It is thought
to have originated in China in a rare genetic shift of the influenza
virus. The recombination of its surface proteins created a virus novel
to almost everyone and a loss of herd immunity. Recently the virus has
been reconstructed from the tissue of a dead soldier and is now being
genetically characterized. The name of Spanish Flu came from
the early affliction and large mortalities in Spain where it allegedly
killed 8 million in May. However, a first wave
of influenza appeared early in the spring of 1918 in Kansas and in military
camps throughout the US.
Few
noticed the epidemic in the midst of the war.
Wilson
had just given his 14 point address. There was virtually no response
or acknowledgment to the epidemics in March and April in the military
camps. It was unfortunate that no steps were taken to prepare for the
usual recrudescence of the virulent influenza strain in the winter.
The lack of action was later criticized when the epidemic could not
be ignored in the winter of 1918 (BMJ, 1918). These first epidemics
at training camps were a sign of what was coming in greater magnitude
in the fall and winter of 1918 to the entire world."
The
"Spanish" Flu of 1918 was a pandemic of massive proportions,
and one that we certainly would not want to see ever happen again. Well,
perhaps we are speaking only for ourselves when we say this. It would
appear that people in high places are very interested in the specific
strain that appeared with such devastating results in 1918.
US
Army scientists create "Spanish Flu" virus in laboratory
- medical
benefit questionable [...]
Biosafety
Irregularity in Spanish Flu Experiments
Highlights the Need to Strengthen Biodefense Transparency
The Sunshine
Project
News Release
21 October 2003
(Austin
and Hamburg) - Genetic experiments to
recreate one of the most devastating viruses of the past century were
not reviewed or approved by a biosafety committee. The
University of Georgia claims that it was too troublesome to convene
its Institutional Biosafety Committee to review research to genetically
reconstruct the Spanish flu. Instead, the University signed off on the
experiments based on ad hoc talks between only four members of its biosafety
committee. As a result, no minutes were taken to describe safety review
of the experiments. In fact, by not convening
its committee, Georgia's actions ensured that there was no timely opportunity
to raise concerns at all.
The case
demonstrates a severe weakness in the public disclosure provisions of
federal research rules (the NIH Guidelines) and underscores the need
for mandatory committee-level (or higher) review of research projects
with disease agents. By approving the experiments with an ad hoc subcommittee,
requirements for public disclosure were avoided. The existence of the
experiments only came to light through journal articles. According to
Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project, "Genetic engineering of
bioweapons agents has national and international implications for health,
biosafety, and security. But Georgia shied
away from these and simply rubber-stamped the Pentagon-led project to
recreate the Spanish flu."
In 1918-19,
the Spanish flu killed 20-40 million people worldwide. In the US, deaths
from the flu strain resulted in a 10 year drop in life expectancy. Recreating
the deadly flu may create international unease, in particular because
of the leadership of the US military in the project.
The Spanish
flu reconstruction began at a University of Georgia biosafety level
three (BSL-3) facility in 1999. Researchers from US universities, the
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA) are involved. The
lab specializes in diseases of poultry, including avian influenza.
The Sunshine Project has confirmed - and reconfirmed - under the Freedom
of Information Act that USDA has no biosafety committee minutes related
to the experiments. The Project also directly contacted the University
of Georgia and requested Institutional Biosafety Committee meeting minutes
that are required by the NIH Guidelines for Recombinant DNA Research.
Georgia's Biosafety Officer stated that no minutes exist.
Scientists
have recently begun to accept the need to reinforce the Institutional
Biosafety Committee system established under the NIH Guidelines for
Recombinant DNA Research. But the discussion,
including that in a recent report on biosafety by the National Academies
of Science, is out of balance because it is taking place almostly exclusively
between scientists, government regulators, and the Pentagon.
"There is a need to make more room at the table. The public has
a right to help determine if, and under what conditions, risky research
proceeds." says Hammond, "Biosafety review must be a matter
of law, and public access provisions of federal research rules must
be strengthened. Otherwise, risky experiments such as this one will
take place with little or no transparency, and that will decrease international
security and create environmental and health risks."
Spanish
Flu - Why is the US government interested?
A
recent commentary in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (Madjid
et al. 2003) noted that influenza is readily transmissible by aerosol
and that a small number of viruses can cause a full-blown infection.
The authors continued: "the possibility
for genetic engineering and aerosol transmission [of influenza] suggests
an enormous potential for bioterrorism" The possible
hostile abuse of influenza virus is seen as a very real threat by public
health officials in the USA. Just two weeks ago, $15 million was granted
by the US National Institutes of Health to Stanford University to study
how to guard against the flu virus "if
it were to be unleashed as an agent of bioterrorism".
US scientists
led by a Pentagon pathologist recently began to genetically reconstruct
this specifically dangerous 1918 influenza strain. In one experiment
a partially reconstructed 1918 virus killed mice, while virus constructs
with genes from a contemporary flu virus had hardly any effect.
Attempts
to recover the Spanish flu virus date to the 1950s, when scientists
unsuccessfully tried to revive the virus from victims buried in the
permafrost of Alaska. In the mid 1990s, Dr Jeffrey Taubenberger from
the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology started to screen preserved
tissue samples from 1918 influenza victims. It
appears that this work was not triggered by a search for flu treatments,
or the search for a new biowarfare agent, but by a rather simple motivation:
Taubenberger and his team were just able to do it. In previous experiments
they had developed a new technique to analyse DNA in old, preserved
tissues and for now looking for new applications: "The 1918 flu
was by far and away the most interesting thing we could think of"
explained Taubenberger the reason why he started to unravel the secrets
of one of most deadliest viruses known to humankind.
We
do not doubt that a deadly form of the flu virus could be used as "an
agent bioterrorism", but the question is, which group of terrorists
would be behind it? Are we really expected to believe that with the US
military looking over his shoulder, it is a mere coincidence that Taubenberger
chose "one of deadliest viruses known to humankind" as a test
subject? It is no secret that the US and other governments have a keen
interest in biological weapons, indeed, it seems that one of the standing
orders for government scientists is to find the most efficient
way of killing the most people with the least effort.
Study:
Influenza May Be Next Bioterror Weapon
Mon June 30,
2003 07:49 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters)
- Forget anthrax and smallpox. Influenza
could easily be turned into the next weapon of mass destruction, scientists
said on Tuesday. They sounded their warning as researchers come close
to completing the blueprint for the virus of the 1918 'flu epidemic
that killed up to 40 million people globally.
"Taken
together with the fact that influenza virus is readily accessible and
may be causing more deaths than previously suspected, the possibility
for genetic engineering and aerosol transmission suggests an enormous
potential for bioterrorism," the University of Texas scientists
said.
Writing in the
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the team led by Dr Mohammed
Madjid noted that last century a series of 'flu epidemics from Spain
to Russia and Hong Kong had killed millions of people as the virus naturally
mutated.
They pointed
out that sequencing of the genome of the 1918 Spanish 'flu epidemic
was nearly complete, opening the door to unscrupulous scientists to
build an even more potent virus. [...]
It
is stated clearly, "influenza could be the next bioterror weapon",
and who is making strenuous efforts to develop the killer virus? The Pentagon!!
In an interesting yet unsurprising twist, we also discover reports that
it may well have been the government vaccine that
was administered in response to the 1918 Flu that caused the massive
death toll.
Vaccine
not virus responsible for Spanish flu
Ryle Dwyer
writes on the horror of the 1918-20 pandemic which the propaganda says
was caused by Spanish flu
Irish Examiner, May 1 2003
How did
they know it was the virus of Spanish flu that killed millions of civilians
and soldiers? This disaster occurred when viruses were unknown to medical
science. It took a British science team to identify the first virus
in man in 1933.
As regards
the origin of the outbreak, he relates that a senior US army officer
suggested that the Germans might have been responsible for the bug as
part of their war effort, by spreading it in theatres or where large
numbers of people assembled.
Did they
also spread it among their own people, killing 400,000 as reported?
Ryle would have us believe that all those American soldiers who died
from non-combatant causes may have died from Spanish flu.
But
US Army records show that seven men dropped dead after being vaccinated.
A
report from US Secretary of War Henry L Stimson not only verified these
deaths but also stated that there had been 63 deaths and 28,585 cases
of hepatitis as a direct result of yellow fever vaccination during only
six months of the war.
That was
only one of the 14 to 25 shots given to recruits.
Army records
also reveal that after vaccination became compulsory in the US Army
in 1911, not only did typhoid increase rapidly but all other vaccinal
diseases increased at an alarming rate.
After America
entered the war in 1917, the death rate from typhoid vaccination rose
to the highest point in the history of the US Army.
The deaths
occurred after the shots were given in sanitary American hospitals and
well-supervised army camps in France, where sanitation had been practised
for years.
The report
of the Surgeon-General of the US Army shows that during 1917 there were
admitted into the army hospitals 19,608 men suffering from anti-typhoid
inoculation and vaccinia.
This takes
no account of those whose vaccine diseases were attributed to other
causes.
The army
doctors knew all these cases of disease and death were due to vaccination
and were honest enough to admit it in their medical reports.
When army
doctors tried to suppress the symptoms of typhoid with a stronger vaccine,
it caused a worse form of typhoid paratyphoid.
But when
they concocted an even stronger vaccine to suppress that one, they created
an even worse disease Spanish flu.
After the
war, this was one of the vaccines used to protect a panic-stricken world
from the soldiers returning from WWI battlefronts infected with dangerous
diseases.
I
was an on-the-spot observer of the 1918 influenza epidemic
All
the doctors and people who were living at the time of the 1918 Spanish
Influenza epidemic say it was the most terrible disease the world has
ever had.
Strong men, hale and hearty, one day would be dead the next. The disease
had the characteristics of the black death added to typhoid, diphtheria,
pneumonia, smallpox, paralysis and all the diseases the people had been
vaccinated with immediately following World War 1. Practically the entire
population had been injected "seeded" with a dozen or more
diseases — or toxic serums. When all those doctor-made diseases
started breaking out all at once it was tragic.
That pandemic
dragged on for two years, kept alive with the addition of more poison
drugs administered by the doctors who tried to suppress the symptoms.
As far as I could find out, the flu hit only the vaccinated. Those who
had refused the shots escaped the flu. My family had refused all the
vaccinations so we remained well all the time. We knew from the health
teachings of Graham, Trail, Tilden and others, that people cannot contaminate
the body with poisons without causing disease.
When the
flu was at its peak, all the stores were closed as well as the schools,
businesses — even the hospital, as the doctors and nurses
had been vaccinated too and were down with the flu. No one
was on the streets. It was like a ghost town. We seemed to be the only
family which didn’t get the flu; so my parents went from house
to house doing what they could to look after the sick, as it was impossible
to get a doctor then. If it were possible for germs, bacteria, virus,
or bacilli to cause disease, they had plenty of opportunity to attack
my parents when they were spending many hours a day in the sick rooms.
But they didn’t get the flu and they didn’t bring any germs
home to attack us children and cause anything. None of our family had
the flu — not even a sniffle— and it was in the winter with
deep snow on the ground.
When I
see people cringe when someone near them sneezes or coughs, I wonder
how long it will take them to find out that they can’t catch it
— whatever it is. The only way they can get a disease is to develop
it themselves by wrong eating, drinking, smoking or doing some other
things which cause internal poisoning and lowered vitality. All diseases
are preventable and most of them are cureable with the right methods,
not known to medical doctors, and not all drugless doctors know them
either.
It
has been said that the 1918 flu epidemic killed 20,000,000 people throughout
the world. But, actually, the doctors killed them with their crude and
deadly treatments and drugs. This is a harsh accusation but
it is nevertheless true, judging by the success of the drugless doctors
in comparison with that of the medical doctors.
While the
medical men and medical hospitals were losing 33% of their flu cases,
the non-medical hospitals such as BATTLE CREEK, KELLOGG and MACFADDEN’S
HEALTH-RESTORIUM were getting almost 100% healings with their water
cure, baths, enemas, etc., fasting and certain other simple healing
methods, followed by carefully worked out diets of natural foods. One
health doctor didn’t lose a patient in eight years. The very successful
health treatment of one of those drugless doctors who didn’t lose
any patients will be given in the other part of this book, titled VACCINATION
CONDEMNED, to be published a little later.
If the
medical doctors had been as advanced as the drugless doctors, there
would not have been those 20 million deaths from the medical flu treatment.
There
was seven times more disease among the vaccinated soldiers than among
the unvaccinated civilians, and the diseases were those they
had been vaccinated against. One soldier who had returned from overseas
in 1912 told me that the army hospitals were filled with cases of infantile
paralysis and he wondered why grown men should have an infant disease.
Now, we know that paralysis is a common after-effect of vaccine poisoning.
Those at home didn’t get the paralysis until after the world-wide
vaccination campaign in 1918.
Comment:
So the evidence suggests that it was the addition of the vaccine
that caused the virus to mutate, making it much more deadly. Of course,
this provides the perfect cover. There is a real flu virus that many will
contract, either before or after taking the vaccine. If contracted before,
the symptoms will manifest and people will rush to take the vaccine, thereby
causing the mutation and death, with claims that it was "too late".
If contracted after taking the vaccine, the same thing will happen with
the claim perhaps being that the vaccine simply did not work since the
virus had mutated. What they will fail to tell people is that
the vaccine is what caused the virus to mutate!
The
groundwork has already been laid for this scenario with the announcement
in the above article, "Experts cast bet on flu vaccine..." that
the current vaccine may not work.
Consider
now this report in the New Scientist of Feb 2004
Superflu
is being brewed in the lab
February 04
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
After the worldwide alarm triggered by 2003's SARS outbreak, it might
seem reckless to set about creating a potentially far more devastating
virus in the lab. But that is what is being attempted by some researchers,
who argue that the dangers of doing nothing are even greater.
We already
know that the H5N1 bird flu virus ravaging poultry farms in Asia can
be lethal on the rare occasions when it infects people. Now
a team is tinkering with its genes to see if it can turn into a strain
capable of spreading from human to human. If they manage this, they
will have created a virus that could kill tens of millions if it got
out of the lab.
Comment:
Like it or not, there are people on this planet who have a vested interest
in ensuring that such a virus actually does "get out of the lab"
Many researchers
say experiments like this are needed to answer crucial questions. Why
can a few animal flu viruses infect humans? What makes the viruses deadly?
And what changes, if any, would enable them to spread from person to
person and cause pandemics that might prove far worse than that of 1918?
Once we know this, they argue, we will be better prepared for whatever
nature throws at us.
Others
disagree. It is not clear how much we can learn from such work, they
argue. And they point out that it is already possible to create a vaccine
by other means. The work is simply too
dangerous, they say.
"I'm
getting bombarded from both sides," says Ronald Atlas, head of
the Center for Deterrence of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism at the University
of Louisville in Kentucky. "Some say that this sort of research
is dangerous because of the risk of the virus escaping or being using
in bioterrorism, and others that it's good science."
Rodents
and monkeys
Some researchers
refuse to discuss their plans. But Jacqueline Katz at the US Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, told New Scientist her
team is already tweaking the genes of the H5N1 bird flu virus that killed
several people in Hong Kong in 1997, and those of the human flu virus
H3N2.
She is
testing the ability of the new viruses to spread by air and cause disease
in ferrets, whose susceptibility to flu appears to be remarkably similar
to ours.
Albert
Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam in the Netherlands plans
to test altered viruses on rodents and macaque monkeys. Other groups
are also considering similar experiments, he says.
If
such work were to show that H5N1 could cause a human pandemic, everything
that is happening in Asia would be even more alarming, Osterhaus argues.
If, on the other hand, it failed to transform H5N1 into a highly contagious
human virus, we could relax. "It becomes a veterinary health problem,
not a public health problem. That would be an enormous relief."
Cell cultures
But Wendy
Barclay of the University of Reading in the UK, who "thought long
and hard" about trying to create a pandemic flu virus before abandoning
the idea, disagrees. "If you get a negative, how can you
be sure that you have tested every option?" she says.
Health authorities would still have to take the precaution of creating
H5N1 vaccines.
Barclay
concedes, however, that creating a virus that spreads in people might
tell us how real the threat is. For instance, do you need one mutation
for H5N1 to adapt to humans, or dozens?
Osterhaus
is more optimistic. "Within the next decade, the whole thing will
be solved," he says. "We will know the rules." In other
words, once experts understand what the genetic sequence of any flu
virus means, they could predict which animals it can infect, how severe
it will be, and how easily it will spread.
Yet any
new viruses could only be tested in human cell cultures or in animals,
not on people. None of these methods exactly reflects how flu
behaves in humans. This has led some flu experts to argue that
attempts to create a pandemic virus should be put on hold until there
is agreement on the best way of testing it.
Mix flu
genes
And there
is an even more fundamental objection to such experiments: the processes
used to create the viruses may be too artificial. Researchers who want
to see if H5N1 can be pandemic can take two approaches.
One is
to tinker with the genome of the bird flu virus to mimic mutations that
might occur naturally. This can be done precisely using a technique
called reverse genetics. The other approach
is to mix bird flu genes with those of human flu viruses, either using
reverse genetics or through random re-assortment in cells infected with
both types.
Although
re-assortment sounds more natural, there is a problem. "Re-assortments
can be made very easily in the lab using cells or animals," says
flu expert Graeme Laver, formerly at the Australian National University
in Canberra. "But one of the big mysteries is that [human] viruses
that appear by reassortment are extremely rare in nature. There
is something else involved that we don't understand."
Comment:
Unethical scientists, funded by an unethical government, tampering
with a virus which, by their own admission, they do not fully understand.
Feel safer yet?
Then there
is the question of safety. The worst-case
scenario is that researchers might end up engineering extremely dangerous
viruses that would never have evolved naturally.
Masks or
hoods
In 2001,
for instance, Australian researchers created a mousepox virus far more
virulent than any wild strains. This scenario is unlikely, but not impossible,
says virologist Earl Brown of the University of Ottawa, Canada. "You
could create something that is right out of whack, but I'd be surprised."
For those
reasons, several prominent flu researchers told New Scientist that the
H5N1 experiments must be done at the highest level of containment: Biosafety
Level 4, or BSL-4. But the CDC work is being done at BSL-3Ag, an intermediate
level between BSL-3 and BSL-4. Workers wear half-suits with masks or
hoods to prevent infection, for instance, rather than full-body suits
as in BSL-4.
"US
Department of Agriculture guidelines specify that work with highly pathogenic
avian strains be done in BSL-3+ (also known as BSL-3Ag) laboratories,"
a CDC spokeswomen says.
One of
the reasons is that the H5N1 virus is regarded as a non-contagious,
treatable disease in humans. But this is not necessarily true of all
of the genetically engineered strains that might be created. And drug
supplies would quickly run out if an escaped virus triggered a major
epidemic.
New Variants
A recent report by the US National Academy of Sciences recommends a
series of checks be put in place to control such research. It says a
panel of leading scientists and security experts should be set up to
regulate it.
"Some
public representation is another option," says Atlas, who helped
draw up the report. At the moment, however, such experiments can be
carried out without any special consultation.
Methods
like reverse genetics might also be used to create new variants of other
diseases. "You can make some pretty unusual things new
viruses that would never have existed in nature," says Barclay.
"It's not just an issue for flu."
Once
all of the above has been digested, consider an article from the Signs
page on November
21st. On that day we reported on a story about how the US Congress
had recently proposed an amendment that would enable it to elect its own
members in the event of all or most of congress somehow being rendered
unable to fulfill their civic duty. There is even a well-established "Continuity
of Government Commission" that will take over in the event of
that happening. The above articles on the upcoming possible "flu
epidemic" certainly give us an answer to the question as to how congress
might suddenly be made to disappear.
Spanish
Flu - genetically specific?
[...] Not
only was the Spanish Flu strikingly virulent, but it displayed an unusual
preference in its choice of victims -- tending to select young healthy
adults over those with weakened immune systems, as in the very young,
the very old, and the infirm. The normal age distribution for flu mortality
was completely reversed, and had the effect of gouging from society's
infrastructure the bulk of those responsible for its day to day maintenance.
No wonder people thought the social order was breaking down. It very nearly
did.
But at the
close of the First World War, when Spanish Flu appeared, the world was
a very different place. Since then, outstanding advances in our knowledge
of the germ world have been made, adding dramatically to our repertoire
of medical wizardry. Surely what happened back then couldn't happen again.
Or could
it?
During the
1918-1919 fall period the number of Americans who died from influenza
is estimated at 675,000. Of those, almost 200,000 deaths were recorded
in the month of October 1918 alone. Worldwide, the mortality figure for
the full pandemic is believed to stand somewhere between 30 to 40 million.
So, with the world population today having more than tripled in the intervening
years, what is to stop a modern flu pandemic from claiming upwards of
100 million lives? The answer, it seems, is nothing at all. [...]
We
understand that a reasonable argument is that the human flu virus is in
fact not lethal to humans, yes it causes severe discomfort, but deadly?
No. Short of the government releasing the revived "Spanish"
Flu virus there is little chance that the normal human flu could cause
a worldwide and deadly pandemic.
Enter
Bird Flu.
At
the time of writing (Feb 2004) bird flu has killed 16 people in Asia and
is of great concern, it is of course not a new discovery but this most
recent outbreak is being called the "worst in history" wth reports
beginning as far back as April 2003.
"Bird
Flu is a form of the influenza virus is an infectious disease of birds
caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, which
was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide.
All
birds are thought to be susceptible to infection with avian influenza,
though some species are more resistant to infection than others. Infection
causes a wide spectrum of symptoms in birds, ranging from mild illness
to a highly contagious and rapidly fatal disease resulting in severe
epidemics. The latter is known as “highly pathogenic avian influenza”.
This form is characterized by sudden onset, severe illness, and rapid
death, with a mortality that can approach 100%.
Fifteen
subtypes of influenza virus are known to infect birds, thus providing
an extensive reservoir of influenza viruses potentially circulating
in bird populations. To date, all outbreaks of the highly pathogenic
form have been caused by influenza A viruses of subtypes H5 and H7."
(source: WHO)
Bird
flu epidemic is 'worst in history'
26 January 04
NewScientist.com news service
Indonesia has become the latest country to admit that a massive outbreak
of bird flu has been ravaging its chicken farms for months. The disease
has now led to the death of many millions of birds across south-east
Asia, and at least seven people.
The scale
of the epidemic is unprecedented, says Klaus Stöhr, a senior virologist
at the World Health Organization. "Never in history have we seen
such outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza over such a wide
area, simultaneously," he told New Scientist.
Stöhr
warns that if a person becomes infected simultaneously with both bird
and ordinary human flu, the viruses could hybridise to cause a deadly
global pandemic.
With no
end to the spread of the avian virus in sight, that risk will continue
to rise. So on Tuesday, health authorities and drug companies will meet
in Geneva, Switzerland, to tackle the daunting task of agreeing and
implementing protective measures. [...]
Bird
Flu Spreads in Europe, Human Health Concerns
Fri Apr
18 2003
LONDON
(Reuters) - A severe Dutch outbreak of bird flu is seen spreading across
Europe, mildly infecting humans and prompting fears that a mutated version
of the virus could spark a flu epidemic in people, authorities said
on Thursday.
The Dutch
Agriculture Ministry, grappling to contain a month-long outbreak that
has spilled into Belgium and is nearing the German border, said there
was a danger that bird and human flu could mix in pigs and produce a
mutation that humans have no resistance against.
"It
is possible. Up to now avian flu has never acquired the ability to transmit
from one person to another -- if it does ... it could cause a large
number of infections," World Health Organisation spokesman Iain
Simpson told Reuters...
While the
WHO said it was possible that the disease could turn into a serious
human epidemic, international food and animal health authorities dismissed
the idea...
Nerves
are jangling in Germany, as bird flu approached to within 1.5 kilometers
of its border on Thursday. French, British, Portuguese and Spanish authorities
were less concerned, despite worries that migrating wild birds could
spread the disease. The chief form of transmission, however, is consumption
of infected materials or feces.
"The
situation is extremely precarious," German Junior Agriculture Minister
Alexander Mueller said in a statement on Thursday.
In the
Netherlands, 15 million out of more than 100 million birds have been
slaughtered as authorities battle to suppress its spread.
Bird
flu virus hits Japan
12/01/2004
A highly
contagious bird flu has killed thousands of chickens in southern Japan,
an official said today.
By last
night, about 6,000 chickens had died of the disease at a poultry farm
in the town of Ato in Yamaguchi, about 500 miles south-west of Tokyo.
Tests found
the virus was a strain of the H5 virus, the same category as the H5N1
virus that spread in South Korea last year said. Authorities are still
investigating whether it is the deadly H5N1-97 strain which killed six
people in Hong Kong in 1997.
Avian flu
generally infects only birds, although it has spread to people in a
few isolated cases.
Eggs which
have been shipped to market from the Yamaguchi farm were recalled, and
the farm’s remaining 28,600 birds will be all destroyed and buried
within days, the official added. He said chicken from the farm is not
for export.
Bird flu
was last found in Japan 79 years ago, officials said.
Fears grow over bird flu outbreak
The European
Union has joined Japan in banning imports of Thai poultry amid growing
international alarm over the spread of bird flu.
Thailand
has confirmed its first two cases of avian flu in humans, and a Thai
man tested for the virus has died.
Bird flu
has affected poultry in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea - and also Vietnam,
where it has killed five people.
The World
Health Organisation warned that the latest outbreak could mutate and
become more dangerous to humans.
Sixth
bird flu death in Vietnam
A 13-year-old
boy has become Vietnam's sixth victim of avian flu, the World Health
Organization (WHO) has said.
Five Vietnamese
children and one adult have now died from the virus, which has also
crossed from birds to humans in Thailand.
The WHO
has warned that the outbreak could mutate and become more dangerous.
Japan
confirms bird flu outbreak
Japan has
confirmed its second outbreak of bird flu, dashing hopes that the country
was now free of the virus.
The farm
ministry said chickens at a farm in Oita prefecture on southern Kyushu
island had died from avian flu.
It is not
yet known if they died from the H5N1 virus - the strain that has killed
20 people in Asia.
So
the situation at this stage is that we have had a fairly serious human
flu outbreak worldwide, followed closely by an outbreak of Bird Flu. We
have learned that bird flu can be lethal to humans, but while humans can
contract it directly from an infected bird, it is not transmissable from
human to human. For it to become transmissable between humans it would
have to come in contact with human flu produced a mutated offspring that
could cause a lethal human pandemic. the WHO (World Health Organisation)
makes this clear:
"Influenza
viruses have a second characteristic of great public health concern:
influenza A viruses, including subtypes from different species, can
swap or “reassort” genetic materials and merge. This reassortment
process, known as antigenic “shift”, results in a novel
subtype different from both parent viruses. As populations will have
no immunity to the new subtype, and as no existing vaccines can confer
protection, antigenic shift has historically resulted in highly lethal
pandemics. For this to happen, the novel subtype needs to have genes
from human influenza viruses that make it readily transmissible from
person to person for a sustainable period."
Conditions
favourable for the emergence of antigenic shift have long been thought
to involve humans living in close proximity to domestic poultry and
pigs. Because pigs are susceptible to infection with both avian and
mammalian viruses, including human strains, they can serve as a “mixing
vessel” for the scrambling of genetic material from human and
avian viruses, resulting in the emergence of a novel subtype. Recent
events, however, have identified a second possible mechanism. Evidence
is mounting that, for at least some of the 15 avian influenza virus
subtypes circulating in bird populations, humans themselves can serve
as the “mixing vessel”.
Humans
as "mixing vessels" for a deadly form of Flu. Every year a lot
of people get the Flu, perhaps 10-20% of the entire population. Those
are decent odds. There is one way however to increase the odds that you
will get the flu to 100% - take the flu vaccine. Once you have done that,
simply wait until the fear is ramped up over bird flu and rush to your
nearest pharmacy to get the avian flu vaccine - et voila! You have just
ingested a lethal cocktail, courtesy of your government.
Indeed,
the threat of the deadly avian flu spreading among the population need
not be as a result of the "fortuitous" combination of a human
flu strain and a bird flu strain within humans take the vaccine and you
might just be getting two in one! A recent article on the perils of the
human flu vaccine "FluMist" states:
Risks
of FluMist Vaccine
An Investigation
By RFD Columnist, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny
[...] An
ever greater concern about FluMist is the contents within the vaccine.
Each 0.5ml of the formula contains 10 6.5-7.5 particles of live, attenuated
influenza virus. That means that between 10 million and 100 million
viral particles will be forcefully injected into the nostrils when administered.
The viral strain was developed by serial passage through "specific
pathogen-free primary chick kidney cells" and then grown in "specific
pathogen-free eggs." That means that the culture media was free
of pathogens that were specifically tested for, but not a culture that
was necessarily "pathogen-free." The
risk that the vaccine may contain contaminant avian retroviruses still
remains. In addition, a stabilizing buffer containing
potassium phosphate, sucrose (table sugar) and nearly 0.5 mg of monosodium
glutamate (MSG) is added to each dose. [...]
In
a revealing update scientists have just recently (Feb 2004) declared that
the Spanish Flu of 1918 was probably a version of bird flu similar to
the one that recently made it's appearance:
1918
flu victim may hold clues to outbreak
JOHN VON
RADOWITZ
The Scotsman.co.uk
A
VICTIM of the world’s worst flu epidemic is to be exhumed to help
scientists trying to avert the spread of bird flu, it
was revealed yesterday.
Scientists
plan to remove lung samples from the body of 20-year-old Phyllis Burn,
who was buried 85 years ago.
The army
officer’s daughter, from Strawberry Hill, London, was one of 50
million people killed by a devastating strain of influenza that swept
across the world in 1918.
Evidence
points to the 1918 virus being a type of bird flu similar to the one which
is now claiming human lives in Asia.
Scientists
are desperate to know more about what caused the pandemic, in order to
avoid another disaster on a similar scale. [...]
So
what is the conclusion? What is all of this pointing to? Let us venture
a theory that is certainly backed up by all that we have just read.
The
agencies within the US government (possibly in league with agencies from
other countries) having revived the deadly Flu virus of 1918, have recently
arranged for it to be released in Asia. This was a test and designed to
acclimatise the public to the fact that bird flu is "on the loose".
21 people have so far (17/02/04) contracted it and 14 have died. Soon
there will be a larger scale disbursement causing the virus to spread
across the globe. It has only just begun..
In
order to facilitate the largest possible infection rate, a second form
of infection has also been planned.
Governments
have prepped the public by using scare tactics to encourage millions to
get the normal human flu vaccine shot. Once the more recent bird flu scare
has reached the sufficent levels governments will use the same scare tactics
to urge millions to get the bird flu vaccine also. This vaccine ( naturally
containing the bird flu virus) will then combine and mutate with the previously
taken human flu vaccine (containing the human flu virus) within the human
"mixing vessel", thereby creating the deadly strain of human
transmissable bird flu.
At
this point, can we discount the Haig-Kissinger
plan for depopulation? Were these men joking? Is it reasonable to
suggest that they would go to the bother of proposing this theory without
formulating a plan to implement it in some way? The people that hold a
controlling stake in our world use deception as their standard operating
procedure.
If
depopulation were a concept that was being studied and actively pursued,
how might it be achieved? Naturally it would unfold by way of deception
since in this way chances of success are optimised. What the people do
not know will not hurt them until it is too late to do anything about
it.
What
better way then to effect depopulation than to engineer it by way of something
as commonly accepted as "normal" and as seemingly random as
the common Flu...
To
surmise. It does not look good. The US and other world governments may
well be planning to introduce a flu virus that will decimate the human
race. Of course it will be called "a deadly strain of flu",
but in reality how would the public know that it was not deliberately
introduced? The only argument that we have to fall back on is the popular,
"They wouldn't do that". But as we look objectively at current
and past world events, are we really in a position to make such an assertion?
If the US government were happy to allow Pearl Harbor to happen in order
to justify entry to WWII, if they planned to blow up a US passenger plane
and blame it on Cuba as justification to invade that country; if they
were willing to stage attacks killing over 3,000 of their own citizens
on 9/11 to justify a worldwide campaign of further murder, how can anyone
have faith in what they "would not do". Surely an assertion
such as this is based more in wishful thinking than in objective reality,
and as someone wise once said, "Wishful thinking will get you every
time".
Other
stories that point to the fact that we are in the "test phase"
prior to a worldwide pandemic have also been appearing in the press.
Stomach
virus sickens dozens on Carnival cruise ship
11/29/2003
FORT LAUDERDALE
(AP) Dozens of passengers came down with a stomach illness during
an eight-day cruise on the Carnival Cruise Lines ship Legend, which
returned to port Saturday, the company and the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said.
The illness
was believed to have been caused by a Norovirus, a family of highly
contagious viruses, Carnival said in a statement.
Noroviruses
are among the most common causes of stomach ailments, infecting 23 million
people every year, health officials say. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting
and diarrhea, typically lasting one to three days.
A
cruise ship makes a great test environment. It is isolated, controlled...
Some scientists, it seems, have found themselves in the unfortunate position
of knowing a little too much.
Another
Biologist Assassinated
Houston
Chronicle
Police
have released a composite drawing of a motorist who sped away after
his van jumped the curb and killed a chemist walking on a sidewalk in
the Texas Medical Center.
Robert
Leslie Burghoff, 45, of The Woodlands was killed in the 1600 block of
South Braeswood on Nov. 20. He was studying
the virus plaguing cruise ships, police said. [...]
Well,
the original title in the Chronicle was "Composite released in fatal
hit-and-run". His death coinciding with the recent outbreak of the
flu, and the most recent outbreak of a virus on a cruise ship inspired
us to rewrite perhaps a bit more appropriate title. The only other mention
we could find so far on
the web of Dr. Burghoff was his work involved in forensic science
and gene mapping. This lumps him in with the roster of dead microbiologists.
Two dead microbiologists a conspiracy does not make, 14 ... probably.
See
the Dead
Scientists blog for regular updates on this topic:
Dr David
Kelly's death in July 2003 has been put down as "suicide".
This blog investigates whether or not this suicide is, in actual fact,
murder dressed up as suicide. In recent months, a string of scientists
across the world have also died unexpectedly and in mysterious circumstances.
This blog also investigates the reason for their fate.
We
have our own research: Ethnic
Specific Weapons. We are all being set up.
Yet
we must realise that governments have been using the citizenry as "mixing
vessels" for the testing of new and ever more deadly viruses for
a long time, and it is not limited to influenza..
CDC
vaccines study slammed as cover-up
Data linking mercury exposure, neurodevelopment said 'manipulated'
Dec. 9,
2003
Rep.
Weldon points out that the autism rate began to skyrocket as the number
of required childhood vaccinations increased.
Canned tuna or canned poison? That was the teaser for a CBS 2 News "HealthWatch"
Report of Nov. 22 that focused on high levels of mercury found in tuna
and the possible health risks associated with them.
CBS 2 News reporter Paul Moniz quoted a number of physicians, who observed
of the toxic substance that, "Once it gets into our bodies, a substantial
part of it will end up in our nervous system, in our brains, and it's
there that it causes a variety of symptoms." A pediatrician is
quoted as saying, "We know that high levels of mercury can impair
the cognitive development as well as the growth and development of a
young child." What the report appears to be revealing is that while
overweight Americans may flee to fish to lose unwanted pounds, too much
of that tasty tuna could reduce the IQ more than the waistline.
What
the critics of mercury in vaccines find provocative about this report
is the acknowledgement by physicians that the high levels of mercury
ingested from canned tuna can cause severe health risks. One such critic,
the mother of an autistic child, wonders "why
everyone gets up in arms over ingesting small amounts of mercury from
fish or from breaking a thermometer but finds it acceptable to inject
an even more toxic form of mercury directly into the bloodstream of
infants. The evidence is overwhelming that hundreds of thousands of
children were damaged by gross overexposure to mercury through vaccines
[containing thimerosal] and millions more were and continue to be put
at risk, yet network news has not addressed this in any significant
way. The public needs and deserves to know the truth
- not only about the biggest medical bungling in our history, but also
about the extraordinary efforts of both
the pharmaceutical industry and government agencies to cover it up."
A pharmaceutical and government cover-up? It is a familiar enough accusation,
and this time the fuse was lit by yet another study from the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this one titled Safety
of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: A Two-Phased Study of Computerized
Health Maintenance Organization Databases. The report concluded that
"no consistent significant associations were found between TCVs
[thimerosal-containing vaccines] and neurodevelopment outcomes."
Critics scoff at such a conclusion. "Sure," laughs one, "they
say you can't eat tuna because the level of mercury you ingest isn't
good for you, but there's no health risk associated with injecting high
levels of mercury directly into a newborn baby?"
The CDC study, released in the November 2003 issue of Pediatrics, seemed
to puzzle news media, with most who took note of it making at least
a mention of the fact that the lead author, Thomas Verstraeten, was
an employee of GlaxoSmithKline,
the pharmaceutical giant and vaccine manufacturer, when he submitted
the study for publication.
The first part of the two-phase study to determine whether there is
a connection between thimerosal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopment
disorders began in 1999 and involved the review of data from Seattle's
Group Health Cooperative and Northern California Kaiser, both large
health-maintenance organizations (HMOs). The
data used in this first phase actually revealed a significant association
between TCVs administered to infants and later developmental abnormalities
such as speech and language delays and neurodevelopment problems in
general, such as tics and the alleged hyperactivity symptoms of attention-deficit
disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
However,
this conclusion was not included in the final draft; it was only made
public afterward when Verstraeten's notes were revealed in another forum,
according to specialists. The notes, not published with the CDC study,
showed that the "relative risk" for autism was 2.48 times
higher for children who received 62.5 micrograms or more of mercury
from TCVs by 3 months of age. [...]
One of
the few physicians in Congress, Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), immediately
saw the problems associated with the CDC study and notified CDC Director
Julie Gerberding. Weldon wrote, "I have serious reservations about
the four-year evolution and conclusions of this study. A
review of these documents leaves me very concerned that rather than
seeking to understand whether or not some children were exposed to harmful
levels of mercury in childhood vaccines in the 1990s, there may have
been a selective use of the data to make the associations in the earliest
study disappear."
Weldon's letter to Gerberding goes on to observe that "the first
version of the study, produced in February 2000, found a significant
association between exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism
and neurological developmental delays. A June 2000 version of the study
applied various data manipulations to reduce the autism association
to 1.69, and the authors went outside the VSD [Vaccine Safety Datalink]
database to secure data from a Massachusetts HMO [Harvard Pilgrim] in
order to counter the association found between TCVs and speech delays."
Clear enough.
[...] Then you consider that the lead
author is working for a drug company, didn't disclose this fact and
also that it is one of the drug companies being sued over this mercury
issue. I'm just very concerned that we're not going
to get answers as long as there are careers at stake. You know there
are people at the CDC who have been involved in the vaccine program
who didn't recognize the amount of mercury they were giving kids, and
now they're in the process of investigating themselves. Meanwhile a
lot of these investigators bounce to and from the drug companies. I
think it all is very, very murky and very suspicious."
Weldon summarizes: "The CDC produced an article by Dr. Verstraeten,
published on Nov. 3 in Pediatrics. Dr. Verstraeten is a former CDC employee.
Since 2001 he has worked for GlaxoSmithKline
- a vaccine manufacturer. While working for the CDC in 2000, the first
version of Dr. Verstraeten's unpublished study found an association
between higher thimerosal exposures and neurodevelopment disorders,
including autism. Between 2000 and 2003, Dr. Verstraeten and coauthors
manipulated and stratified the data so much that each of these associations
magically disappeared. I don't know if it was deliberate,
but that is nonetheless what happened. This study has done nothing in
my mind to put these concerns to rest, but only serves to raise suspicions."
This veteran member of Congress puts it plainly: "We're not going
to get answers to these questions until Congress or some outside group
starts poring through this information. But
it's very coincidental that they added the hepatitis vaccine, the HiB
vaccine and the chicken-pox vaccine - they added all these additional
childhood vaccines around the time when the autism rate started to skyrocket.
Then when you actually sit down and do the calculations, according to
the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], they
were giving these kids very toxic levels of mercury.
I
mean as a 150- to 200-pound adult the EPA says you're not supposed to
take in more than one microgram per day. They were taking little seven-
and 10-pound babies and pumping 50 and 75 micrograms of mercury into
them in one shot.
That's like giving an adult 1,000 micrograms. And, on top of that, the
World Health Organization says mercury is 10 times more toxic in children
than it is in adults. It's horrifying."
Mark Geier says, "Believe us, there is no scientific issue here.
This is fraud. The CDC and the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] know
what is happening. They just can't admit it because it is one of the
worst things ever to have happened to this United States.
If a terrorist had done this, we wouldn't attack them, we'd nuke them.
We're
talking about one in eight children in the U.S. that currently are in
special education,
and that number is going to change to about one in five. What
percentage of our young population can we destroy before we realize
how serious this is?"
Lyn Redwood, a registered nurse, mother of an autistic child and president
and cofounder of www.SafeMinds.org (Sensible Action for Ending Mercury-Induced
Neurological Disorders), a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending
devastation caused by the needless use of mercury in medicines, tells
Insight that "there are so many problems with the study, but over
time you can see how all the manipulations of the data slowly bring
down the signals for neurological disorders. I think they were trying
to get lower numbers. It must be very hard to admit that a program that
was designed to eradicate infectious disease has resulted in an epidemic
of a whole new kind of disease. But to
think that we weren't given a choice when the regulators and manufacturers
knew these products contained mercury is inconceivable."
[...] They need to just get the thimerosal out. It's barbaric."
Tuna
- the perfect cover. The FDA in America has on various occasions warned
about the dangers to pregnant women and small children of mercury in tuna,
and even included the population in general depending on how much they
eat. Why do almost all vaccines contain mercury? It is not essential to
the effective working of the vaccine yet it is used as a base ingredient.
That Mercury is toxic to the human organism is beyond doubt so why would
the government seek to inject it into as many citizens as possible? Perhaps
it stems from a desire to simply weaken the population, mind,
body and soul, for some particular purpose.
Parents
denied access to new autism reports
By Sarah-Kate
Templeton Health Editor
STUDIES
quoted by the government as evidence that vaccines containing mercury
– linked to autism in children – are safe, are being withheld
from the public.
“Factsheets”
issued by the Committee on Safety of Medicines to those concerned about
research which suggests that vaccines containing mercury can trigger
autism in some children claim that two new studies prove that the jabs
are safe.
But these
studies have not been scrutinised by independent experts as part of
the peer review process which all scientific studies must go through
to be considered valid.
Autism
campaigners have accused the government of arrogance for telling parents
to “just take their word”
that the jabs are safe. The
diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccine (DTwP), which contains
thiomersal, a mercury-based preservative, is given to hundreds of thousands
of babies aged between two and four months every year.
Following
research suggesting that mercury can cause autism in children, the Scottish
Executive announced that parents would be allowed to choose mercury-free
jabs for their babies. But parents have complained that they struggle
to persuade doctors to administer the alternative jabs. The mercury-free
vaccine, Infanrix, is more expensive.
The Executive
has ruled out a ban on vaccines containing mercury. Dr Andrew Fraser,
deputy chief medical officer, said the Executive was committed to finding
mercury-free alternatives but that the government was still waiting
for what it considered to be a “licensed, equally effective alternative”
to become available, before banning vaccines containing thiomersal.
Now why would they make a claim that can supposedly be backed up by a
study but then withhold the study? Take your time, no rush...just think
logically.
CDC
DATA LEADS SCIENTISTS TO SHOCKING DISCOVERY
February
9, 2004
Lori McIlwain, National Autism Association, (919) 272-8192
CHILDREN
27-TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP AUTISM WITH EXPOSURE TO MERCURY-CONTAINING
VACCINES, FINDINGS REVIEWED AT TODAY'S IOM MEETING IN DC
Washington,
DC- Today, the Institute of Medicine will hold a one-day meeting to
review important new research on the link between thimerosal, a mercury-based
preservative in vaccines, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
One of the larger studies under review comes from the CDC's own Vaccine
Safety Datalink. Under independent investigation, CDC's data concludes
children are 27-times more likely to develop autism after exposure to
three thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), than those who receive
thimerosal-free versions.
Mercury's
risk in tuna debated
By Katrina
Woznicki
UPI Science News
6/27/2003
WASHINGTON,
June 27 (UPI) -- Tuna fish, that ubiquitous ingredient in school lunches
and household casseroles across America, could contain higher levels
of dangerous mercury than previously thought. But despite new warnings,
some scientists still dispute whether traces of the silvery metal pose
any genuine health risk to the general population.
Methyl
mercury is the organic form mercury takes in fish, usually large fish
that reside higher up in the aquatic food chain. Mercury pollution comes
from several sources, including the burning of fossil fuels in coal-fired
electric power plants, disposal of mercury-containing products in incinerators
and landfills, and industrial processes such as chlorine production.
The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta cites mercury as a potent
toxin that can be harmful to fetuses, infants and young children. The
CDC estimates one in 12 women of childbearing age has unsafe mercury
levels in her blood, which could place 300,000 babies at risk for mercury
poisoning every year. Swordfish and shark, popular entrees in restaurants,
also are high in mercury, although they are not as widely consumed as
tuna. [...]
Based on
MPP's calculations, one out of every 20 cans of white albacore tuna
should be recalled as unsafe for human consumption. Of the 48 tuna samples,
over three were found to contain mercury levels higher than the Food
and Drug Administration's one-part-per-million safety threshold. On
average, the white albacore tuna had mercury levels four times higher
than the 12 cans of light tuna tested.
"If
a 22-pound toddler ate only two ounces of white tuna with that level
of mercury, they would exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's
virtual safe dose, called the reference dose, by four times," Michael
Bender, MPP's director, told UPI. If a 132-pound woman ate two cans
of tuna per week, she would exceed the EPA's limit by four times, he
added.
The issue
of mercury in fish is not just an American problem -- it is a global
problem..
"The
seat of the blame right now is really on the FDA because they are in
charge of our food supply," Greer said. "We are so far behind
the ball with the FDA. They're really asleep at the switch. They're
shying away from declaring a problem that they would need to solve."
[...]
An FDA
spokeswoman told UPI: "We have a consumer advisory and that advisory
is targeted for a certain segment of the population, which is mainly
pregnant women and women of childbearing age. As of now, we are standing
by our consumer advisory on methyl mercury in fish. Based upon comments
we've received from the food advisory committee, (the FDA is) looking
into addressing the tuna issue further." [...]
In fact,
little data exist on the neurological consequences of mercury poisoning
from fish consumption in the United States, Rutchik explained. "I
have not seen ever, or I don't know anyone who has seen, a patient with
a tremor that's related to mercury or from consumption of fish."
Although individuals have varying susceptibilities to mercury, most
people can "tolerate a little mercury in their blood," he
said. "We're not talking about all of a sudden the child becomes
retarded." [...]
Another
study on tuna and mercury appeared in the May 16 issue of the British
journal The Lancet. The research was headed by Dr. Gary Myers, a professor
of neurology and pediatrics and the University of Rochester, N.Y.
This study,
an update on the Seychelles study, named after the islands in the Indian
Ocean, looked at 643 children living there from before birth to age
9 who had been repeatedly exposed to ocean seafood consumption whether
through their mothers or on their own. The children were born to mothers
who ate an average of 12 meals of ocean fish per week -- about 10 times
greater than the average American. Results showed no detectable risk
from low levels of mercury. The children, born in 1989 and 1990, have
been evaluated five times over the years since their birth.
"The
only cases of poisoning of methyl mercury from the consumption of fish
that have ever been reported are from Japan and they're from 1960s,"
Dr. Myers told UPI. The Seychelles study is "one of the largest
epidemiological studies to look at this issue. We have not been able
to find adverse effects."
Hightower
said there is overwhelming evidence to counter the Seychelles study
findings. "The Seychelles was one study," she said. "One
study does not negate all the other studies."
So perhaps "normal" tuna does not pose a threat, tuna that have
fed in polluted waters is another story. There is obviously a lot more
to the story than might first appear. One would have to understand where
the fish come from that are eaten etc. The point is that the "mercury
in tuna" debate is possibly a smokescreen and an alibi for
the government allowing it to inject mercury, aluminium and formaldehyde
(and god knows what else) directly into the blood streams of millions
of people. From childhood vaccinations to smallpox vaccinations to the
new and improved flu shots, the government has a plan for each and every
one of its "dearly beloved citizens".
Tuna
Mercury levels Not Harmful According To FSA UK
May 14,
02
Britain's
Food Standards Agency (FSA) Friday advised pregnant women, women intending
to become pregnant and children under 16 years of age to avoid eating
swordfish, shark, and marlin because of high mercury levels.
The elevated
levels of mercury in these large predators, in the form of methylmercury,
can affect the developing nervous system and might hamper children's
later ability to learn, the agency said.
Tuna, which
showed the fourth highest level, had mercury levels at just one third
of the others and canned tuna, which uses younger fish and squeezes
out oil, is lower still.
The larger
predatory fish accumulate higher mercury levels both because they live
longer than other fish and because they eat fish that also have mercury
deposits.
Mercury
mostly occurs naturally, issuing as vapor from the earth's crust, while
coal combustion for power is the largest man-made industrial producer.
The FSA said large fish would already have had high mercury levels 200
years ago.
The interim
advice was issued as the World Health Organization (WHO) researches
whether fetuses and children may be a greater risk from mercury than
the general population.
The FSA
stressed that fish is important to the diet and plays a key role in
reducing the risk of heart attacks
Flashback:
Smallpox
plans sent to states
Federal officials sent states detailed guidelines
yesterday for rapidly vaccinating their entire populations against smallpox
should the deadly disease return through an act of terrorism.
The
smallpox vaccine may be more harmful than beneficial
The American public is being prepared to accept and want the smallpox
vaccine. The Center for Disease Control has been telling us that it
is “when” not “if” a smallpox outbreak will
occur. There are many unanswered questions that the government health
agencies refuse to address. This is written to assist you in knowing
more about the vaccine and its dangers, the smallpox disease and some
of the misinformation. If you are a thinking person, we challenge you
to do more research and check out this information, your very life and
your family’s life may be in the balance. We are only asking you
to consider the following information before deciding to take the smallpox
vaccine. [...]
Volunteers
Key to Smallpox Vaccine Plan
1.3 Million Might Be Needed for Emergency Federal Program
A federal
emergency response plan for vaccinating the entire U.S. population against
a smallpox attack envisions recruiting at least 1.3 million volunteers
to staff health clinics 16 hours a day for a full week. [...]
Medicaid
rule changes require child immunizations
Medicaid recipients who don't get their
children immunized, keep them in school or take them
to the doctor and dentist risk losing
federal benefits under new state rules that took effect Tuesday.
Get
the vaccine or else! Some might say that people are being coerced in this
way in order to protect the population, since obviously there are some
irresponsible people that would jeopardise their own lives and those of
their children. Perhaps, but have you ever read Machiavelli?
In
our Supplement
on ethnic specific weapons we have made the case for the likelihood
that "the powers that be" have for many years been testing and
refining genetically specific "weapons" designed to kill as
many people as possible, while at the same time sparing one select group,
perhaps. Of course it is possible that left to her own devices mother
nature could come up with a virus that would "naturally" kill
the entire human race, but it seems that she simply would never get the
chance. Those that have appointed themselves "directors" of
human evolution make a point of always being "on first". It
has become clear that there is no one looking out for the human race,
there are no benevolent governments or groups that have our best interest
at heart. If we are to wake up and see things as they really are, we must
admit that there is no scope for the oft-used protestation, "They
wouldn't do that!" The facts point to the reality that they WOULD,
and indeed it seems they have been for many years, and plan to very soon.
Let
it not be the case that any of us are caught out through ignorance and
wishful thinking.
See our research in the related topic of
Ethnic Specific Weapons
Check
out the Signs
of the Times Archives
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