On TVs, radios, newspapers screamed day-and-night about the horrors
of a pandemic of bird flu. For nearly a fortnight this was the main
item and the scare beat even the ‘terrorist’ scare of the Varanasi
bomb blast. One TV channel, interviewing a lady from AP, said that
her two relatives died immediately after consuming eggs, while they
were perfectly fit earlier. A reputable business magazine screamed
on the cover “50 million dead; is India Prepared”. Immediately chicken
and eggs were taken off the menu of government offices, armed forces,
railways and even the parliament. Paranoia was spread across the
country (as it has earlier been spread across the world) of a bird
flu attack that could kill millions. The same business magazine
(Business & Economy) said that it “could kill between 5 to 150
million human beings even before any control mechanism starts to
succeed”.
All this propaganda has been a gigantic hoax. Not even one of the
95 patients who were suspected to have the H5N1 virus tested positive
for bird flu. The chicken that died supposedly of bird flu was confined
to a small area of Navapur in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra.
Even this is being disputed by the NECC (National Egg Coordination
Committee). Chicken blood samples first tested in a Pune laboratory
showed no strains of the H5N1 virus. Finally it was ‘proven’ by
a laboratory in Bhopal; but mysteriously the samples that were to
be sent to a London laboratory were never followed up.
Most villagers know the dangers of rearing chicken. Poultry farms
have strict hygiene conditions to prevent the attack of the Ranikhet
disease. Once hit by the disease chicken on the entire farm die
over-night. Even entire villages lose their entire chicken due to
this disease. This has been going on for years. Earlier the local
strains of chicken were more resistant to disease; but with the
onset of broilers they have become more prone and the attacks more
regular. So the death of chicken in large numbers need not be the
bird flu and could be due to the normal Ranikhet disease. But in
the entire media hysteria it was barely mentioned and made out such
large numbers of dead chicken could only be bird flu. Though the
Agricultural minister agreed to have fresh samples tested at two
Indian laboratories and one foreign one, the final conclusion was
drawn only from the Bhopal tests.
One has to assess the events and media hype in the background of
two very important factors — the gigantic Indian poultry market
of Rs.35,000 crores, and the aggressive pushing of the vaccine and
drug for bird flu monopolized by a US pharmacy company.
First the market! The US has been desperate to enter the Indian
poultry market for long which is dominated by small producers and
the Rs.1,300 crore Pune-based Venkateshwara Hatcheries. In the early
1990s US chicken were all set to enter the Indian market. It was
said that these hormone induce 5-8 kg chicken would be sold as cheap
as Rs.20 per kg. This would have wiped out a vast section of the
small producer and depressed prices for the ordinary farmer, most
of whom who breed some chicken. Finally it was stopped due to strong
opposition by the poultry produ-cers in India and particularly Venkateshwara
Hatcheries. Not surprisingly in this entire episode Venkateshwara
Hatcheries has been targeted and accused while the government has
signed an agreement with Bush to open up Indian markets for agricultural
goods and poultry.
The Navapur poultry farms were mostly linked to Venkateshwara Hatcheries.
There are 52 registered farms here with 12 lakh birds and another
100 unregistered ones. Small farms have just 100 to 200 birds. Navapur
is the second biggest poultry farm industry after Pune and the mainstay
of the local economy. They employ over 5,000 workers. The government
spree of destruction did not distinguish between infected farms
and others and destroyed 3 lakh chicken and 6 lakh eggs. In the
first few days of the scare the poultry industry suffered losses
of over Rs.1,100 crores mostly due to the countrywide scare and
all workers lost their employment. Having successfully hit the industry
and the vast small producers it will help clear the path for the
entry of big US fowls.
Now if we turn to the US pharma mafia we will find a big conspiracy
to push the drug. Firstly it must be known that the H5N1 is the
deadliest of the 144 known strains of the influenza A virus, most
of which have existed in harmless form in wild fowls for centuries.
It was probably introduced to local poultry by migratory birds and
mutated in crowded poultry-rearing conditions. The virus ONLY spreads
to humans through physical contact with the infected birds and their
excreta — IT DOES NOT SPREAD FROM HUMAN TO HUMAN. That is why for
all the massive international media hype there have been a mere
170 cases of bird flu worldwide and just 92 deaths as of today.
The only antiviral drug is Tamiflu, which itself is only partially
effective with dangerous side-effects. And the only company that
owns the rights to this drug is the California biotech company Gilead
Sciences. A major stake holder in this company is none other that
the US defence Secretary Ronald Rumsfeld. According to Fortune Rumsfeld
holds a stake in of around $25 million. In the last few months the
bird flu scare and the big purchases by various governments has
pushed the share value up a massive 29%. This made the Pentagon
chief, already one of the richest members of the Bush cabinet, wealthier
by at least $ 1 million. India too has stockpiled 10 lakh doses
of Tamiflu.
In a country like India which has one of the poorest public health
care systems in the world with lakhs dying each year of malaria,
TB, diarrhea, etc (not to mention starvation and suicide deaths)
this bird flu scare where not even one person has died is merely
a media myth helping create the proper atmosphere for the sale of
US pharma company drugs. In fact today the health situation of the
country has so deteriorated that the number of poor who do not seek
treatment for financial reasons has increased from 15 to 24% in
the rural areas and 10 to 21% in the urban areas in the decade from
1986 to 1996.
The people of the country must vehem-ently oppose the imperialist/comprador
scheming, and support the small producers struggle against the entry
of US poultry into our country(which will also be hazardous to public
health as it will contain high doses of preservatives in order to
be able to sell after long transport time and also contain large
hormone content to fatten it). We must also expose the conspiracy
of these multinational pharma companies who are destroying our people
with the help of their Indian compradors in order to make super-profits
out of people’s suffering.
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