OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: AVIAN BIRD FLU / REALITY OR SCAM ?

It does not spread to human beings and since the virus is already 8 years old and has not mutated as yet, there is no reason to believe it ever will. There are at least 15 different types of avian influenza that routinely infect birds around the world. The current outbreak is caused by a strain known as H5N1 and it has created a worldwide panic.

What is the reality of avian flu? This "global threat" that has led so many countries to kill their chickens, turkeys and other birds for no reason ( One Hong Kong member of Parliament has asked for each citizen of Hong Kong to be given a gun so that they can shoot any birds coming to Hong Kong)?

In 8 years, since the H5 N1 virus was supposedly detected in poultry birds, 53 people have died - 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia. 7000 people die of lightning struck deaths every year. Have you heard of a lightning epidemic? Are 54 deaths in 8 years an epidemic or even worse a PANDEMIC ?

Where did the panic generated by the media originate from?

The United States of America. President Bush goes on television to say that between 200,000 to 2 million people will die in America and he asks for billions of dollars to be allocated for this pandemic.

On October 28 the American Senate passes an $8 billion emergency funding bill to address Avian Flu. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, during the debate on the Senate bill, told the press, 'If it isn't the current H5N1 virus that leads to an influenza pandemic, at some point in our nation's future, another virus will." Number of people dead - Zero.

The UN catches on and declares that they will ask for 500 million dollars from all the countries to stop this flu by sending a vaccine to all the countries.

What is 3.1 billion dollars spent on immediately? To buy 80 million vials of Tamiflu at $ 100 per dose - a drug that has no relationship to the virus. According to the authors of the "Total Health program" which looks into scams perpetrated in the name of medicine "Tamiflu, is a worthless drug that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the amount of days one is sick "

Dig a little deeper and you will understand the reality of Avian flu.

Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate ) was developed and patented in 1996 by a California biotech firm, Gilead Sciences Inc, a listed stock company in California. Due to lacklustre sales for many years Gilead Sciences licensed the marketing of oseltamivr to the Swiss-US pharmaceutical giant Roche Holdings of Basle getting a royalty for each vial sold.

Roche holds the sole licence to manufacture the only medicine we are told which 'possibly' might reduce symptoms of Avian Flu, .

Due to the media panic, the order books at Roche today are filled to overflowing. Roche recently refused a request from the US Congress to lift its exclusive patent rights to allow other drug manufacturers to produce Tamiflu.

Gilead which gave the marketing rights to its patented discovery to Roche makes as much money from its royalties.

According to the Gilead website,"Roche has worldwide commercial rights to Tamiflu, and Gilead receives payments from Roche for the successful completion of program milestones and royalties on product sales."

In 1997, Donald H. Rumsfeld was named Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, where he remained until early 2001 when he became Defence Secretary in Bush's Cabinet. Rumsfeld had been on the board of Gilead since 1988.

He is also a major, if not the largest, stockholder in Gilead Sciences Inc. His 2004 financial disclosure indicates that he owned between 5 and 25 million dollars in equity in Gilead as of Dec 31, 2004; Since then , he has sold some of his holdings.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6