From the December 2009 Idaho Observer:

Available from The I.O. for $25 (ppd).

Book Review by Sofia Smallstorm

FOWL: Bird Flu – It’s Not What You Think

by Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny

For years in America, the trumpets have blared to make people afraid of oncoming pandemics. Back in 2004 media airwaves put out over 1000 messages in one week urging people to get flu shots. And that was just for regular influenza – not bird flu or swine flu.

Here in the US the hype has been about big, bad diseases that “jump species” (bird to human, pig to human) that will lay everyone flat and gobble up lives when they finally get here. It’s about “protective” vaccines that are untested, that don’t do a thing to prevent disease, but that do cause a vast array of neurological damage.

But back there, in Asia, where “bird flu” first showed up, the name of the game was not vaccines. It was agribusiness. This is the paydirt delivered by “Fowl” – the tracking of bird flu to a whole different kind of theater at the other end of the world.

Here’s what happens: World health agencies announce an “outbreak” of avian flu in a certain country. Then government agents swoop down on villages and seize thousands of healthy chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys, in a prevention effort known as “culling.” Writes Tenpenny: “Culling is based on the 1920s assumption that once a viral outbreak has occurred among a flock, the only way to eliminate the virus is to eliminate the host... Methods include burning, drowning, gassing and live burial.” Helpless villagers watch as their food supply is destroyed before their very eyes. What happens next? In come the agri-giants – Cargill, Perdue, ConAgra and Tyson Foods – ready to set up shop with GMO birds.

We all know that immune systems of animals and humans are compromised by environmental toxicity. Today many people in the Far East show extremely high levels of dioxins in their bodies, with influenza outbreaks occurring in areas that correspond with herbicide spraying by the US military between 1965 and 1971. Likewise, birds and their eggs have high dioxin content. “Fowl” explores the correlation between chemical poisoning and illness.

Vaccine skeptics will best serve their interests by delving into real research and facts. “Fowl” put both history and mystery in perspective for me. If you’re only going to read one book – this is absolutely the one.

Available from The I.O. for $25 (ppd).