08-0719

[The link with WNV is just the beginning.  Vectors such as mice and rats will also escalate.  Make note of just how close the foreclosure rate is with disease rate increase.  Coincidence?]

Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer

Sep 29, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – Some public health officials have feared that one of the many miseries of rising home foreclosure—and the neglected water sources that follow—could be rising rates of human West Nile virus infections, and now California researchers who studied surveillance data for the Bakersfield area have confirmed the connection.

The authors base their conclusion on events that have occurred in Kern County, Calif., where home mortgage delinquencies have increased 300% and the number of human West Nile virus cases exploded 276% during the summer of 2007. Their findings appear in November’s early online edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Le Mauricien, a daily newspaper, shows Dr Gaston Funes providing explanations on the disease to a hostile crowd. The title of the article states: “Do not kill our pigs! Before killing our pigs, you will need to kill us…”

bull202008-1-eng

Highlights Include:

OIE standards are now being prepared on the basis of a highly meticulous risk analysis taking into account the fact there is no such thing as zero

The positive impact of animal health policies on poverty reduction and public health is in itself ample justification for financing and maintaining surveillance networks

“History is indelibly written that revolution, anarchy, and tyranny are fellow travelers of hunger and malnutrition,” said a USDA scientist.  Lab 257

What are the consequences of families not eating well?

Back in the USSR

“The food and animal crop resources of the USSR would have to be damaged within a single growing season to the extent necessary to reduce the present average daily caloric intake from 2800 calories to 1400 calories, i.e., the starvation level. Reduction of the food resources to this level if maintained for 12 months would produce 20% fatalities, and would decrease manual labor performance by 95% and clerical and light labor by 80%.”

From the FAO:  Family Nutrition Guide

(also see Topic 11)

People who have poor diets and do not eat the right amounts of energy-rich food and nutrients are often sick and become malnourished. The type of malnutrition that occurs depends on which nutrients and how much of the required food energy are lacking (or are in excess) and for how long, and the age of the person.

1. Children and adults may eat too little food and become undernourished because they do not have enough food or they have a poor appetite. These people lack energy and many nutrients, which means:

• they have less energy so they cannot work, study or play as normal;

• their immune systems are weak so they become ill easily and/or are seriously ill;

• children stop growing and may lose weight. If very little food is eaten (often because of infection), a child may develop severe malnutrition (i.e. kwashiorkor or marasmus);

• adults lose weight. If a pregnant woman is undernourished, her unborn baby grows poorly.

Rome, 18 September 2008 – Rising prices have plunged an additional 75 million people below the hunger threshold, bringing the estimated number of undernourished people worldwide to 923 million in 2007, FAO said today.

[The focus of the FAO is on under developed countries, not industrialized countries who are experiencing a melt down, so what are the real starvation numbers?]

High food prices have reversed the previously positive trend towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by half the proportion of people suffering from hunger worldwide by 2015, according to new figures just released by the UN agency in advance of next week’s General Assembly session on the MDGs.

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is not about food safety.  It is about food control. The NAIS scheme does not address American agricultural issues but is a contrived United Nations ‘tool’ for redistribution of agricultural assets.

http://www.oie.int/eng/traceability-2009/first.html

First OIE International Conference

Animal Identification and Traceability AKA: «From Farm to Fork»

Buenos Aires (Argentina), 17-19 March 2009

The OIE is pleased to announce the First OIE International Conference on Animal Identification and Traceability, which will take place in Buenos Aires (Argentina) with the kind agreement of the National Food Safety and Quality Service of Argentina (SENASA) and the Secretary of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Argentina. The purpose of the Conference is to support the implementation of the relevant international standards for identification and traceability in live animals and animal products globally. The Conference will feature presentations from speakers representing international organizations, national Veterinary Services, agencies involved in animal products, the private sector (producers, processors, distributors and industry), consumer organizations and providers of technology and services relevant to animal identification and traceability.

The benefits of identification and traceability for animal health, disease control, food safety and quality including labeling, genetic selection and control over trade will be discussed. The experiences and perspectives of countries and sectors that have implemented animal identification and traceability will be presented and practical examples used to explain how the international standards can be implemented in a cost effective manner in consultation with stakeholders.

The objectives that the Conference will aim to achieve in the various sequential sessions are as follow:

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·Raise international awareness of the relevant international standards published by the OIE and the Codex Alimentarius Commission

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·Give practical information and technical advice on how to implement these standards in different industry sectors and national contexts

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·Review the latest experiences in public and private identification and traceability programs with reference to the relevant international standards

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·Provide practical advice and examples to help national Veterinary Services and other agencies to play their appropriate role in regard to animal identification and traceability

·Identify the kind of support that can be provided by international organizations and donors to Veterinary Services and interested parties operating in developing countries, as appropriate to their needs, as regards the implementation of the OIE and Codex standards

·Launch a discussion on the future needs for international standards

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·Discuss priorities and propose approaches to research and development relevant to animal identification and traceability.

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Approximately 500 participants are expected to attend, including:

OIE National Delegates and other national government representatives

Representatives of international standard-setting and economic development organizations

Representatives of the private sector (producers, processors, distributors and industry) and agencies that are involved in animal identification and traceability

Multinational food companies.

The Conference will take place over 3 days, comprising keynote speakers and Ministerial Statements on day 1, technical presentations on days 1, 2 and 3 and a panel discussion and the Conference Resolutions on day 3.

The Conference proceedings will be published, and a copy will be provided to each registered participant.

Determining

Compliance or Non-Compliance

(Spiritual Content, please read it through for the basic message regarding government. This just plain makes sense.)

Excerpts from Duties of the Heart

[Can we as a people or as an individual take what we have been so gracious given in resources and defy our Creator by taking what He has bestowed upon us and comply with an entity (name the entity-USDA, OIE, UN, FAO, etc…) whose allegiance is opposed to the very One from whom we all exist?]

“A person should make an accounting when he senses in himself an inclination to rebel against the Creator and to break His covenant. He should reflect and meditate on all that he has perceived, with his senses, of the world’s roots and braches, of its simple elements and complex beings, of that which is above and that which is below-how they all exist by Gods Word and keep His covenant. Has he ever seen any of them deviate from the restraining bond of God’s service against His word, or break His covenant?”

“Imagine [what would happen] if one of them were to violate God’s covenant: man would cease to exist! For example, if one of the elements were to violate God’s covenant and change its nature, or if the earth were to leave the center and the waters of the ocean were to flood out, bursting their bounds and engulfing the earth’s surface-would a man be left on the face of the earth?”

“Even more wonderful is the case of one’s own physical organs. If they were to violate God’s covenant [with them] visible were to become immobile, or those [naturally] immobile were to become mobile; or of the senses did not supply man with what they were appointed to bring him-then his constitution would break down, his structure would come apart, and his control fail.”

“How, then, can a man not be ashamed to violate his Creator’s covenant in a world that has not violated God’s covenant in his regard; when he does so with the help of organs and limbs-appointed by God to serve and support him-that have not violated God’s covenant in his regard?”

“Consider the following analogy. Let us say that there was a king who ordered a group of his servants to ferry one of his ministers, with the utmost care, over a mighty river to a certain place at a fixed time. The king then ordered the minister to do certain things for them, in that situation, and at that time.

The servants followed the king’s order in regard to the minister, but the minister neglected to execute the king’s order in regard to them. One of the servants then said to the minister, “You who neglect the king’s command, do you not fear that one of us will act toward you, as you have acted, and disobey the king’s order concerning us? [Are you not afraid that] you will fall into this mighty river and die a cruel death? Correct your error by repenting and begging forgiveness; because the king ordered us to neglect your safety, in the event that you neglected his order concerning us.” The minister awoke from his negligence and rectified his error.”

And you, my brother-reflect [for a moment]: Has any one of your organs or limbs ever failed to comply with the Creator’s instructions concerning you, when you wished to use it? Surely you know that the Creator has stipulated in his faithful Word that if you serve Him, everything in the world will be at your disposal and command; but if you defy his word, everything will defy your will.”

OIE/FAO Logo

http://www.oie.int/eng/en_index.htm

Under events

Manipulating Foot and Mouth

THE WAY TOWARDS GLOBAL CONTROL

ARROGANT OR WHAT?

The United States is adopting the Terrestrial Animal Health Code.  Your state is adopting the Terrestrial Animal Health Code.  Your county and city are adopting the Terrestrial Animal Health Code.  Isn’t it time you checked it out to find out how this sweeping living document will impact your life?

USDA Implementation of the United Nations (UN) Terrestrial Animal Health Code:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/oie/terrestrial.shtml

History:

The development of these standards and recommendations is the result of the continuous work since 1960 of one of the OIE’s Specialist Commissions, the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission. This Commission draws upon the expertise of internationally renowned specialists to prepare draft texts for new articles of the Terrestrial Code or revise existing articles in the light of advances in veterinary science.

This 17th edition incorporates the modifications to the Terrestrial Code agreed during the 76th General Session in May 2008.

Revisions:

These include revised chapters on the following subjects:

1. General definitions,
2. Notification criteria for listing diseases,
3. Obligations and ethics in international trade,
4. Import risk analysis,
5. Veterinary Services,
6. Evaluation of Veterinary Services,
7. Zoning and compartmentalisation,
8. Animal health measures applicable before and at departure,
9. Border posts and quarantine stations in the importing country,
10. International transfer and laboratory containment of animal pathogens, rabies, foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, bovine tuberculosis, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, equine influenza, equine rhinopneumonitis, equine viral arteritis, African horse sickness, African swine fever, classical swine fever, avian influenza and Newcastle disease.
11. Revised appendices on prescribed and alternative diagnostic tests for OIE listed diseases,
12. Categorisation of diseases and pathogenic agents by the International Embryo Transfer Society,
13. Inactivation procedures of foot and mouth disease virus and of avian influenza virus,
14. Surveillance for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, for foot and mouth disease, for classical swine fever, for avian influenza and for bluetongue,
15. Animal welfare (including introduction to the recommendations on animal welfare,
16. Transport of animals by sea,
17. Transport of animals by land,
18. Transport by air,
19. Slaughter of animals and killing of animals for disease control purposes,
20. Factors to consider in conducting the bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk assessment as well as on model veterinary certificates have also been included.
21. This edition includes a new chapter dedicated to small hive beetle infestation (Aethina tumida),
22. Six new appendices dedicated to the application of compartmentalisation,
23. Surveillance for African horse sickness and Newcastle disease,
24. Design and implementation of identification systems to achieve animal traceability,
25. Somatic cell nuclear transfer in production livestock and horses as well as to the role of the Veterinary Services in food safety.

The 2008 edition of the Terrestrial Code is a two-volume publication.

Volume one contains:

• Recommendations that apply to a wide range of species, production sectors and/or diseases (so-called ‘horizontal standards’),

• Volume two contains recommendations on specific diseases (so-called ‘vertical standards’) including recommendations on agent inactivation and on surveillance and risk assessment.

While the format of the Terrestrial Code has thus been significantly modified [supposedly], no significant changes in content (other than those approved at the 76th General Session, as mentioned above) have been introduced.

End Result:

The value of the Terrestrial Code is twofold: that the measures published in it are the result of consensus among the veterinary authorities of OIE Members, and that it constitutes a reference within the World Trade Organization Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures as an international standard for animal health and zoonoses.

Who will use this ‘reference document’?

The OIE Terrestrial Code is a reference document for use by Veterinary Authorities, import/export services, epidemiologists and all those involved in international trade.

User’s Guide Available

A users’ guide is available.

The Terrestrial Code is published annually in paper form in the three official OIE languages (English, French and Spanish), and in Russian.

The contents of the current version of the Terrestrial Code can be consulted in Web format.

The contents of the 2008 version of the Terrestrial Code will be published in Web format end October 2008.

More to come, the last revision was over 1000 pages

The Terrestrial Animal Health Code, another Living Document, has been updated for 2008. There are 1414 changes in just the Table of Contents alone. It will take some time to weed through.

http://www.oie.int/eng/normes/mcode/en_sommaire.htm

In May 2009 the Terrestrial Animal Health Code will update again to cover Chapter 1.1.7 Biotechnology in the diagnosis of infectious diseases and vaccine development, including text on nanotechnology.

Watch for it at:  http://www.oie.int/eng/normes/mmanual/a_summry.htm

From Corporate Watch:  http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3134

Users of Google’s newly released Internet browser, Chrome, were shocked to find out that, by downloading and using the program, they had agreed to give up copyright to their own files. The browser’s End User License Agreement contained a clause giving the company a “perpetual, irrevocable” license to “reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content” submitted or displayed through its browser, as well as “sharing” the user’s information with other organizations.

http://www.logicalimages.com/publicHealthResources/index.htm

Public Health Teams Are on the Forefront of National Security

Will the next threat be a cyclone, an earthquake, a bioterrorism event, the rapid spread of MRSA through a community – or the emergence of a rare disease?

How can public health providers prepare to visually discern among common diagnoses – or diagnose a disease they have never seen?

Visual Evidence at the Point of Care

(Visual EVIDENCE sounds like a FBI show-Why is your health care provider looking at EVIDENCE?)

Visual pattern matching is a proven innate human ability, with 65% of the population being visual learners. Visual clues are essential to accurate diagnosis, too – half of all diseases have a skin or pattern clue. (No need to be a physician any longer or read books)

VisualDx merges medical images with a problem-oriented findings-based search. Our Web-based point-of-care software system can improve diagnostic accuracy by 120%.

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• Cutaneous Anthrax