For one, they’re using that faulty PCR test and just killing a lot of chickens unnecessarily, all to drive up the prices of eggs and chicken as part of the attack on the food supply and citizens financial health. The price of chicken has been pretty reasonable as beef was heavily impacted by COVID and cuts to rail shipments for feed, which resulted in a lot of cattle going to auction and herds reduced severely across the nation. And beef prices are finally starting to increase pretty significantly. And they’ve been secretly using mRNA vaccines on pork since 2018, so perhaps that is where they want to push consumers? And we have no idea what the long term effects of mRNA vaccinated meat will be on humans.
The Trump administration plans to roll out a new strategy against the bird flu.
By Leslie Eastman
I have been covering the bird flu (aka Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza/HPAI) since 2022. Over that time, over 150 million birds have been culled in an effort to “slow the spread”.
How has that worked out? The current numbers suggest…not well.
Over December and January, owners of commercial, backyard, and hobbyist chicken flocks had to cull 41.4 million birds because of influenza exposure—three times more than the same period last year. The past two months are the most destructive stretch of the North American outbreak, which initially arrived three years ago via migrating wild birds from Europe.
Perhaps another approach would be better? For example, allowing the birds to be exposed and infected. The survivors could then be bred to create a more flu-resistant generation.
Even with the most dreadful diseases, there are usually survivors. Let’s look at myxomatosis (essentially rabbit pox).
For example, myxomatosis was introduced to Australia in the 1950s to control the rabbit population. This virus initially reduced the wild rabbit population by 95%. The disease caused a rapid decline in rabbit numbers by 1953. However, over time, rabbits have developed increased resistance to the virus.
The constant culling is not allowing our domestic flocks to develop resistance to this flu, and may make them even more susceptible to other diseases because they are not allowed to build up their immunity.
And while our media worries about the mental health and livelihood of federal workers, where is the concern about the poultry farmers? Culling has the potential to create severe psychological effects on farmers.
At the beginning of the worst outbreak of bird flu, 3.2 million birds were culled between October 2021 and September 2022.
One of those farmers affected in 2021 was Lucy Sanderson, from North Yorkshire, who says people are not aware of the mental health impact culling birds had on farmers.
“It was awful. I cried for a week – and I thought I was a strong person,” she said.
“As well as losing my job, my income, my everyday life, I also ruined my staff’s lives as I had to make them redundant. The knock-on effect was huge.
Furthermore, the virus has shown resilience despite culling efforts. In the US, the tools used to contain previous outbreaks, including culling, are not working as effectively this time.
Because laying hens are so susceptible to the H5N1 virus, which can wipe out entire flocks within days of the first infection, egg producers have been on the frontline in the fight against various bird flu strains for years now.
But this moment feels different. Egg producers and the American Egg Board are begging for a new approach.
Many infectious disease experts agree that the risks to human health of continuing current protocols is unsustainable, because of the strain of bird flu driving this outbreak.
Let’s take a look at costs for a moment. Government spending on culling and compensating farmers is substantial, with the USDA having spent over $1.7 billion on bird flu control since 2022. There are also other bird flu response expenses.
The USDA has so far put more than $2.1 billion into reimbursing poultry and dairy farmers for losses due to the bird flu and other measures to control the spread on farms. Federal agencies have also put $292 million into developing and stockpiling bird flu vaccines for animals and people.
Finally, culling entire flocks can result in the loss of valuable genetic lines, particularly in specialized or heritage breeds.
For all these reasons, the Trump administration is now considering changing the federal response to bird flu.
The federal government will seek “better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on” rather than the current standard practice of destroying all the birds on a farm when an infection is detected, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
Hasset said the administration planned to announce further details this week. He said they were “working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world,” to get the plan ready.
It certainly has the potential to be more effective, both in terms of costs as well as health, than the mass slaughtering of uninfected animals.