From the December 2006 Idaho Observer:

On December 13, 2006, national news reported that over 2,000 mallard ducks were discovered dead along a remote creek outside of Oakley, Idaho, which is about 180 miles southeast of Boise and just north of the Utah border. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) has determined that the cause of the birds dying, which included one American Widgeon and one pintail duck, was aspergillosis, a fungal infection that may have resulted from the ducks ingesting grain or water contaminated with the aspergillus fungus. On December 14, Idaho state workers cleared up the remaining carcasses and brought them to a nearby incinerator.

The Wildlife Center in Madison, Wisconsin, had obtained eight mallard carcasses from the Idaho die-off. Testing resulted in finding fungal plaque in the lungs typical of aspergillosis and negative for H5N1, the Asian bird flu virus.

A similar die-off of mallard ducks occurred last year at a pond near Waterloo, Iowa. It was also determined that the cause was aspergillosis. Iowa happens to be the state that grows a lot of genetically modified corn and is the number 1 producer of corn in the U.S. Iowa farmers also apply bio-solids liberally to their farmland.

A chemical connection?

Wildlife experts are trying to determine the food source of the mallards in the recent Idaho die-off. Officials are currently assuming the source to be discarded grain that became moldy in melted snow. Although there are no factories in the area, a cattle feedlot and farmland surrounds the area where the birds were discovered.

Officials from IDFG and the Dept. of Homeland Security are awaiting test results from water samples and grain from nearby farms. It should be noted that scavenger birds such as eagles, magpies and crows have been feasting on the dead ducks and do not appear to be affected.

The Idaho Observer called IDFG veterinarian Mark Drew to find out what kind of other tests are being conducted on the dead birds. The IO was told that tissue samples from at least nine of the birds are being tested at a laboratory operated by the IDFG and they are testing next for agricultural pesticides.

The IO informed Drew that there was a large quantity of toxic herbicides dumped into the Pend Oreille River and Lake this past summer to control the spread of Eurasian Watermilfoil. These chemicals were also dumped into the Denton Slough wildlife refuge on the northend of the lake that just happens to be one of the places where numerous migratory birds from Canada stop in on their way south. Although he wasn’t sure if they had enough funding to conduct lab tests of the tissues samples for these herbicides, he encouraged The IO to send him an email detailing the substances that should be checked for.

Known chemicals that were dumped into the Pend Oreille River and Lake in phenomenal quantities are fluridone, triclopyr and 2,4-D. There is much information available on the toxicity of these herbicides to fish, birds and mammals. All three herbicides used were among 320 pesticides/herbicides banned by the European Commission as of July 2003.

Another mass poisoning occurred in Ada and Canyon counties (Boise and surrounding area) this past summer with the aerial spraying of Dibrom (naled – an organophosphate) to kill West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes. Cargie Aitchison of Boise wrote in a letter printed in The Idaho Statesman on Sept. 19, 2006, that the birds have left Boise since the spraying began. From the letter: "I normally fill my bird feeders once a day. They have remained full since the spraying. It would have been nice if Ada County had investigated the real effect of neurotoxins on wildlife and humans, and asked for public opinion before dousing us with poison. The ‘Silent Spring’ has come to Boise."

According to ExToxNet (Extension Toxicology Network), a pesticide information project from several U.S. universities, naled is moderately to highly toxic to birds and toxic to bees.

Other concerns include the use of cloud seeding technologies in central Idaho that began Nov. 1, 2006. This technology uses a mixture of acetone and silver iodide that produces a silver iodide plume which is ingested by the cloud. (See www.weathermod.com/projects/precip/idaho.php)

Additionally, the U.S. military admits, there are the large amounts of barium particles and fiberglass-coated aluminum "chaff" being spewed throughout U.S. airspace from fighter planes during training exercises.

Think terrain—not pathogen

In her book, FOWL! Bird Flu – It’s Not What You Think (see ad below), Dr. Sherri Tenpenny discovered a study done on mice in 2002 proving that dioxin-contaminated mice exposed to the H5N1 virus all died due to the intense inflammatory action from dioxin. In other words, the inflammatory action in their lungs was triggered by the H5N1 virus but mice who were not contaminated with dioxin and were also exposed to the H5N1 virus did not have the acute inflammation in their lungs.

This study showed clearly how the pathogen is simply the trigger while the terrain (the number and variety of toxins stored in our tissues) is the real source of illness that can lead to death. To further prove her point, Dr. Tenpenny discovered a map of dioxin concentrations in the soil of Vietnam, over 30 years after the U.S. military had used 11 million gallons of TCDD (most toxic of dioxins) containing defoliants, Agent Orange just being one of them, throughout that country. Later she found a map of human cases of avian flu in Southeast Asia. Since 91 of the human cases of avian flu were in Vietnam, she was not surprised when an overlay of the two maps literally matched.

Of canaries and ducks

We need to push for more lab tests and differential diagnoses as to why so many mallard ducks died in Iowa last year and in Idaho this year. As Dr. Tenpenny has stated, "the birds are simply acting as the canaries in the coal mine, alerting us of the impending doom if we fail to put brakes on the continual poisoning of our air, food and water."

The public health departments nationwide are prepping the population for the coming pandemic while our federal government is spending $7.1 billion on such poisonous solutions as Tamiflu and new flu vaccines.

It sure would be nice if some of the federal government’s "resources" were spent simply averting the looming global genocide by putting the brakes on the chemical and heavy metal poisoning occurring in our own country.