ccheese
Member In Perpetuity
The Great Flu Conspiracy:
Conspiracy theories abound during pandemics, and now, with the emergence of H1N1, the internet is propelling the paranoia to new heights. [Google yields more than 2 million hits on the topic.] Yet no one has spun so intricate and technical a conspiratorial tale as the Australian blogger Jane Burgermeister.
Last summer, she lost her job as European correspondent for Renewable Energy World, an online publication, after filing charges with the F.B.I. against the World Health Organization {WHO}, the United Nations, and several top U.S. government officials, claiming they are part of a plot to de-populate the United States using tainted H1N1 flu vaccines. Burgermeister has also filed charges against pharmaceutical giant Baxter Health-Care and AVIR Green Hills Biotechnology of Vienna. In 2008 samples of Baxter's seasonal flu virus material supplied to AVIR contained traces of H5N1, the deadly bird flu strain. The problem was discovered after AVIR sent samples to several other European laboratories.
Baxter spokesman Christopher Bona said the samples were never meant for human or commercial use and blamed the incident on technical error. However, Burgermeister sees the error as intentional, part of a secret scheme to release engineered flu viruses so the companies
can profit by selling vaccines. Her web site, The Jane Burgermeister website - investigating the swine flu*pandemic is a mix of scientific-sounding warnings and political broadsides; it points to "evidence that an international corporate criminal syndicate, which has annexed high government office inside the United States, is intent on carrying out a mass genocide using an artificial [generic] flu pandemic virus and a forced vaccination program."
Why ? "To transfer control of the United States to WHO, the U.N. and affiliated security forces," Burgermeister asserts. Numerous flu conspiracy web sites - spreading virally almost as quickly as the flu itself - now link to Burgermeister's web pages, but critics say these venues are spinning an old saw: the notion of scientist as evil genius, a soulless automation pursuing money, power or unsavory schemes.
It could be that the risk intrinsic to science has given the theories a foothold. Columbia University microbiologist Vincent Racaniello, who helped develop the first artificial virus in the 1980's, cites the stir created four years ago when nearly 5,000 labs seeking accreditation were mistakenly shipped vials if the 1957 pandemic flu strain as part of their test kits. Conspiracy theorists portray the scientists as literally planning and creating global disease, but Racaniello says, "That is way beyond what we can do."
"Conspiracy theorists have always been around, and the internet allows them to meet and have a greater voice." says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "A common thread in all the conspiracy theories is that the world is in grave danger. Reality is often less scary, and hence less interesting."
Michael Shermer, executive director of the Skeptics Society, argues that conspiracy theories come from the ancient human tendency to stay on guard against preditors. "Paranoia runs deep in the human psyche." he says.
The above is an excerpt of an article written by Delthia Ricks for Discover magazine, the December 2009 edition. I stumbled on this while in a doctor's office and thought it worth sharing.
Charles.
Conspiracy theories abound during pandemics, and now, with the emergence of H1N1, the internet is propelling the paranoia to new heights. [Google yields more than 2 million hits on the topic.] Yet no one has spun so intricate and technical a conspiratorial tale as the Australian blogger Jane Burgermeister.
Last summer, she lost her job as European correspondent for Renewable Energy World, an online publication, after filing charges with the F.B.I. against the World Health Organization {WHO}, the United Nations, and several top U.S. government officials, claiming they are part of a plot to de-populate the United States using tainted H1N1 flu vaccines. Burgermeister has also filed charges against pharmaceutical giant Baxter Health-Care and AVIR Green Hills Biotechnology of Vienna. In 2008 samples of Baxter's seasonal flu virus material supplied to AVIR contained traces of H5N1, the deadly bird flu strain. The problem was discovered after AVIR sent samples to several other European laboratories.
Baxter spokesman Christopher Bona said the samples were never meant for human or commercial use and blamed the incident on technical error. However, Burgermeister sees the error as intentional, part of a secret scheme to release engineered flu viruses so the companies
can profit by selling vaccines. Her web site, The Jane Burgermeister website - investigating the swine flu*pandemic is a mix of scientific-sounding warnings and political broadsides; it points to "evidence that an international corporate criminal syndicate, which has annexed high government office inside the United States, is intent on carrying out a mass genocide using an artificial [generic] flu pandemic virus and a forced vaccination program."
Why ? "To transfer control of the United States to WHO, the U.N. and affiliated security forces," Burgermeister asserts. Numerous flu conspiracy web sites - spreading virally almost as quickly as the flu itself - now link to Burgermeister's web pages, but critics say these venues are spinning an old saw: the notion of scientist as evil genius, a soulless automation pursuing money, power or unsavory schemes.
It could be that the risk intrinsic to science has given the theories a foothold. Columbia University microbiologist Vincent Racaniello, who helped develop the first artificial virus in the 1980's, cites the stir created four years ago when nearly 5,000 labs seeking accreditation were mistakenly shipped vials if the 1957 pandemic flu strain as part of their test kits. Conspiracy theorists portray the scientists as literally planning and creating global disease, but Racaniello says, "That is way beyond what we can do."
"Conspiracy theorists have always been around, and the internet allows them to meet and have a greater voice." says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "A common thread in all the conspiracy theories is that the world is in grave danger. Reality is often less scary, and hence less interesting."
Michael Shermer, executive director of the Skeptics Society, argues that conspiracy theories come from the ancient human tendency to stay on guard against preditors. "Paranoia runs deep in the human psyche." he says.
The above is an excerpt of an article written by Delthia Ricks for Discover magazine, the December 2009 edition. I stumbled on this while in a doctor's office and thought it worth sharing.
Charles.
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