PEN-L message, while Kerry sleeps....

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September 10, 2004

George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Re: The growing risk of a viral pandemic

Dear President Bush:

On August 26th, 2004 I sent you a letter urging action regarding an increasingly likely influenza pandemic from the Far East. The Centers for Disease Control's infectious disease scientists and their counterparts at the World Health Organization have been warning of a lack of preparation.

Today in the Wall Street Journal, there appeared an article entiled "Odds of Bird-Flu Pandemic Rise as First Thai Death is Confirmed."

You are on notice. Protect the people in this country. Heed the needs for more resources and more teams going to the Far East to work with the authorities to stem any outbreaks-before it is too late for hundreds of thousands of Americans left defenseless here at home from what the Journal called a "long-awaited influenza pandemic against which humans have little protection."
Sincerely,

Ralph Nader
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August 26, 2004

George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Re: The growing risk of a viral pandemic

Dear President Bush:

You are a president who is so preoccupied with the Iraq quagmire which you plunged our country into in a platform of fabrications and deceptions, now so well documented in the media, that you are seriously inattentive to a growing risk of a viral pandemic from China. The physicians and other scientists at the Centers for Disease Control growing risk of a viral pandemic from China. From their historical perspective going back to the Spanish influenza of 1918-19 (over 40 million lives lost worldwide) to the Asian flu of 1957-58 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69, such a wave of viral imports is overdue.

The scientists at the Centers for Disease Control know that there are not not nearly enough viral specialists and testing capabilities in China nor are there enough American infectious disease scientists stationed in China working with the Chinese authorities to develop an accurate early alert system.

In the past the sequence has been from infected ducks transmitted to nearby pigs and then to Chinese farm families who live in close proximity to these domesticated animals. Then it is on to the rest of the world and tens of thousands of lives lost. Americans have become accustomed to regular flu strains coming from China and many have taken flu vaccines. But what the scientists fear is the arrival of The Big One whose mortality impact is fast and toward which there is an inadequately supplied of perhaps a non-existent vaccine in time.

Now comes a report by Keith Bradsher in the New York Times (August 21, 2004) that Chinese health officials have found a "lethal strain of avian influenza among pigs at several farms, a discovery that could move the virus a step closer to becoming a potentially deadly problem for people." Once pigs are infected with both bird strains and human strains of influenza, the genes can mix and produce a new virus that transcends human immunity. According to The Times report, it is still not known whether the detected flu virus was living and reproducing in the quarantined pigs and whether it is passing from pig to pig. If this is starting to happen, it would be another step closer to a contagious disaster.

Why wait? It is important for you to call a Presidential conference on influenza epidemics and pandemics to highlight internationally the urgency of assigning adequate resources in funds and skills to foresee and forestall such looming threats to the health of millions of people here and around the world. Lacking success in prevention, these human and material resources would have the capability to develop vaccines and other preventive measures to limit the mortality and morbidity.

It is certain that the White House during the past three years has been put on notice from China to Atlanta (the home of the Centers for Disease Control) to Bethesda (the home of the National Institutes of Health). Such notice apparently is not enough to move your Presidency to action. These mutating viruses are not like human villains. You need to recognize that their indiscriminate destruction of innocent civilian, however, can be considered a form of viral terrorism.

Over and over again you have told the American people that the safety of every American is your highest priority. Regulatory non-enforcement belies this assertion. Let's see how far this concern ranges in the coming weeks. Consider this the first in a series of inquiry by your country men and women.
Sincerely,

Ralph Nader