Conspiracy Theory -v- Scientific comment....

Same message, different subtext........

I received the following "spam/chain" email at work two days ago....

"Do you know that 'bird flu' was discovered in Vietnam 9 years ago?

Do you know that barely 100 people have died in the whole world in all
that time?

Do you know that it was the Americans who alerted us to the efficacy of
the human antiviral TAMIFLU as a preventative.

Do you know that TAMIFLU barely alleviates some symptoms of the common
flu?

Do you know that its efficacy against the common flu is questioned by a
great part of the scientific community?

Do you know that against a SUPPOSED mutant virus such as H5N1, TAMIFLU
barely alleviates the illness?

Do you know that to date Avian Flu affects birds only?

Do you know who markets TAMIFLU?

ROCHE LABORATORIES.

Do you know who bought the patent for TAMIFLU from ROCHE LABORATORIES in
1996?

GILEAD SCIENCES INC.

Do you know who was the then president of GILEAD SCIENCES INC. and remains
a major shareholder?

DONALD RUMSFELD, the present Secretary of Defence of the USA.

Do you know that the base of TAMIFLU is crushed aniseed?

Do you know who controls 90% of the world's production of this tree?

ROCHE.

Do you know that sales of TAMIFLU were over $254 million in 2004 and more
than $1000 million in 2005?

Do you know how many more millions ROCHE can earn in the coming months if
the business of fear continues?


So the summary of the story is as follows:

Bush's friends decide that the medicine TAMIFLU is the solution for a
pandemic that has not yet occurred and that has caused a hundred deaths
worldwide in 9 years.

This medicine doesn't so much as cure the common flu.

In normal conditions the virus does not affect humans.

Rumsfeld sells the patent for TAMIFLU to ROCHE for which they pay him a
fortune.
Roche acquires 90% of the global production of crushed aniseed, the base
for the antivirus.

The governments of the entire world threaten a pandemic and then buy
industrial quantities of the product from Roche.

So we end up paying for medicine while Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush do the
business.

ARE WE CRAZY!!? OR ARE WE IDIOTS!!?

AT LEAST PASS THIS ON SO THAT IT CAN BE KNOWN!!!!!!!"

Not one to take anything at face value, I asked a medical researcher friend to respond to it.

This was his reply, he isn't pro-US or big companies he is just more interested in the disease side of the story:

"...as far as I know this is all true, except the effects fo Tamiflu (reduces flu symptoms by about 1/3 -1/2) and the death rate from H5N1 (54%). The facts are there, but presented in a very biased way.Tamiflu is really a better drug for prevention of flu in outbreaks, especially in the vulnerable (very young and old). In these populations it prevents pneumonia, which is the main infectious killer post-flu.
I have no doubt that Big Pharm is benefiting from all this. Indeed, this is mild compared to what is coming. btw, there is another medicine in the same class as Tamiflu, works reasonably well, and is not made by roche. Our alliance with business-driven pharm interests is unholy, but certainly saves lives.
Really, this is all details. the issue is not wether H5 will kill millions and who will profit. The issue is that we as a race are ripe for plague. most likely this will be another flu pandemic - the last three were all bird flu's. H5N1 is not the problem - yet.
The furor is all about the possibilty of mutation into a form that can transmit like the human flu. This form could be resistant to tamiflu. who knows? no-one, because it hasn't happened yet. Bioterror is another consideration.

ironically, studies on Tamiflu in Bird Flu suggest moderate efficacy, but developing resistance, which may render the drug useless.

If anyone is really interested, Lori Garrett wrote an excellent book called The Coming Plague.

there endeth the sermon
take care mate
g"

Balance (perhaps) without fear - even if the message IS essentially the same....

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