John Whitehead's Commentary
The Fear Epidemic Over the Bird Flu Pandemic
Over the past few months, there has been increasing national and global hysteria about a possible bird flu pandemic. In fact, the frenzy has prompted President Bush to ask Congress for an astounding $7.1 billion in emergency flu preparation funds.
The Bush Administration's plan calls for the U.S. to stockpile vaccines and antiviral drugs, ease barriers that limit the number of manufacturers who produce vaccine domestically and provide financial incentives to modernize aging vaccine technology so that manufacturers can quickly increase production should a pandemic occur. At the heart of the plan is legislation intended to protect vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits. However, experts within the field of veterinary medicine contend that what we are witnessing right now may be more of a full-blown fear epidemic than a lead-up to a bird flu pandemic.
The flu, or influenza, is a highly contagious respiratory disease that drastically reduces the body's ability to fight off other diseases. Avian flu viruses are a form of influenza that occurs mainly in birds like chicken, ducks or turkeys. Avian flu outbreaks first occurred in Asia but have spread to poultry in Europe and North America. Some poultry in New York has been affected, and birds in Pennsylvania, Texas, Delaware and Maryland have also tested positive and been quarantined. However, according to Dr. Gary Butcher, a professor and avian veterinarian at the University of Florida with a Ph.D. in poultry virology, "avian influenza is not a threat to people."
Butcher says that of the billions of people who have probably been exposed to the recent strain of avian flu, H5N1, only about 121 (and these are people outside the U.S.) have contracted avian flu--and they were people who worked closely with chickens and came into contact with the birds' blood and feces. However, and this is critical, there has yet to be a proven case in which one person is known to have passed the illness to another.
Nevertheless, government officials, focusing on the 60-65 people in Southeast Asia who have reportedly died from the bird flu since 2003, have predicted that if an avian flu pandemic were to occur, the U.S. could expect a death toll of up to 2 million people. Yet, according to experts, if bird flu viruses do not usually affect humans unless they come into contact with affected meat or bird bodily wastes, what is really going on here?
First, vaccine production is a highly profitable business. Simply following the money trail shows those who stand to benefit from the Bush Administration's heavy investment in the pharmaceutical industry--namely, big business and the pharmaceutical giants. Government officials have already authorized the purchase of 20 million doses of Tamiflu, the most sought-after flu remedy in the world, at a cost of $2 billion. The Pentagon laid out a whopping $58 million in July 2005 for treatments of U.S. troops around the world, with Congress considering a multi-billion dollar purchase.
Emeryville, part of the California-based Chiron Corporation, which had its license suspended last year after some of its flu vaccines were found to be contaminated, is expected to be producing 18 to 26 million doses for the upcoming flu season. And Sanofi Pasteur, a large pharmaceutical company, presently has a $100 million flu vaccine contract with Health and Human Services, its fifth pandemic-related agreement with the U.S. government. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also stands to gain from a flu epidemic. Rumsfeld owns shares in Gilead Sciences--the company that owns the rights to Tamiflu--valued at between $5 million and $25 million.
There are also logistical concerns about the production of flu vaccines and their effectiveness. Vaccines contain weakened or inactive forms of viruses that, when injected into a person, are supposed to prompt the body to produce antibodies to fight the virus. However, because there are so many types of influenza that can mutate rapidly, there is no single vaccine to protect against all forms of influenza. And unlike certain vaccines such as polio or chickenpox, which are administered once, the flu vaccine needs to be given each year. So each year scientists choose the three most prevalent strands of flu to target. However, should someone contract the avian flu, the normal flu vaccine would provide little in the way of protection.
Another concern is about how vaccines are created and their health risks. While bacteria can grow in a lab culture, viruses need a host to reproduce and living cells from animals are most often used. In creating flu vaccines, scientists often rely on cells from aborted human fetuses and chickens. In many instances, people have become severely ill or died after being given vaccines.
All this leads to one of the most troubling concerns--that is, the Bush Administration's grand plan to prepare for a flu pandemic, the Bio-defense and Pandemic Vaccine Drug Development Act of 2005. Called "a drug company stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare," the Act, which was passed by a Senate committee one day after its introduction, protects drug companies should an experimental or licensed vaccine or drug be found harmful during a public health crisis.
While Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) hailed the legislation as "a true partnership" between the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and academia, critics view it as one more instance of collusion between an already chummy government and the pharmaceutical industry. The bill also gives the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services the sole authority to determine if a company has violated drug safety regulations in production.
Vaccines can take years to develop and must undergo rigorous testing before they can be sold to the public. Even then, the vaccines are not foolproof. Yet this legislation would prevent people who are harmed or killed by the vaccines from bringing civil suits against drug companies, even if it is revealed that the company engaged in criminal fraud and negligence during manufacturing.
Although it is possible, it is highly unlikely that the avian flu virus could mutate enough to become easily contracted by humans and pass from person to person. It is also possible, but highly unlikely, that it could become a global pandemic in the future. Therefore, the best response at this time may be a healthy skepticism of those in the media and the government who seem determined to feed the bird flu frenzy--the President, for example, has threatened to call in the military to fight the flu. Indeed, it is time for our government leaders to lead us wisely through the quagmire of doomsday threats, rather than allowing the pharmaceutical industry and its cohorts to prey on impressionable consumers.
And for those truly concerned about contracting any type of flu this season, the most sound advice may be what one state secretary of health had to say: the best thing people can do to prevent the spread of bird flu "if and when it makes its way to the United States" is by practicing good health hygiene--washing their hands often, covering their mouths when they cough and staying home from work when ill.
Or as a critic of the bird flu scare remarked, take a deep breath and avoid physical contact with birds.
The Bush Administration's plan calls for the U.S. to stockpile vaccines and antiviral drugs, ease barriers that limit the number of manufacturers who produce vaccine domestically and provide financial incentives to modernize aging vaccine technology so that manufacturers can quickly increase production should a pandemic occur. At the heart of the plan is legislation intended to protect vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits. However, experts within the field of veterinary medicine contend that what we are witnessing right now may be more of a full-blown fear epidemic than a lead-up to a bird flu pandemic.
The flu, or influenza, is a highly contagious respiratory disease that drastically reduces the body's ability to fight off other diseases. Avian flu viruses are a form of influenza that occurs mainly in birds like chicken, ducks or turkeys. Avian flu outbreaks first occurred in Asia but have spread to poultry in Europe and North America. Some poultry in New York has been affected, and birds in Pennsylvania, Texas, Delaware and Maryland have also tested positive and been quarantined. However, according to Dr. Gary Butcher, a professor and avian veterinarian at the University of Florida with a Ph.D. in poultry virology, "avian influenza is not a threat to people."
Butcher says that of the billions of people who have probably been exposed to the recent strain of avian flu, H5N1, only about 121 (and these are people outside the U.S.) have contracted avian flu--and they were people who worked closely with chickens and came into contact with the birds' blood and feces. However, and this is critical, there has yet to be a proven case in which one person is known to have passed the illness to another.
Nevertheless, government officials, focusing on the 60-65 people in Southeast Asia who have reportedly died from the bird flu since 2003, have predicted that if an avian flu pandemic were to occur, the U.S. could expect a death toll of up to 2 million people. Yet, according to experts, if bird flu viruses do not usually affect humans unless they come into contact with affected meat or bird bodily wastes, what is really going on here?
First, vaccine production is a highly profitable business. Simply following the money trail shows those who stand to benefit from the Bush Administration's heavy investment in the pharmaceutical industry--namely, big business and the pharmaceutical giants. Government officials have already authorized the purchase of 20 million doses of Tamiflu, the most sought-after flu remedy in the world, at a cost of $2 billion. The Pentagon laid out a whopping $58 million in July 2005 for treatments of U.S. troops around the world, with Congress considering a multi-billion dollar purchase.
Emeryville, part of the California-based Chiron Corporation, which had its license suspended last year after some of its flu vaccines were found to be contaminated, is expected to be producing 18 to 26 million doses for the upcoming flu season. And Sanofi Pasteur, a large pharmaceutical company, presently has a $100 million flu vaccine contract with Health and Human Services, its fifth pandemic-related agreement with the U.S. government. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also stands to gain from a flu epidemic. Rumsfeld owns shares in Gilead Sciences--the company that owns the rights to Tamiflu--valued at between $5 million and $25 million.
There are also logistical concerns about the production of flu vaccines and their effectiveness. Vaccines contain weakened or inactive forms of viruses that, when injected into a person, are supposed to prompt the body to produce antibodies to fight the virus. However, because there are so many types of influenza that can mutate rapidly, there is no single vaccine to protect against all forms of influenza. And unlike certain vaccines such as polio or chickenpox, which are administered once, the flu vaccine needs to be given each year. So each year scientists choose the three most prevalent strands of flu to target. However, should someone contract the avian flu, the normal flu vaccine would provide little in the way of protection.
Another concern is about how vaccines are created and their health risks. While bacteria can grow in a lab culture, viruses need a host to reproduce and living cells from animals are most often used. In creating flu vaccines, scientists often rely on cells from aborted human fetuses and chickens. In many instances, people have become severely ill or died after being given vaccines.
All this leads to one of the most troubling concerns--that is, the Bush Administration's grand plan to prepare for a flu pandemic, the Bio-defense and Pandemic Vaccine Drug Development Act of 2005. Called "a drug company stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare," the Act, which was passed by a Senate committee one day after its introduction, protects drug companies should an experimental or licensed vaccine or drug be found harmful during a public health crisis.
While Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) hailed the legislation as "a true partnership" between the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and academia, critics view it as one more instance of collusion between an already chummy government and the pharmaceutical industry. The bill also gives the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services the sole authority to determine if a company has violated drug safety regulations in production.
Vaccines can take years to develop and must undergo rigorous testing before they can be sold to the public. Even then, the vaccines are not foolproof. Yet this legislation would prevent people who are harmed or killed by the vaccines from bringing civil suits against drug companies, even if it is revealed that the company engaged in criminal fraud and negligence during manufacturing.
Although it is possible, it is highly unlikely that the avian flu virus could mutate enough to become easily contracted by humans and pass from person to person. It is also possible, but highly unlikely, that it could become a global pandemic in the future. Therefore, the best response at this time may be a healthy skepticism of those in the media and the government who seem determined to feed the bird flu frenzy--the President, for example, has threatened to call in the military to fight the flu. Indeed, it is time for our government leaders to lead us wisely through the quagmire of doomsday threats, rather than allowing the pharmaceutical industry and its cohorts to prey on impressionable consumers.
And for those truly concerned about contracting any type of flu this season, the most sound advice may be what one state secretary of health had to say: the best thing people can do to prevent the spread of bird flu "if and when it makes its way to the United States" is by practicing good health hygiene--washing their hands often, covering their mouths when they cough and staying home from work when ill.
Or as a critic of the bird flu scare remarked, take a deep breath and avoid physical contact with birds.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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