Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-13-Speech-2-164"
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"en.20060613.24.2-164"2
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"Mr President, I am afraid I will bring heresy to this debate. As a medical scientist, I am convinced that the issue of an impending avian flu pandemic is a myth. Although the high-pathogenicity strain H5N1 was first reported about ten years ago, and although precautionary measures in the most affected areas of the world have been almost non-existent, we only had about 100 fatalities worldwide, i.e. ten deaths per year! Even the number of people dying from a simple cold is much larger that that!
The argument that a mutational change would make the avian flu virus a much greater threat is seriously flawed. Mutations in human viruses occur all the time and we humans can do very little to stop them from occurring. But in any event, why do we not worry about the possibility of so many other theoretically possible mutational viral changes? Indeed, why do we not panic about the mutation causing the flu virus acquiring a cancer-causing capability?
The scientific evidence is that the risk to humans of avian flu is almost zero. The paranoia of an avian flu pandemic has drawn vital resources from other health areas and has largely benefited the pharmaceutical industry and the media. As a sign of protest against this state of affairs and although I have the greatest respect for the rapporteur, I am reluctant to vote in favour of this report in substance; this is only a paper exercise."@en1
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