Understanding H5N1+H1N1 exposes eugenics plans of enemy CDC/WHO terrorists

[bigron]

Swine-flu outbreak could be linked to Smithfield factory farms


By Tom Philpott
 
Global Research, April 29, 2009
 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13413


A flu strain—a nasty mash-up of swine, avian, and human viruses—has infected 1,000 people in Mexico and the U.S., killing 68. The World Health Organization warned Saturday that the outbreak could reach global pandemic levels.

Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year, according to the company Web site.

On Friday, the U.S. disease-tracking blog Biosurveillance published a timeline of the outbreak containing this nugget, dated April 6 (major tip of the hat to Paula Hay, who alerted me to the Smithfield link on the Comfood listserv and has written about it on her blog, Peak Oil Entrepreneur):

Residents [of Perote] believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to “flu.” However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak.

From what I can tell, the possible link to Smithfield has not been reported in the U.S. press. Searches of Google News and the websites of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal all came up empty. The link is being made in the Mexican media, however. “Granjas Carroll, causa de epidemia en La Gloria,” declared a headline in the Vera Cruz-based paper La Marcha. No need to translate that, except to point out that La Gloria is the village where the outbreak seems to have started. Judging from the article, Mexican authorities treat hog CAFOs with just as much if not more indulgence than their peers north of the border, to the detriment of surrounding communities and the general public health. Get this:

De acuerdo con uno de los habitantes de la comunidad, Eli Ferrer Cortés, los desechos fecales y orgánicos que produce Granjas Carroll no son tratados adecuadamente, lo que genera contaminación del agua y del viento en la region.

My rough translation: According to one community resident, the organic and fecal waste produced by Granjas Carrol isn’t adequately treated, creating water and air pollution in the region. I witnessed—and smelled—the same thing in Hardin County, Iowa, a couple of years ago, another area marked by intensive industrial hog production. The article goes on to say that area residents have long complained of “fetid odors” in the air and water, and swarms of flies hovering around waste lagoons. Like their counterparts who live in CAFO-heavy U.S. areas, they also complain of respiratory ailments. Now, with 30 percent of the area’s residents now infected with the virulent flu bug, people are demanding that state and federal authorities inspect hog operations there. So far, reports La Marcha, the response has been: nada.

The Mexico City daily La Jornada has also made the link. According to the newspaper, the Mexican health agency IMSS has acknowledged that the orginal carrier for the flu could be the “clouds of flies” that multiply in the Smithfield subsidiary’s manure lagoons.

I’ll be in touch with contacts in Mexico as this story develops —and I’ll be curious to see whether the U.S. media explores the link with Smithfield’s Mexico operation.

Grist food editor Tom Philpott farms and cooks at Maverick Farms, a sustainable-agriculture nonprofit and small farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
 

[Neo]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292009/news/nationalnews/obama__us_may_close_schools_to_battle_sw_166790.htm

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that school closings may be necessary, in an escalating global health emergency that claimed the first death in the United States and swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations. Obama said local educators across America should consider shuttering schools if conditions worsen.

 Giving an update on a raging health menace that has dominated public officials' time and caused universal anxiety, Obama said, "Every American should know that the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control this virus."

He said he wanted to extend "my thoughts and prayers" to the family of a 23-month-old Texas boy who died, representing the first confirmed U.S. fatality in addition to more than five dozen infections.

"This is obviously a serious situation" and "we are closely and continuously monitoring" it, Obama said.

The president said it is the recommendation of public health officials that authorities at schools with confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu "should strongly consider temporarily closing so that we can be as safe as possible."

"If the situation becomes more serious and we have to take more extensive steps, then parents should also think about contingencies if schools in their areas do temporarily shut down, figuring out and planning what their child care situation would be," Obama advised.

Just sending children from schools to day care centers in infected areas "is not a good solution," he said.

Obama said the federal government is "prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus." He noted his request for $1.5 billion in emergency funding to ensure adequate supplies of vaccines.

The government needs local agencies to help by looking out for any suspected flu cases, the president said.

And he advised individuals to take their own precautions -- washing hands, staying home if they are sick, and keeping sick kids home.

The world has no vaccine to prevent infection but U.S. health officials aim to have a key ingredient for one ready in early May, the big step that vaccine manufacturers are awaiting. But even if the World Health Organization ordered up emergency vaccine supplies -- and that decision hasn't been made yet -- it would take at least two more months to produce the initial shots needed for human safety testing.

 "We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material that will be useful," Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press.

And the U.S. is shipping to states not only enough anti-flu medication for 11 million people, but also masks, hospital supplies and flu test kits.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was asked Wednesday why the problem seems so much more severe in Mexico than in the United States.

He replied that U.S. officials "have teams on the ground, a tri-national team in Mexico, working with Canada and Mexico, to try and understand those differences, because they can be helpful as we plan and implement our control strategies."

Cuba and Argentina banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people and sickening well over 2,000. In a bit of good news, Mexico's health secretary, Jose Cordova, late Tuesday called the death toll there "more or less stable."

Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, has taken drastic steps to curb the virus' spread, starting with shutting down schools and on Tuesday expanding closures to gyms and swimming pools and even telling restaurants to limit service to takeout. People who venture out tend to wear masks in hopes of protection.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States included 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, but cities and states suspected more. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.

But only in Mexico so far are there confirmed deaths, and scientists remain baffled as to why.

The WHO argues against closing borders to stem the spread, and the U.S. -- although checking arriving travelers for the ill who may need care -- agrees it's too late for that tactic.

Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes. Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.

Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient -- called a "reference strain" in vaccine jargon -- to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.

Vaccine manufacturers are just beginning production for next winter's regular influenza vaccine, which protects against three human flu strains. The WHO wants them to stay with that course for now -- it won't call for mass production of a swine flu vaccine unless the outbreak worsens globally. But sometimes new flu strains pop up briefly at the end of one flu season and go away only to re-emerge the next fall, and at the very least there should be a vaccine in time for next winter's flu season, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious diseases chief, said Tuesday.

"Right now it's moving very rapidly," he said of the vaccine development.

[Elvis]

Bump x 1000!!!!!

x2

[L2Design]

Its coming from mexico from what I gather. They are having an epidemic. All this needs is some H5N1 mixed in and we are in trouble.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Health/Canada+alert+after+respiratory+illnesses+reported+Mexico/1523180/story.html

But look at the googlemap... its in africa to new zealand to china.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109496610648025582911.0004686892fbefe515012&z=3

i think its anthrax... in that bilderburg concoction

[L2Design]

OK i'm going to walmart and get water and rice/beans...

Peace out

[Dig]

World Health Organization is saying that 200 million American Citizens need to be executed to force innoculations.

Anyone that thinks the OHM is anything more than a Nazi Eugenics genocidal depopulation organization is insane!

[Neo]

It's obvious, they're up to something.

Apr 29 SWINE FLU FEAR CLOSES 2 BROOKLYN SCHOOLS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292009/news/regionalnews/suspected_swine_flu_forces_closure_of_tw_166795.htm

Two suspected cases of swine flu today forced the closure of two Brooklyn grammar schools, officials said this afternoon.

The Rev. Kieran Harrington, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, said the schools -- St. Brigid in Bushwick and Good Shepherd in Marine Park -- would be closed at dismissal this afternoon.

 The schools will remain closed for the rest of the week, he said.

Harrington said that a student at St. Brigid has a sibling at St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows, Queens -- where a large outbreak of swine flu broke out last week.

Harrington said officials at Good Shepherd decided to close the school after one student exhibited flu-like symptoms on Tuesday and eight more had symptoms on Wednesday.

One student at St. Brigid had flu on Tuesday and the decision was made to close the school because that student has a sibling at St. Francis Preparatory in Queens, where there are more than two dozen confirmed cases of the virus, the spokesman said.

None of the cases at Good Shepherd or St. Brigid, both K-8 schools, was confirmed as swine flu as of Wednesday.

The panic over whether other schools were infected hit Manhattan's Ascension School on West 108th Street.

Many parents at the Upper West Side school took matters into their own hands this morning, refusing to drop their kids off for fear that swine flu has spread.

Clotilve Aponte, the grandmother of 4-year-old Ava Aponte, said she she's "scared" for her granddaughter.

"There are only 3 kids in her class," she said. "I'm scared for her. I don't want her to get the disease."

Other parents were more confident, saying that no one who goes there has been diagnosed with swine flu.

"If there was an issue, then they would alert the parents," said Anu Kahn, 33, who has two kids. "They take very proper measures when they are sick -- and they call me immediately."

Meanwhile, state health officials said this afternoon that more testing is being done on the first three probable cases of swine flu found outside of the city.

Health Commissioner Richard Daines said cases in Suffolk, Orange and Cortland counties are believed to have been caused by the same virus that has proved deadly in Mexico.

[Monkeypox]

World Health Organization is saying that 200 million American Citizens need to be executed to force innoculations.

Anyone that thinks the OHM is anything more than a Nazi Eugenics genocidal depopulation organization is insane!

OHM?

 

[voodo0]

Flu scare closes second Bay Area school

 A San Jose high school was closed for a week today after a student attended classes while sick with what public health officials have confirmed is the swine flu.

VIDEO

 View Larger Size
MORE BAY AREA NEWS

Developments on swine flu worldwide 04.29.09
Tulare school closes after student sick with flu 04.29.09
Two more slayings in Oakland 04.29.09
Branham High School became the second Bay Area school to be closed because of the swine flu scare. Highlands Elementary School in Pittsburg also will be closed for a week beginning today after three of four students who had become ill with flulike symptoms tested positive as having probable swine flu, said Kate Fowlie, spokeswoman for Contra Costa Health Services.

"The school closure is to help prevent the spread of illness," she said, adding that the school will remain closed through May 6.

So far, she said, 13 students have had flulike symptoms.

Branham High will also be closed until at least May 6, under orders from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. All school activities - including after-school sports both off and on campus - have been postponed or canceled.

A letter was sent from the health department to parents warning them that their children "may have been exposed to swine flu" on April 23.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/29/BA2M17BBI1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

[Dig]

OHM?

 

turn WHO upside down

Somebody really does need to turn it upside down and shake out all the genocidal freaks.  How can they call for global martial law due to less than 10 deaths?

Who gave WHO all this power?

Clinton?

Bush?

Obama?

Ford?

Nixon?

Reagan?

Carter?

[TahoeBlue]

"There is a strong need to reinforce this network whose members are urged to put immediately in the public domain any genetic sequence of influenza virus they obtain. "

http://www.oie.int/eng/press/en_090427.htm

A/H1N1 influenza like human illness in Mexico and the USA: OIE statement

Paris, April 27 - 2009 - A virus circulating in Mexico and the USA and involving person to person transmission appears to cause in some cases severe disease in certain people infected by this virus. There is no evidence that this virus is transmitted by food.

It is not a classical human influenza virus called seasonal influenza, which causes every year millions of human cases of influenza worldwide but a virus which includes in its characteristics swine, avian and human virus components.

No current information in influenza like animal disease in Mexico or the USA could support a link between human cases and possible animal cases including swine.

 The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore, it is not justified to name this disease swine influenza. In the past, many human influenza epidemics with animal origin have been named using geographic name, eg Spanish influenza or Asiatic influenza, thus it would be logical to call this disease “North-American influenza”.

Urgent scientific research must be started in order to know the susceptibility of animals to this new virus, and if relevant to implement biosecurity measures including possible vaccination to protect susceptible animals  If this virus would be shown to cause disease in animals, virus circulation could worsen the regional and global situation for public health.

Currently, only findings related to the circulation of this virus in pigs in zones of countries having human cases would justify trade measures on the importation of pigs from these countries. The OIE will continue its alert function and will publish in relation with its Members, Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres all appropriate information in real time.

OIE and FAO underline the great value of the influenza veterinary laboratory network called OFFLU, in charge of the surveillance of the evolution of influenza viruses in animals. There is a strong need to reinforce this network whose members are urged to put immediately in the public domain any genetic sequence of influenza virus they obtain.

This influenza event underlines in all countries the crucial importance of maintaining worldwide veterinary services able to implement in animals early detection of relevant emerging pathogens with a potential public health impact. This capacity is fully linked with veterinary services good governance and their compliance with OIE international standards of quality.

[Neo]

BUG SHUTS SCHOOLS AS 'HUNDREDS' FALL SICK
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292009/news/regionalnews/the_flu_pigs_out_on_ny_166759.htm

"We expect that if the swine flu continues to spread, we may sadly see people either in New York City or nationally who become very sick and die, and we're just going to do everything we can to reduce that risk of happening," Bloomberg said.

Now that's terrorism!

[rawiron1]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/04/28/20090428mcsoswine0428-ON.html

Deputies wearing gear to protect against swine flu

by JJ Hensley - Apr. 28, 2009 01:42 PM
The Arizona Republic

Sheriff's deputies working on the streets and in the jails are being told to put on protective gear if they fear they've come in contact with someone infected with the swine flu, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday.

The sheriff's office will make masks, gloves and other measures available to 750 deputies working the streets and will add extra deputies trained to identify suspected illegal immigrants based on the theory that some of those inmates might have come from areas in Mexico where the infection was rampant, said Lt. Brian Lee, a sheriff's spokesman.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio also took the opportunity to point out another potential threat to America- infectious disease- that could proliferate if the United States doesn't shore up the border with Mexico.

The statement from the Sheriff's Office states that the gear is for the arrest of illegal immigrants.

But to keep deputies from exposing themselves to infected people before they learn of the suspect's legal status in the country, Lee said deputies would be encouraged to protect themselves if they come into contact with anyone exhibiting signs of the flu- no matter where the suspect appears to have come from.

"We're leaving it to the discretion of the deputies. From our understanding, symptoms of the flu are all visual, someone who has obvious signs: runny nose, things like that. If they have those signs and the deputies believes the person may have come. It would still be available to them to don that equipment."

The larger concern is in the jails, where 350 men and women join a population of more than 10,000 on an average day, and just as many leave custody to join the general public.

The facilities have the ability to quarantine inmates who might have come into contact with a disease or virus, but the OSHA-trained detention officers and Correctional Healthcare Services screeners will serve as a first line of defense for those coming through the doors, he said.

"It's an additional precaution," Lee said. "We can put them in an isolation cell and flag medical and say you might want to check those guys."

[Geolibertarian]

http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2420

Biden said Obama, if elected, will do something extremely unpopular within the next year and will trend down in the polls. “I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?’ We’re gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I’m asking you now, I’m asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you’re going to have to reinforce us,” said Biden.

[Noel Degrassi]

Just think of life with Warden of America Joe Arpaio. Holy Hell.

[America2]

http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2420

Biden said Obama, if elected, will do something extremely unpopular within the next year and will trend down in the polls. “I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?’ We’re gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I’m asking you now, I’m asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you’re going to have to reinforce us,” said Biden.

If you remember around this time in Bush's 1st year in 2001 - he had approval ratings higher than both Clinton's AND his father's respective 1st years...only to slowly but surely fall to below 50% from this time to early Fall(it was at this point my liberal friends were happy and anticipating the day they can kick him out of office).........

Sound familiar?

[Neo]

http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2420

Biden said Obama, if elected, will do something extremely unpopular within the next year and will trend down in the polls. “I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?’ We’re gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I’m asking you now, I’m asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you’re going to have to reinforce us,” said Biden.

Yes, I remember that quote. Boy these people never cease to amaze me. Right before our faces. The sad part though, there are so many who have fallen under a spell of denial, pacifism, etc. They won't believe any of this even when troops are knocking door to door.

[Mber]

YET THEY KEEP THE BORDERS OPEN.

[Q]

turn WHO upside down

It's inverted and reflected...are you going DAW?

Obviously the WHO know's (ahem) something we don't.... Maybe it'll be the vaccines..or they may be planning a full recombined bird flu release and call it a swine flu mutant...

[Neo]

YET THEY KEEP THE BORDERS OPEN.

Did you see travelers from Canada boarding planes to go to Mexico yesterday?

[angndon]

That this swine flu has been circulating around the world for a long time but they've just now decided to test for it on a wide scale and since they are finding it, it appears to be an epidemic?   I mean how many times do doctors actually test their flu patients to see what strain of flu they have?  If they had tested for it last year might they have found just as many cases???

[Unintelligable Name]

It is possible but it would mean the CDC and WHO don't do anything in the way of monitoring new Influenza strains.

Highly unlikely imo.

[angndon]

It is possible but it would mean the CDC and WHO don't do anything in the way of monitoring new Influenza strains.

Highly unlikely imo.

When has the CDC and WHO actually been on top of anything besides maximizing pharma profits?

[Size10]

Here's latest BBC story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8025931.stm

[TahoeBlue]

Ok, they released a California sequence, but has any sequence from Mexico been published? i.e. How do we know they are the same?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2237650/posts
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/swineflu_genesequences_20090425.pdf

Viral gene sequences to assist update diagnostics for swine influenza A(H1N1)
25 April 2009
WHO published a Guidance to influenza laboratories on response to swine influenza
A(H1N1) infections1. Due to the fact that it is a new reassortant virus, diagnostics has to be updated accordingly.

The full genome sequence of the newly identified swine influenza virus A/California/04/2009 A(H1N1) has been made available by the WHO Collaborating Center in CDC, Atlanta, USA on the GISAID sequence database2 and has the following accession numbers.

Further update on availability on other public sequence databases will be provided when available.

[angndon]

I just find it hard to believe that manmade or not this thing could move as quickly as they are making it out to be.   Like I read earlier today this is different than 1918 when people were living in squalor which contributed to quicker spread.   I realize we have intercontinental travel but come on this has had to be around for awhile.

[J. Croft]

Don't forget to start brewing your own colloidal silver either!  I'm downing a pint a night and if I get the flu it's bed day w/ lot's of sleep and OJ.

[xTruthSeekerx]

who wants to mail me some ammo if shits going down

[Elvis]

Swine flu threatens US economy and pork industry 28 Apr 2009

"Despite the notion that the US economy has been showing signs of recovery, it may be facing a new threat.

"Though there is no evidence that swine flu can be obtained by eating pork, the fear generated by a disease named after hogs cannot be good for pork consumption," said JPMorgan analyst Ken Goldman. Also, authorities have started to face questions from concerned shoppers about any dangers of eating pork, according Goldman."

http://www.meatinternational.com/news/swine-flu-threatens-us-economy-and-pork-industry-id1334.html

"Fear for pigs: You wont catch the swine flu from pigs. This strain is one that is communicable through human-to-human contact. It is a mutated form of a swine virus.

Eating pork: Swine flu is not transmitted by food. It is not a so-called foodborne illness. Bacon, ham and other pork products are safe to eat, assuming they are prepared properly. An internal temperature of 160 degrees for cooked meat will kill any bacteria or virus. Swine flu is transmitted by airborne droplets from an infected person’s sneeze or cough; or from germs on hands, or germ-laden surfaces. Eating pork will not give you swine flu any more than eating chicken will give you bird flu."

http://living.oneindia.in/health/disorders-and-ailments/2009/swine-flu-290409.html

The North American market is becoming increasingly integrated.

"Resulting in a higher intensity of Canadian-U.S.-Mexican agri-food trade, Canada and Mexico are more dependent on NAFTA trade of agriculture and food processed products than the U.S."

[Neo]

Here's latest BBC story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8025931.stm

Thanks for that link. That's what I've been waiting for. Speculation is one thing, but now they've finally admitted it. Time to start packing a get to my alternative location. I'm not taking anymore chances. Good luck to all of you. The best thing that can happen out of this is a temporary vacation if this thing blows over. I've got an uneasy feeling though.

[voodo0]

Don't forget to start brewing your own colloidal silver either! 

How so?

[Mber]

Did you see travelers from Canada boarding planes to go to Mexico yesterday?

I don't live near an airport.

[xTruthSeekerx]

im staying put, nice knowing all of you

[lovealexjones]

screw you guys, will everybody chill!!!

[Dig]

im staying put, nice knowing all of you

Hey dude, could you keep the negative energy fear mongering to a minimum?

We got real issues to deal with.

thanks

[xTruthSeekerx]

hey i cant tell what the f**k is what right now so if someone would at least say exactly what is going on i wouldnt be having those posts now
can we quit fear mongering

[jshowell]

Can someone tell me where Quayle got the idea that it's a $250,000 fine and a five year jail sentence for not taking vaccines in level 5?

[UKStewart82]

Can someone tell me where Quayle got the idea that it's a $250,000 fine and a five year jail sentence for not taking vaccines in level 5?

Somebody posted a gov doc about that a few threads back....

[Dig]

Can someone tell me where Quayle got the idea that it's a $250,000 fine and a five year jail sentence for not taking vaccines in level 5?

Homeland Security preps flu quarantine guidelines
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/homeland-security-preps-flu-quarantines/
 
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to quarantine people with confirmed swine flu infections, according to a newly released memo obtained by CBS News.

From CBS:

[The memo] says: "The Department of Justice has established legal federal authorities pertaining to the implementation of a quarantine and enforcement. Under approval from HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines."

McGaw appears to have been referring to the section of federal law that allows the Surgeon General to detain and quarantine Americans "reasonably believed to be infected" with a communicable disease. A Centers for Disease Control official said on Tuesday that swine flu deaths in the U.S. are likely.

Federal quarantine authority is limited to diseases listed in presidential executive orders; President Bush added "novel" forms of influenza with the potential to create pandemics in Executive Order 13375. Anyone violating a quarantine order can be punished by a $250,000 fine and a one-year prison term.

A Homeland Security spokesman on Tuesday did not have an immediate response to followup questions about the memo, which said "DHS is consulting closely with the CDC to determine appropriate public health measures."

In 2005, the Bush administration prepared guidelines similar to what's currently being circulated by DHS.

In the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza (PDF link), it outlined "public health guidance" that includes barring people from social gatherings and travel.

The document also notes that all nations in the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza have agreed to a "timely and sustained high-level global political leadership to combat avian and pandemic influenza." (p. 16)

As of this writing, there are no confirmed deaths linked directly to swine flu, though U.S. officials believe it only a matter of time.

In the mean-time, this is not something to get panicked over. Even the Centers for Disease Control has stopped short of issuing travel restrictions and said that border closures -- the likes of which were enforced during the SARS outbreak -- are not necessary.

Finally, and this one's a little dose of reality, over 13,000 Americans have died just this year from the "regular" flu and complications thereof.

-- Stephen C. Webster

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

More: http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=102377.0

[Dig]

DHS Sets Guidelines For Possible Swine Flu Quarantines
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/28/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4975598.shtml
April 28, 2009 5:12 PM Posted by Declan McCullagh


The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to some health care providers noting procedures to be followed if the swine flu outbreak eventually makes quarantines necessary.

DHS Assistant Secretary Bridger McGaw circulated the swine flu memo, which was obtained by CBSNews.com, on Monday night. It says: "The Department of Justice has established legal federal authorities pertaining to the implementation of a quarantine and enforcement. Under approval from HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines."

McGaw appears to have been referring to the section of federal law that allows the Surgeon General to detain and quarantine Americans "reasonably believed to be infected" with a communicable disease. A Centers for Disease Control official said on Tuesday that swine flu deaths in the U.S. are likely.

Federal quarantine authority is limited to diseases listed in presidential executive orders; President Bush added "novel" forms of influenza with the potential to create pandemics in Executive Order 13375. Anyone violating a quarantine order can be punished by a $250,000 fine and a one-year prison term.

A Homeland Security spokesman on Tuesday did not have an immediate response to followup questions about the memo, which said "DHS is consulting closely with the CDC to determine appropriate public health measures."

The memo from McGaw, who is DHS' acting assistant secretary for the private sector, also said: "U.S. Customs and Coast Guard Officers assist in the enforcement of quarantine orders. Other DOJ law enforcement agencies including the U.S. Marshals, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may also enforce quarantines. Military personnel are not authorized to engage in enforcement."

Quarantines are hardly new: their history stretches at least as far back as the Bible, which describes a seven-day period of isolation that priests must impose when an infection is apparent. The word literally means a period of 40 days, which cities along the Mediterranean shipping routes imposed during the plague of the 15th century, a legal authority reflected in English law and echoed in U.S. law.

Congress enacted the first federal quarantine law in 1796, which handed federal officials the authority to assist states in combating the yellow fever epidemic. In response to the 1918 influenza epidemic, states levied quarantines and imposed mask laws – with the District of Columbia restricting residents to their homes and San Francisco adopting the slogan "Wear a Mask and Save Your Life! A Mask is 99% Proof Against Influenza." Public health authorities quarantined the entire campus of Syracuse University for two-and-a-half weeks in October of that year.

Until recently, the last involuntary quarantine in the United States was in 1963. Then, in 2007, Andrew Speaker, an Atlanta lawyer, was quarantined inside a hospital in Denver on suspicion of having extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. It turned out that the CDC was incorrect and Speaker had a milder form of the disease.

The CDC's error is one example of how quarantines can raise civil liberties issues. If a suspected swine flu patient is confined to a hospital isolation ward for a week or two, who pays for the bills? What if private businesses find their buildings requisitioned in an emergency? Or if hospital employees charged with enforcing the quarantine fail to show up for work?

McGaw's memo on Monday also said that the federal plan to respond to pandemic influenza was "in effect."

The Bush administration released the National Strategy For Pandemic Influenza in November 2005; it envisioned closer coordination among federal agencies, the stockpiling and distribution of vaccines and anti-viral drugs, and, if necessary, government-imposed "quarantines" and "limitations on gatherings."

A Defense Department planning document summarizing the military's contingency plan says the Pentagon is prepared to assist in "quarantining groups of people in order to minimize the spread of disease during an influenza pandemic" and aiding in "efforts to restore and maintain order."