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Home My WebLink About2024_06_20 SSchumacher_Bird fluFrom:Stephen Schumacher To:Board of Health Subject:Bird flu info links (re 6/20/24 public comment) Date:Thursday, June 20, 2024 6:19:42 PM ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. Dear Jefferson County Board of Health, Here are some sources to keep in mind when fears of a bird flu pandemic are stoked. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/21/401319019/5-million-chickens-to-be-killed-as-bird-flu-outbreak- puzzles-industry Millions Of Chickens To Be Killed As Bird Flu Outbreak Puzzles Industry April 21, 2015 [Note this NPR story is from 2015, showing how these same bird flu, swine flu, etc. fears have long been pushed, with little substance behind them, but unnecessarily killing millions of animals, raising food costs, and causing economic disruption and scarcity.] https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0NM4E2/ Iowa governor declares state of emergency due to bird flu outbreak May 1, 2015 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Iowa Governor Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency on Friday due to a rapidly expanding avian flu outbreak, saying the entire state was at risk from the spread of the disease. The announcement, which gives authorities powers to enforce preventative measures, was made soon after state agriculture officials announced four new poultry farms had initially tested positive for the virus. Iowa, the top egg-producing state in the United States, is the third state to declare a state of emergency because of the viral outbreak, which either has led or will lead to the extermination of up to 21 million chickens and turkeys nationwide. Minnesota and Wisconsin declared states of emergency in April. [Note these 2015 states of emergency were "test-demics" based on a few positive virus tests, similar to what is happening now using unreliable PCR testing. Governments should beware being too quick to award themselves emergency powers outside the normal legislative and regulatory framework.] https://www.farmtoconsumer.org/blog/2024/03/11/the-burden-of-electronic-rfid-animal-identification-on- independent-livestock-producers/ USDA May Soon Implement RFID; Burden of Electronic Animal Identification Will Fall on Independent Ranchers March 11, 2024In January 2023, the USDA Animal and Plant HealthInspection Service (APHIS) proposed a rule thatwould require that animal traceabilityregulations require "official" animal ear tags tobe both visually and electronically readable.This rule is part of HR 4366, which is theConsolidated Appropriations Act 2024, whichcontains many items. Farm-to-Consumer LegalDefense Fund (FTCLDF) has joined with ranchersand other organizations in opposing thisrequirement, particularly as is it applies to smaller independent producers. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/aphis-bolsters-animal-disease-traceability-united-statesAPHIS Bolsters Animal Disease Traceability in the United States Requires electronic ID for Certain Cattle and Bison Moving InterstateWASHINGTON, April 26, 2024 - Today, by amendingand strengthening its animal disease traceabilityregulations for certain cattle and bison, theUnited States Department of Agriculture's (USDA)Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS) is putting in place the technology,tools, and processes to help quickly pinpoint andrespond to costly foreign animal diseases. ...The final rule applies to all sexually intactcattle and bison 18 months of age or older, alldairy cattle, cattle and bison of any age usedfor rodeo or recreation events, and cattle orbison of any age used for shows or exhibitions.The rule requires official eartags to be visuallyand electronically readable for official use forinterstate movement of certain cattle and bison,and revises and clarifies certain record requirements related to cattle. [Note Health Officer Berry correctly statedthere's currently no cattle tagging in WA state,but the above links show the USDA push for suchtagging and its negative impact on small farmers.] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/03/chicken-keepers-must-register-to-beat-bird-flu/Chicken keepers must register to beat bird flu 3 April 2024, UK TelegraphChicken owners will need to register with theGovernment or risk a £5,000 fine under new rules to combat bird flu.All poultry and captive bird keepers will berequired to register their birds from Oct 1, the Government has said.Under previous rules, only flocks of 50 or morebirds would have to be registered with theDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.Keepers will have to provide contact details, howmany birds from which species are kept, as well as where and for what purpose. [Note most all real risk comes from unhealthy factory farms not individual chicken owners, so this feels like a needless authoritarian assault on backyard self-sufficiency in favor of agribiz.] https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-controversial-experiments-make-bird-flu-more-risky-poised- resume EXCLUSIVE: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky poised to resumeTwo "gain of function" projects halted more than4 years ago have passed new U.S. review process8 Feb 2019Controversial lab studies that modify bird fluviruses in ways that could make them more riskyto humans will soon resume after being on holdfor more than 4 years. ScienceInsider has learnedthat last year, a U.S. government review panelquietly approved experiments proposed by two labsthat were previously considered so dangerous thatfederal officials had imposed an unusual top-down moratorium on such research.One of the projects has already received fundingfrom the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's)National Institute of Allergy and InfectiousDiseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland, and willstart in a few weeks; the other is awaiting funding. [Note this 2019 article from respected AAAS thatthe real bird flu risk comes from bioweapon lableaks of mutant strains designed to be moredeadly and contagious. Such research is sodangerous that it was banned by the Obamaadministration in U.S., leading to Fauci's NIHcontinuing their gain-of-function researchoffshore via shell corporations at China's Wuhanlab prior to its covid lab leak. The newpandemic threats (covid, monkey pox, bird flu,etc.) are all directly attributable to gain-of function bioweapon research.] https://organicconsumers.org/is-bird-flu-being-weaponized/Is Bird Flu Being Weaponized? January 4, 2023There's been a lot of talk about the conflict inUkraine causing the release of dangerouspathogens, including highly pathogenic avianinfluenza (H5N1), from U.S. funded biolabs. ...Making the whole H5N1 saga even sketchier is itsorigin story in the late 1990s. The emergence ofthe virus in 1997 in Hong Kong was eerilypredicted by Kennedy Shortridge, the scientistwho would discover it. H5N1 didn't infect humansuntil Shortridge and his colleagues had beenstudying its human infection potential in theirlabs for several years. At the time, the naturalleap of a flu directly from poultry to humans wasso improbable that scientists first suspected that it was the result of contamination from Shortridge's lab. ... H5N1 hardly ever infects people. News about highly pathogenic avian influenza usually leadswith how deadly it is. Rarely is it mentionedthat the disease hardly ever infects people. H5N1kills more than half of the people who get it,but H5N1 has circled the globe for decades andthere have only ever been 860 human infections worldwide. [Note this well-sourced article tracking thehidden history of bird flu leaping to otherspecies like cows and humans, which neverhappened before this function was gained via mad scientist bioweapon research.] https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202406.0060/v1Proximal Origin of Epidemic Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.3.4.4b and Spread by Migratory WaterfowlJune 3, 2024Abstract: We investigate the possible laboratoryorigins of the highly pathogenic avian influenza(HPAI) H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b genotype B3.13,currently affecting various animal species andcausing sporadic human infections. The firstdetection of HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in theNetherlands in2020 raises concerns about earliergain-of-function research. The proximal originsof HPAI H5N1 Clade 2.3.4.4b may be the USDASoutheast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) inAthens, Georgia and the Erasmus Medical Center inRotterdam, the Netherlands. Genetic analysisindicates that genotype B3.13 emerged in 2024 andexhibits genetic links to genotype B1.2, whichwas identified to have originated in Georgia inJanuary 2022 after the start of serial passageresearch with H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4 in mallard ducksat the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory(SEPRL) in Athens, Georgia in April 2021. ... Amoratorium on gain-of-function research includingserial passage of H5N1 is indicated to prevent aman-made influenza pandemic affecting animals and humans. [Note this latest scientific evidence of man-made bird flu risks.]