This week’s “Daily Journal” guest columnist is Melissa Mitchell, Administrative Assistant for the John Locke Foundation.
Every time you pick up a newspaper or watch a televised news program, the Henny Penny media mentality is issuing a dire warning about some catastrophe. From global warming to flu pandemics, the media has us standing at a precipice of a disaster that is about to decimate North Carolina or the world. Gone is the word “epidemic.” “Pandemic” is the new buzzword. Although the media is correct to use the word “pandemic” when discussing a worldwide flu outbreak, the media now uses “pandemic” when discussing an outbreak of flu in a local area when the correct word is “epidemic.” Obviously, the more dramatic and harsher sound of the word “pandemic” adds to the story.
But it was all of the hype about bird flu that caught this avid bird watcher’s attention. For the past year, national and local news organizations have been warning about a pandemic outbreak of bird (or avian) flu. We heard dire warnings that the virus had crossed into our hemisphere and that it was only a matter of time before all birds and humans would be affected. I had visions of the government and my homeowner’s association ordering me to remove all the feeders in my yard and of people slaughtering migrating birds by the thousands. Once I got over my own pandemic imagination, I decided it was time to put the avian flu virus under the microscope and get some factual information. For any information on birds, the place to start is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. That lab has an extensive section that provides up-to-date information on avian flu.
What I learned was that since 2003 there have been only 154 human deaths worldwide from the highly pathogenic form of the avian flu virus, compared with the 33,000 to 36,000 deaths from other forms of flu. This number of human bird flu deaths is insignificant. The majority of avian flu deaths resulted from close contact with diseased poultry and poultry products in areas where sanitation practices are not the best. The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus is not easily transmitted from person to person, but health officials fear that the virus could mutate into a form that could spread more easily among humans, causing a human pandemic.
Cornell emphatically states, “It is safe to watch and feed wild birds, especially in North America, where the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has not been detected,” and the simple precaution of washing your hands after filling a feeder or handling birds is all that is needed. National Geographic News also reports that testing wild birds is a wild goose chase and that the disease will likely enter the U.S. through imported poultry.
I began to wonder what the economic impact would be if the bird flu did occur in North Carolina or North America. The N.C. Department of Agriculture reports that poultry constitutes nearly 32 percent of the state’s farm industry and produces $2.5 billion in income. Close to 5,000 N.C. farm families produce poultry products, and 25,000 North Carolinians are employed in some aspect of the poultry production industry. Although the Agriculture Department points out that an outbreak of avian flu would affect only a small number of farms, international trade would be limited during the eradication process, which is what would cause the greatest loss in revenue. The fear of consuming poultry products could also have a long-term economic impact on North Carolina’s poultry industry.
Because bird watching – or birding – is big business, a U.S. outbreak would also have a significant impact on the American economy. In a 2001 survey, the latest survey available, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that there are 46 million birders in the country. That statistic reflects bird watchers over age 16 who traveled more than a mile from home to observe birds. When backyard bird watchers are included, the number could be as high as 70 million. The survey also showed that in 2001 bird watchers spent more than $32 billion to travel and to purchase seed, feeders, books, tapes, videos, and optics. That spending generates $13 billion in state and local taxes. The industry also created more than 863,000 jobs in 2001.
Even though there is little evidence that the U.S. or North Carolina is in imminent danger of an avian pandemic, the federal and state governments are spending billions for prevention and preparation.
But I return to the role of the media in presenting this story. Like global warming, the media has refused to present both sides of the scientific research. People with no Internet access or no scientific background are at the mercy of the news media’s desire to create a pandemic panic. Every dead bird seems to create a news story. If the media continues this barrage of panic information, people will fear every bird they see and worry about consuming poultry products. The resulting panic could hurt both the poultry and birding industries. So as some here at the Locke Foundation seek to set the record straight about global warming, I am trying to end the pandemic panic over avian flu.