A Radical Solution for the Bird Flu Pandemic

With the recent news of another bird flu outbreak in China, the first for 2006, public fears of a bird flu pandemic are as high as ever - unless you have lost your sensibility after so many outbreaks... only last year there were no less than 30 bird flu outbreaks in China.

Fear is a major player in the bird flu phenomenon. If the bird flu virus mutates and becomes easily transmissible among humans, there is no safe prevention or cure available yet. Or is there?

In November of last year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) issued a press release entitled Concerned About Bird Flu? Doctors Offer "Vegetarian Starter Kit" . Published as a response to the growing concern over a potential worldwide outbreak of the avian flu, the kit was designed to help concerned carnivores to make the transition to a meat-free diet. Such a diet, PCRM claims, "could also help reduce the risk of a bird-flu pandemic".

I think this is a very interesting perspective, one that is less talked about. Admittedly, it may sound radical for many. But the reality is avian influenza is, in part, a by-product of our meat eating habits and poor farming conditions. If you've ever visited a poultry farm, you know what I'm talking about. No matter what the owners may tell you, those birds need space, real food and clean air to grow healthy. Instead, they are confined in tiny cages, fed artificial food and forced to live together in large numbers, so close to each other that they literally go crazy. These farms are perfect breeding labs for the flu viruses.

Giving up meat has other health advantages, too: less cancer, ischemic heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.

Then why aren't we doing it?

Well, I'll let you answer this question.

The Avian Flu Doc