French Poulty Losing Millions in Bird Flu

The deadly bird flu has ravaged the poultry industry in France to the tune of about $164.7 million and counting. The red meat sector has also been hit hard with losses at €30 million and rising, although a recent agreement with Indonesia may lead to better prices for beef farmers in the near future.

The worldwide effects of this disease are so dire that Congress has agreed on emergency funds worth an estimated $6.8 billion in order to combat bird flu. How will this affect you? Probably not much, as world leaders are doing everything they can to control outbreaks before they get out of control.

As of April 20, 2006, more than 188 million birds in 16 countries have been destroyed in an attempt to control the outbreak. In China alone, the virus has wiped out more than 45 million fowl. The disease continues to spread throughout Asia and Europe and even further into Africa.

The U.S. is taking the threat of bird flu very seriously. As a result, farmers are being urged to take extra precautions with their livestock and report any sightings of birds behaving strangely or showing any signs of illness immediately. Although scientists do not expect a major outbreak in regions where winter conditions incapacitate most flocks, they still urge care in order to protect against future outbreaks.

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Evil Empire: A History of the Soviet Union by Stephen Cohen

ISBN 0-19-514433-9

Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd, London.<br> 

New Edition 1995<br> 

 The world has never been so full of disease as now. Geographical areas are more densely populated than ever before. The population of the world is constantly climbing; it will soon be three billion...To conquer infectious diseases we must have recourse to the system of collective farms... In the USSR in the past few years thousands of new diseases have appeared because of (1) imperfect sanitary conditions, (2) unsanitary living conditions, and (3) insufficient knowledge in hygiene. These are the three main causes of epidemic diseases.

The International Red Cross Committee is continuing its investigation into the Soviet civilian population's health condition. The results thus far are alarming. According to its report: "In the past few years thousands of new diseases have appeared in the USSR because (1) imperfect sanitary conditions exist, (2) unsanitary living conditions prevail, and (3) insufficient knowledge in hygiene is spread among the population. These are the three main causes of epidemic diseases."

...the discovery and development of means to combat infectious diseases has been associated with the name of only one country: Soviet Russia. The USSR for several decades has been devoting all its efforts to the development and production of new pharmaceuticals, serums and vaccines. That is why it can be said with full confidence that the health protection of man in the USSR is better than anywhere else in the world.

—From a government-sponsored film produced for international distribution in 1949.

The Soviets saw the battle against infectious disease as a front in the class struggle. Their ultimate aim was to create a society free from illness and death, a society of sturdy and healthy proletarians. That vision was first set out in 1924 by N.I. Pirogov, the head of the State Sanitary Institution of Epidemiology. In an article in Pravda Pirogov wrote that: "If we can ultimately dispel epidemics, we shall have achieved the greatest victory over death and disease."

The formation of the Public Health Committee in 1936 was an important step in Soviet efforts to combat infectious disease. Leading Soviet surgeon F.A. Zvyeglasov wrote: "The health workers are united with us on one point, which is our prime concern -- the struggle against epidemics... The key for this battle lies in our ideological training -- medicine can be used as a weapon for effecting a revolutionary change in society."

—Ernest M.

Conclusion:

The Soviet experience shows that even a state committed to the elimination of infectious disease can fall short of its goals. After seventy years and tens of billions of rubles spent toward that goal, the Soviet people died more from infectious disease than Western Europeans. The Soviets were not able to eradicate endemic infectious diseases, nor did they eliminate new infections brought in from outside the country. Their attempts at disinfection at times created more problems than it solved. A significant though often unrecognized problem was the lack of trust engendered by their approach to public health, which resulted in resistance and apathy on the part of all but a few citizens.