MY OP-ED PIECE ON SUBJECT OF BIRD FLU

Bird Flu Hysteria: Misdirected Fear in a Post September 11th America.

Keep Cans of Tuna, powdered milk, several days of water and other items under your beds….for the coming Bird Flu. For the Bird Flu? This was a recent proclamation from the U.S. Health Secretary Michael Leavitt regarding how to be prepared for the impending disaster that will be caused by the Bird Flu.

My immediate response to Health Secretary Leavitt after his call to store food and water for Bird Flu was- Shouldn’t Americans already have plenty of food, water, batteries, and other emergency supplies on hand in the world that we live in today?

This hysteria reminds me of the recent uproar about the Dubai Ports deal. Although the concerns about the Dubai Ports deal were legitimate for the most part, the media hysteria that surrounded the deal nearly overshadowed the bigger picture, which was the general lack of security or non-existent security within Americas port industry. Only about 5% of containers entering U.S. ports are screened. Americans treated this like news, when in fact, Senator John Kerry and others brought these issues up at least two years before the Dubai Ports deal became an issue. The issue of foreign ownership has been raised before. Somehow Americans missed the earlier reports or perhaps they just did not pay enough attention to them. Perhaps Michael Jackson or one of the other nonsensical Hollywood stories drowned out this earlier coverage of these more crucial issues.

Now we are seeing the same thing with the Bird Flu. The corporate T.V. news media, which relies on entertainment news and hyped stories for ratings and revenue, loves to keep Americans afraid. The relentless attention on the Bird Flu fits right into the trend of networks sensationalizing the news. It benefit’s the big T.V. news companies to keep you scared because in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, Americans are much more likely to “Tune in”.

Just like the Dubai Ports deal overshadowed the larger issues surrounding Port Security, the Bird Flu hysteria is overshadowing larger problems with the nations disaster preparedness and response. Hurricane Katrina recently laid bare Americas broken disaster preparedness and mitigation for the whole world to see. There are also much larger issues surrounding Americas Homeland Security and terrorism prevention efforts in particular. For example, there are huge lapses within the nations private security industry, which is grossly unprepared and inadequate for dealing with the terrorist threat. There is almost no focus on this in the national debate about Homeland Security. With this in mind, Americans should not be distracted from the fact that we are much more likely to be hit by massive terrorist attacks, such as chemical attacks, or suicide bombings in our cities, including shopping facilities, restaurants, transportation systems, and large public places, long before Bird Flu becomes an issue. Yet these more likely threats are not dealt with effectively, especially as it pertains to Americas private sector. The remote and unlikely threats are glorified, while clear and present dangers are overlooked.

Our nuclear power plants remain vulnerable, as well as our transportation sector, chemical plants, and other key infrastructure. Clark Kent Ervin, the former Inspector General of Homeland Security, pointed out many of these vulnerabilities in 2003 and 2004. He has also rocked the boat within Homeland Security, stressing lapses within the Department. Ervin found that undercover investigators were able to sneak explosives and weapons past security screeners at 15 airports during tests in 2003. He has described management within the Department of Homeland Security as being in disarray. In a 2004 USA today report, he described the Department of Homeland Security as a huge, dysfunctional bureaucracy. Ervin’s job as Inspector General of DHS was not renewed and he left the agency in 2004. Some suspect that this was his reward for drawing too much attention to lapses in U.S. security. Ervin is still working tirelessly to draw attention to lapses in domestic security, recently stressing that old lapses still remain.

A recent report in the Washington Times revealed that security at the Homeland Security Departments own headquarters was lacking. Former security officers of the Wackenhut Security company have come forward in recent weeks to blow the whistle on the gaps in security at the facility. How ironic is that? One would think that the Department of Homeland Security- which can’t die under any circumstances- would have its own agents, or the U.S. military protecting the facility rather than a contract security company. Let’s see, Wackenhut vs. Al Qaeda? Would this even be a fair fight?

The private sector is still not required to have minimum national standards for the hiring and training of security personnel. Just recently there was the story of Darryl Littlejohn, the career criminal in New York who killed a graduate student there. He was able to get easy access to the victim because he was hired as a bouncer for a New York nightclub where she visited. He was hired without licensing or the proper background checks. This case highlights a serious problem in the private sector. Criminals being hired by private businesses, and by security firms in particular, happens all the time. This stems from a lack of federal standards for the industry, regarding hiring and training. Currently, there are different hiring and training standards for private security officers from one local jurisdiction to another, which adds up to hundreds of different standards.

Security personnel also need the force of law to do the job of security. High standards in hiring and training mean nothing if security personnel cannot act to protect the public. Currently, private security is generally more about style than substance.

Littlejohn, the New York bouncer and murder suspect, could have easily been a member of a terrorist organization. The case shows how easy it is to infiltrate certain sectors and industries within the country, 5 years after 9/11. This kind of thing should not happen. Yet, these kinds of gaps persist. Just a few weeks ago, it was revealed that Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, former deputy foreign minister of the Taliban regime- the regime that harbored Osama Bin Laden- is now a student at Yale University. He has access to our country thanks to the student visa program; the same visa program that was exploited by many of the September 11th hijackers, who entered the U.S. perfectly legally, facilitated by our own Immigration policies. When will these vulnerabilities be taken care of?

So, let’s put the Bird Flu into perspective. As of the Spring of 2006, there have been a few hundred cases of Bird Flu around the world with approximately 100 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). By contrast, annual U.S. deaths from the human Flu virus have been estimated to be between 20,000 and 36,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Furthermore, Dr. William Schaffner, Chairman of the Infectious Disease Division of Vanderbilt University, recently stated on National Public Radio that there was just a 10% chance of Bird Flu mutating into a deadly human form, easily passed from person to person. In fact, many experts believe that the chance of mutation is not very high at all. Some earlier estimates for Bird Flu mutation may have been exaggerated. It could take years or it could take decades before such a mutation takes place, if at all.

Dr. Schaffner and other experts also say that the doomsday estimates of high mortality are probably overblown. The doomsday T.V. news producers would like us to assume that vaccines would not be in place by the time such a threat materialized, or that the virus would spread easily, creating a pandemic. More testing and investigation is necessary before anyone can assume that these doomsday scenarios are likely to happen. Making these doomsday claims at this stage is irresponsible on the part of the network news media.

Since we are examining this potential medical crisis, why is the media not shedding light on the fact that the emergency medical capacity in most of our major metro areas is already maxed out with just routine everyday activities? The state of Americas medical system is the real crisis that is being buried under the sensational stories of Bird Flu. Many emergency rooms must divert patients away under routine conditions, because there are not enough emergency rooms, not enough nurses, not enough bed capacity, etc. If there was a pandemic, or any major disaster in this country, the lack of medicine may not necessarily be the problem. The problem would likely be the lack of nurses to administer the medicine, and the lack of ambulances, and beds for the sick and injured. The emergency medical systems in this country are either broken, or on the verge of breaking down, depending on the location.

We must also ask the question of who benefits from this atmosphere of fright? Just a few months ago, the President met in the White House with various executives from the drug companies regarding the Bird Flu. I hate to be cynical, but I doubt if these drug company executives were discussing college basketball, the weather, or lowering drug costs to allow the poor to have access to medicines. So who stands to gain the most from the fear? Hundreds of millions of dollars are up for grabs for a chosen few.

Should we be prepared? Absolutely! As a nation we should be prepared for all eventualities, whether it is a hijacked airplane, a levee break, a hurricane, chemical incident, an infectious disease outbreak, or any other major threat. I am 110% in favor of preparedness. But our preparedness should be rational and we must make sure that we are worried about the right threats. Not only are Americans being lulled into fear, but their fears are being manipulated and misdirected.


------------------------

Bloggers are welcomed to pick this up....
Just contact me (the author) to let me know. Bio information available.