Bird Flu

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Griffin,
it's at the top end of Russia thats for sure.A long way from China as well.

People wondering if there are any confirmed cases of Bird Flu on the migration route.

All we need to know is what species migrate from China to the North end of Russia.
 
Griffin,
it's at the top end of Russia thats for sure.A long way from China as well.

People wondering if there are any confirmed cases of Bird Flu on the migration route.

All we need to know is what species migrate from China to the North end of Russia.
 
Originally posted by Griffin@Feb 17 2006, 10:45 AM
I was a vegetarian for ten years from the age of 13 to 23.
Click to expand...
Ah, so!!! You were one of thoe schoolgirl movement who reverted to vegetarianism!!! It was a fashion in my school at around 13 too - yet we'd still catch the veggies stuffing burgers at lunchtime!!

As for Btb's comment :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
Originally posted by Griffin@Feb 17 2006, 10:45 AM
I was a vegetarian for ten years from the age of 13 to 23.
Click to expand...
Ah, so!!! You were one of thoe schoolgirl movement who reverted to vegetarianism!!! It was a fashion in my school at around 13 too - yet we'd still catch the veggies stuffing burgers at lunchtime!!

As for Btb's comment :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
I will eat just about anything and am particularly fond of most meats.

Chicken
Duck
Ostrich
Pigeon
Pheasant
Quail

...I luvvem.

I am also partial to venison, pork and lamb but my fav by a country mile is rare fillet steak.

The one I'd most readily pass over is pork as it's so difficult to get just right (the best I ever tasted was in Majorca) but the rest are very much part of my diet.
 
I will eat just about anything and am particularly fond of most meats.

Chicken
Duck
Ostrich
Pigeon
Pheasant
Quail

...I luvvem.

I am also partial to venison, pork and lamb but my fav by a country mile is rare fillet steak.

The one I'd most readily pass over is pork as it's so difficult to get just right (the best I ever tasted was in Majorca) but the rest are very much part of my diet.
 
German Military Joins Fight Against Bird Flu


Officials on the Baltic island of Rügen have appealed to the military for help in collecting dead birds and disinfecting contaminated areas. The defense ministry has responded with aid.

As the number of confirmed cases of bird flu on the island of Rügen rose to 41 on Saturday, local officials turned to the rest of the country for desperately needed aid in preventing the spread of the bird flu.



"We have to return to the same spot every two hours or half a day to collect more dead animals. It is an endless task," said Kerstin Kassner, head of the island's authority responsible for managing the disease outbreak. She and others working in her team have appealed to the federal military for help in collecting the birds.



Very serious situation



Meanwhile, the entire island of Rügen has been declared an "observation zone." Every reported bird carcass must be collected and sent off to laboratories for testing.



The job of collecting the dead birds is enormous: Every year several hundred migratory birds die on the shores of the island when they return west after winter. However, the contagious nature of the disease prohibits a simple collection of the carcasses, Kassner told reporters.



Health officials in the agriculture ministry have warned the public not to touch the dead animals, saying that there is a "risk of infection." Those collecting the animals must take all precautions not to spread the virus.



The state agriculture minister for Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania where Rügen is located told reporters on Saturday the situation was "very serious" and that they needed help from the army. Till Backhaus said he had requested military experts to help with mandatory disinfection of contaminated areas and in patrolling the cordoned off areas around dead birds.



Minister calls for military experts



Recognizing that the island officials are overwhelmed by the rapidly increasing number of dead birds and efforts to contain the spread of the virus, Seehofer called on military experts for contagious disease.


In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag, the minister said he had requested military experts after he realized the extent of the bird flu threat and that local forces could not be left to deal with the crisis on their own.


Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told the newspaper he would make available specialists for the fight against bird flu. Protecting the human population is the primary responsibility of the army, the minister said as an explanation for how the request fit with the duties of the military.



The German military has about 30 experts for hygiene and contagious disease at its disposal. These experts can be deployed for civilian purposes whenever the population is in danger such as in the case of natural disasters.



DW staff (ktz)
 
German Military Joins Fight Against Bird Flu


Officials on the Baltic island of Rügen have appealed to the military for help in collecting dead birds and disinfecting contaminated areas. The defense ministry has responded with aid.

As the number of confirmed cases of bird flu on the island of Rügen rose to 41 on Saturday, local officials turned to the rest of the country for desperately needed aid in preventing the spread of the bird flu.



"We have to return to the same spot every two hours or half a day to collect more dead animals. It is an endless task," said Kerstin Kassner, head of the island's authority responsible for managing the disease outbreak. She and others working in her team have appealed to the federal military for help in collecting the birds.



Very serious situation



Meanwhile, the entire island of Rügen has been declared an "observation zone." Every reported bird carcass must be collected and sent off to laboratories for testing.



The job of collecting the dead birds is enormous: Every year several hundred migratory birds die on the shores of the island when they return west after winter. However, the contagious nature of the disease prohibits a simple collection of the carcasses, Kassner told reporters.



Health officials in the agriculture ministry have warned the public not to touch the dead animals, saying that there is a "risk of infection." Those collecting the animals must take all precautions not to spread the virus.



The state agriculture minister for Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania where Rügen is located told reporters on Saturday the situation was "very serious" and that they needed help from the army. Till Backhaus said he had requested military experts to help with mandatory disinfection of contaminated areas and in patrolling the cordoned off areas around dead birds.



Minister calls for military experts



Recognizing that the island officials are overwhelmed by the rapidly increasing number of dead birds and efforts to contain the spread of the virus, Seehofer called on military experts for contagious disease.


In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag, the minister said he had requested military experts after he realized the extent of the bird flu threat and that local forces could not be left to deal with the crisis on their own.


Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told the newspaper he would make available specialists for the fight against bird flu. Protecting the human population is the primary responsibility of the army, the minister said as an explanation for how the request fit with the duties of the military.



The German military has about 30 experts for hygiene and contagious disease at its disposal. These experts can be deployed for civilian purposes whenever the population is in danger such as in the case of natural disasters.



DW staff (ktz)
 
Germany | 20.02.2006
Germany, Europe Struggle to Contain Bird Flu

German officials have called in reconnaissance jets and deployed 250 soldiers to the Baltic Sea island of Rügen, where a total of 81 cases of dead birds infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have been found.

While sixty soldiers specialized to deal with biological threats are disinfecting cars that leave affected areas, about 200 are searching the coast line for further carcasses. The military jets are meanwhile aiding in the search from above.



"The main goal is to stop the spread to domestic animals," a government spokeswoman said.



The H5N1 virus, which is potentially fatal to humans, was also for the first time detected on the mainland in the northeast state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Two districts of the state declared a state of emergency, a measure which allows the army to be deployed there if required.





Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels that the army had been called in because it was important to find and collect the dead birds as soon as possible.



Scavenging birds feeding on the carcasses of infected animals could spread the virus further, he added. Agriculture ministers from Germany's 16 regional states were to meet on Thursday to coordinate efforts to prevent the virus from spreading.



French prepare for more cases

Elsewhere in Europe, officials also scrambled to deal with the bird flu outbreak. France on Monday braced for further cases with test results due on around 15 wild birds, after the country confirmed its first case of the deadly strain of the virus at the weekend.



"There is a strong chance that we will find very shortly in France, as in Germany, many more cases of wild birds infected by the H5N1 virus," the health ministry said.



France is the sixth country in the European Union to confirm a case of the virus.



Europe battles to calm fears



European farm ministers tried Monday to calm consumer fears that bird flu would spread to poultry. While no poultry has been struck by the disease in the European Union, meat sales in the industry have plunged 70 percent in Italy, at least 40 percent in Greece, 15 percent in France and 10 percent in Portugal.



While the virus has infected chickens on the EU's doorstep in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, the outbreaks in Italy, France, Greece, Austria, Germany and Slovenia have only hit wild birds like swans and ducks.



"There is no reason for European citizens not to consume poultry meat and poultry products," EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou added. "We have to keep in mind that we are talking about an animal disease. It's not a human disease. It's a virus that is difficult to transmit to humans."
 
Britain is on a high alert over the possible spread of bird flu to the UK, as tests continued on a number of birds found dead in recent days.

Following the confirmation that a duck which died of bird flu in France was infected with the lethal H5N1 strain of the virus, the Government said it was "more likely" the disease would reach Britain.

A Defra spokesman said nine swans had been sent for tests over the weekend after members of the public called the helpline. Two each were from Bury St Edmonds, Winchester and Preston, while individual birds were found in Shrewsbury, Thirsk and Hertfordshire.

"All the tests have so far been negative but testing continues," he added. "Obviously, we are at a heightened level of surveillance given the case in France."

The spokesman was unable to confirm reports that a dead swan found in Great Abington, Cambridgeshire, was being tested at the EU's Weybridge laboratory in Surrey.
 
A disease in the meat chain will kill you all
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Sorry to be the one to break the news but:

Nine dead swans found dead in the UK which had been tested for signs of the H5N1 were confirmed today to have been free of the disease, Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
 
On the original question posted in the thread.

I have bee uneasy about eating chicken for some time now due to the production methods rather than bird flu. I can't say I am unaffected by the bird flu, but it is more a case of a few more straws on the cart. In the last six months we have probably reduced our chicken consumption from an average twice a week to once a month or so (The once being an Indian or Chinese takeaway - where I'd have little confidence in any of the meat being properly produced).

I would say there are plenty of people in the same boat as myself that would see Bird Flu as yet another factor to tip the balance towards steering clear. I'm really coming round to Honest Tom's way of thinking that "A desease in the meat chain will kill you all" although I'd extend that to the entire food chain.

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot get any animal meat which can be in any way officially guaranteed not to have been contaminated by GM products, which the world seems happy to release shortly before testing has been completed.

This post may or may not be related to birdflu. I'm guessing that the systematic dosing of poultry with anti-biotics is not unrelated to the spread of the virus within domestic flocks.

I reckon it is time to get back to basics with meat production.
Free range organic only.
Half the production.
Double the price.
Eat it once or twice a week.
 
Originally posted by rumoursabound@Feb 21 2006, 07:22 AM
Brian-you need to change your name to Canute.
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Thanks very much, but you flatter me. The Anglo-Norse king Canute the Great is portrayed as a fool in some legends but he was a very wise man.

He made a show of trying to stop the tide from coming in to prove to obsequious courtiers that he was not, as they all told him constantly, the all powerful monarch who could do anything to which he put his mind.
 
His wealth nevertheless turns the townspeople into groveling, obsequious sycophants :D
 
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