Mother of all overreactions

[raybond25]

Code

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_swine_flu

“ Quote ”

CAIRO Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who blocked streets and stoned vehicles of Health Ministry workers who came to carry out the government's order.

The measure was a stark expression of the panic the deadly outbreak is spreading around the world, especially in poor countries with weak public health systems. Egypt responded similarly a few years ago to an outbreak of bird flu, which is endemic to the country and has killed two dozen people.

At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, scores of angry farmers blocked the street to prevent Health Ministry workers in trucks and bulldozers from coming in to slaughter the animals. Some pelted the vehicles with rocks and shattered their windshields and the workers left without killing any pigs.

"We remind Hosni Mubarak that we are all Egyptians. Where does he want us to go?" said Gergis Faris, a 46-year-old pig farmer in another part of Cairo who collects garbage to feed his animals. "We are uneducated people, just living day by day and trying to make a living, and now if our pigs are taken from us without compensation, how are we supposed to live?"

Most in the Muslim world consider pigs unclean animals and do not eat pork because of religious restrictions. One Islamic militant Web site carried comments Wednesday saying swine flu was God's revenge against "infidels."

Pigs are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya. However in other parts of the Muslim world, they are often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork.

In Jordan, the government decided Wednesday to shut down the country's five pig farms, involving 800 animals, for violating public health safety regulations. Half the pigs will be killed and the rest will be relocated to areas away from the population, officials said.

In Egypt, pigs are raised and consumed mainly by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population. Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen estimated there are between 300,000-350,000 pigs in Egypt.

"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Global health experts said the mass slaughter of pigs is entirely unnecessary and a waste of resources. But Egypt's reaction was colored by its experiences with bird flu.

Bird flu started sweeping through poultry populations across Asia in 2003 and then jumped to humans, killing more than 250 worldwide.

Egypt was among the countries hardest hit. According to the World Health Organization, it has the world's fourth highest death toll — after Indonesia, Vietnam and China — and the largest outside of Asia. WHO has confirmed 23 deaths in Egypt and Egyptian authorities have reported three more deaths in recent weeks.

Chickens used to roam every dusty street in every village across Egypt, and many of its city alleys too. But when the disease first appeared here in February 2006, 25 million birds were killed within weeks, devastating the poultry sector and particularly the family farmers. Chickens nearly all vanished from sight, slaughtered, abandoned or locked away by a population increasingly aware of, and frightened by, the disease's stubborn grip.

The latest measure appeared designed to avert a similar panic.

Swine flu is blamed for more than 150 deaths in Mexico and U.S. health officials reported on Wednesday the first known death outside Mexico — a 23-month-old Mexican boy in Texas. It has spread to Europe, Asia and Israel, which shares a border with Egypt.

Experts suspect swine flu, a strange new mix of pig, bird and human flu virus, originated with pigs then jumped to humans and is now spreading through human-to-human contact. Health authorities have said you cannot contract the flu by eating pork.

"It is unfortunate," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said of Egypt's decision. "The crisis today is in transmission from human to human. It has nothing to do with pigs," he told The Associated Press.

In the northern suburbs of Cairo Wednesday, health authorities killed 250 pigs and buried them. Angry farmers demanded compensation and provincial governors paid them around 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $180) per head. The farmers asked for an official government decision to set a price for each pig slaughtered.

Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told reporters that farmers would be allowed to sell the pork meat so there would be no need for compensation.

hahaha WOW

[crazaytalent]

lol... wow indeed... its a sad but unfortunate fact, but many contries, thrird or even second world cant afford the medical stardards the we here in the states enjoy, nor do they have access to all the appropriate information and scientificly educated peoples to find and share such knowledge, so on when left in the dark, people tend to panic, graspin at straws for preventative measure, in the hopes that itll prevent the worse from happening, and in their situation, u can hardly blame them, but still its a said fact for those whose livliehood is based of such stock. Hopefully the government will be willing to work with them, to copensate them for lose, with this illogical but understandable grasp at straws...

[raybond25]

“ Originally Posted by crazaytalent ”

lol... wow indeed... its a sad but unfortunate fact, but many contries, thrird or even second world cant afford the medical stardards the we here in the states enjoy, nor do they have access to all the appropriate information and scientificly educated peoples to find and share such knowledge, so on when left in the dark, people tend to panic, graspin at straws for preventative measure, in the hopes that itll prevent the worse from happening, and in their situation, u can hardly blame them, but still its a said fact for those whose livliehood is based of such stock. Hopefully the government will be willing to work with them, to copensate them for lose, with this illogical but understandable grasp at straws...

unfortunately it was the egyptian government that made this horribly misinformed decision, so they're hardly helping out.

“ Quote ”

Most in the Muslim world consider pigs unclean animals and do not eat pork because of religious restrictions. One Islamic militant Web site carried comments Wednesday saying swine flu was God's revenge against "infidels."

that fact makes it all the easier for the government to get off with this, since the majority of the population is muslim.

[ronaldsdv]

WOW .... these are harsh measurements ... but like stated before not many countries can afford a pandemic like that so they rather take care of the source and forget about the possible consequences.

[raybond25]

“ Originally Posted by ronaldsdv ”

WOW .... these are harsh measurements ... but like stated before not many countries can afford a pandemic like that so they rather take care of the source and forget about the possible consequences.

yeah, except as anyone well versed on the virus itself could tell you

IT CAN'T EVEN BE CONTRACTED FROM PIGS lol honestly

it's a new influenze (a human one) a mutation of swine, avian and human flu all together

[ronaldsdv]

“ Originally Posted by raybond25 ”

yeah, except as anyone well versed on the virus itself could tell you

IT CAN'T EVEN BE CONTRACTED FROM PIGS lol honestly

it's a new influenze (a human one) a mutation of swine, avian and human flu all together

I know .... they were even saying that by using the mask a person still isn't completely protected because, as a typical influenza, you can get it it via saliva or mucus due to the fact that influenza travel as particles in the air ( no more that one or two meters) and at any given time anyone can get infected via mouth, eyes, or nose.

This is a scary virus since it contains DNA of swine, avian, human in it.

[D/\SH]

damn ray you asking your sister on this stuff or something lmao..... you got it pretty down

[raybond25]

“ Originally Posted by D/\SH ”

damn ray you asking your sister on this stuff or something lmao..... you got it pretty down

lmao no, i just know how to read bro

[Superman369]

Hahaha, Ray had it in 2nd period social studies today!!!

[raybond25]

“ Originally Posted by Superman369 ”

Hahaha, Ray had it in 2nd period social studies today!!!

hahahaa **** you supe. actually i don't take that shit.

i had english, french, bio and computer science so suck it

[Superman369]

“ Originally Posted by raybond25 ”

hahahaa **** you supe. actually i don't take that shit.

i had english, french, bio and computer science so suck it

RAYMOND!! I will not tolerate that type of language from a young man. Now go wash your mouth out with soap!!! Hahahaha

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by Superman369 ”

RAYMOND!! I will not tolerate that type of language from a young man. Now go wash your mouth out with soap!!! Hahahaha

hahahahah i may have to go call father probex and have him punish him ofr that foul mouth!!