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Mike Davis on The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat
of Avian Flu
Mike Davis on The Monster at Our Door: The Global
Threat of Avian Flu
We spend the hour with Mike Davis author of the new book,
"The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian
Flu." Davis says, "2005 is the year in which avian
flu, now has acquired a critical mass amongst birds that it
won't be eradicated and it's unclear whether it can be contained.
Most likely, avian flu will fly to every corner of the world.
It will probably reach Alaska and Northern Canada, for instance,
in the near future. Avian flu - the threat of pandemic avian
flu - has become, like HIV AIDS, a fundamental test of human
solidarity." [includes rush
transcript]
On Tuesday, European foreign ministers declared that the
European Union was not prepared to deal with the global threat
of avian flu. This follows statements made by U.S Secretary
of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt who said on Monday,
that no country was prepared to combat a pandemic of avian
flu. The deadly disease has been making headlines recently
and Monday's discovery of the disease in a bird found on a
Greek Island marked the first time that the virus had migrated
across the EU's borders. It was also the third country in
a week to identify its first case - the others are Turkey
and Romania. Avian flu has killed more than 60 people in Asia
since 2003.
Also yesterday, Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company that
makes the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, said it would consider
granting other firms licenses to make the drug. Tamiflu is
the most effective anti-viral drug currently available for
avian flu. This announcement from Roche, came after organizations,
including the United Nations, mounted pressure on the company
to do away with commercial barriers to producing the drug.
We spend the hour discussing avian flu with Mike Davis, author
of "The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian
Flu."
- Mike Davis, professor of history at the University of
California, Irvine. He is a renowned urban theorist, social
historian and author of six books including "City of
Quartz." His latest book, which has just come out is,
"The Monster At Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian
Flu."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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