06/08 | Daily BF: Experimental Tests... "Informed Consent Waived in Public Crisis"

Link to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=199970

Here is an important link... everything you wanted to know about influenza, by Johns Hopkins: http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/33/450/Rashid Chotani.pdf

Informed Consent Waived in Public Crisis​

June 7th, 2006 @ 6:11pm

By ANDREW BRIDGES
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a public health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts called the exception unnecessary, ripe for abuse and an override of state informed-consent laws.

Health care workers will be free to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, according to the rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration.

In all other cases, the use of an experimental test still requires the informed consent of a patient, as well as the review and approval of an outside panel.

"To be candid, I hope it is a hypothetical problem. I hope we spent a lot of time creating a rule we never have to invoke," said Dr. Steve Gutman, director of the FDA's in-vitro diagnostics office.

Determining what constitutes a life-threatening public health emergency would be left up to the laboratories doing the testing. That creates the potential for conflicts of interest and other abuses, critics said.

"I don't like a rule like this because its most likely use is likely to be a form of abuse. The emergency exception it creates will be stretched to encompass non-emergency situations," said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute.

The FDA said it published the rule to ensure the ability to identify quickly whatever chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agent is involved in a terrorist attack or natural outbreak of disease. Doing so could save the lives of those being tested as well as of others exposed, the FDA said.

"Baloney," said Dr. Deborah Peel, chairwoman of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, a watchdog group. "This sounds like they're taking for themselves the right to test individuals every time they declare a public health emergency. There is no way getting consent would delay testing."

The FDA said that obtaining informed consent in those cases would be impracticable or unfeasible.

The rule lays out a scenario where a laboratory discovers what appears to be an unusual bug in a sample taken from a patient before a public health emergency was even suspected. With the apparent bug in the lab but the patient gone, going back for permission to use a confirmatory but experimental test _ often the only type of test available _ would introduce "unacceptable delays," the FDA said.

"They're basically overriding state informed-consent laws," said Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom. Blevins said her group advocates for informed consent but that in emergencies it could be sought after the fact.

"If they don't have the time to get it, at least inform them retroactively what's been done, so people can keep track of what information has been collected from them," Blevins said.

The rule took effect Wednesday but remains subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency.

"Nobody said two airplanes would fly into the World Trade Center, did they? We wouldn't have written the rule unless we thought it was a possibility," Gutman said.

The FDA said the lack of such an exemption impeded the public health response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, epidemic of 2003.

___

On the Net:

Food and Drug Administration rule: http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E6-8790.htm

http://www.620ktar.com/?nid=36&sid=187765

WASHINGTON (AP) -" In a public health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts called the exception unnecessary, ripe for abuse and an override of state informed-consent laws.

Health care workers will be free to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, according to the rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration."



PCViking.....you are always bring us such good news..... NOT !!!

New Freedom said:

WASHINGTON (AP) -" In a public health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts called the exception unnecessary, ripe for abuse and an override of state informed-consent laws.

Health care workers will be free to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, according to the rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration."



PCViking.....you are always bring us such good news..... NOT !!!

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Yea... well, in our days of government agencies sharing information and private agencies mining information and building dosiers on all of us... a little bit of bodily privacy would be nice, eh?

With this kind of bodily fluid sample taking being legal... they'll be sampling all of us and gathering information... for whatever... let your mind go wild... DNA profiles, genetics, etc.

These kinds of laws are about abuse...

Well, better to know what's going on, than not know, eh?

I don't like the sound of 'experimental tests'.........this is science fiction becoming reality.....

In a health emergency people suspected of being sick and fix'in to be subjected to experimental procedures by the health goons may shoot the crap outta those silly bastards Paine's Law

The bastards wanna stab health care workers with their vaccine...screw them. It would only make sense to make the victims guinea pigs for their sherades.. Trust me they're running in blind circles when they discuss such things...just prepare your butts off! My rant off.

I heard this on the way home from work tonite- I am BEYOND outraged about it. I have realized over the last year or so that the country I loved and believed in has died an ignoble death, but this is beyond the pale. I have objected in the past when folks referred to our current administration as Nazis, but truly, this is straight out of the Handbook.....A lot of folks sent bricks to members of Congress on the immigration issue- any ideas as to what we should send to the FDA? I sincerely believe that if every thinking freeman in this country does not stand up on this issue and scream blue bloody murder that we have truly lost the last vestige of freedom we still posess. CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING? I AM IN WASHINGTON STATE! I now know personally what the statement "Give me freedom or give me death" means. Again I say this is freaking outrageous! Don't let this one pass by without a whimper guys- They can already legally quarantine us at the drop of a hat- will we also subject ourselves to experimental testing at the whim of any lab that "decides" we need to undergo whatever they think might be necessary?

resq'd said:

I heard this on the way home from work tonite- I am BEYOND outraged about it. I have realized over the last year or so that the country I loved and believed in has died an ignoble death, but this is beyond the pale. I have objected in the past when folks referred to our current administration as Nazis, but truly, this is straight out of the Handbook.....A lot of folks sent bricks to members of Congress on the immigration issue- any ideas as to what we should send to the FDA? I sincerely believe that if every thinking freeman in this country does not stand up on this issue and scream blue bloody murder that we have truly lost the last vestige of freedom we still posess. CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING? I AM IN WASHINGTON STATE! I now know personally what the statement "Give me freedom or give me death" means. Again I say this is freaking outrageous! Don't let this one pass by without a whimper guys- They can already legally quarantine us at the drop of a hat- will we also subject ourselves to experimental testing at the whim of any lab that "decides" we need to undergo whatever they think might be necessary?

Click to expand...

Trust me alot of voices are soon to be heard LOUD AND CLEAR...I and many others belong to fellow state NURSING ASSOCIATIONS...trust me our input counts..but civilians need to start talking back as well...

You can scream and lobby all you want - it's already been passed and IS an inforceable rule via the FDA. "The rule took effect Wednesday but remains subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency."

Shades of the Third Reich

Outside of Munich is this place called Dachau.

In Dachau is a memorial to people who were medically experimented on without their concent.

Post #2 said:

In a public health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts called the exception unnecessary, ripe for abuse and an override of state informed-consent laws.


The rule took effect Wednesday but remains subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency.

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Certainly they're not talking about the same kinds of tests that were done in Dachau... but a prescident has been set here in the US.

Don't forget, that 30+ years ago, abortion became legal as a medical procedure to 'save the life of a mother'... it didn't take long before it became last option birth control. No, I don't want to argue abortion, just making a point. Laws like this do 'get out of hand' and get abused.

resq'd said:

I heard this on the way home from work tonite- I am BEYOND outraged about it. I have realized over the last year or so that the country I loved and believed in has died an ignoble death, but this is beyond the pale. I have objected in the past when folks referred to our current administration as Nazis, but truly, this is straight out of the Handbook.....A lot of folks sent bricks to members of Congress on the immigration issue- any ideas as to what we should send to the FDA? I sincerely believe that if every thinking freeman in this country does not stand up on this issue and scream blue bloody murder that we have truly lost the last vestige of freedom we still posess. CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING? I AM IN WASHINGTON STATE! I now know personally what the statement "Give me freedom or give me death" means. Again I say this is freaking outrageous! Don't let this one pass by without a whimper guys- They can already legally quarantine us at the drop of a hat- will we also subject ourselves to experimental testing at the whim of any lab that "decides" we need to undergo whatever they think might be necessary?

Click to expand...

resq'd, I know what you mean ! This 'smells' like what they did in Nazi Germany......

goatlady2 said:

You can scream and lobby all you want - it's already been passed and IS an inforceable rule via the FDA. "The rule took effect Wednesday but remains subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency."

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Yep it's the rule/law.but they better bring a butt load of badasses to dig me out of my home.

goatlady2 said:

You can scream and lobby all you want - it's already been passed and IS an inforceable rule via the FDA. "The rule took effect Wednesday but remains subject to public comment until Aug. 7. The FDA said it published the rule without first seeking comments because it would hinder the response to an outbreak of bird flu or other public health emergency."

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Thanx I think, missed under the wire...but we have to Aug7, I don't cave easily, nor do the state Nurses Associations, but thank you for the heads up.

Fuzzychick- How , and to whom are you going to be replying? As a citizen, I want my words to be heard as you said "Loud and Clear"- Am here as a backup- me and everone else I can drum up to support the scream heard round the world. "I will not go silently into the Night".....

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After reading the article (and then the replies). I am a bit 'taken aback' that no one seems to have pondered; "What do the PTB know that they are not telling us???

Has H5N1 gone ballastic? They surely must "feel" that something warrents "shoving a law down our throats!

There is some "shadowy reason" why all of a sudden the FDA "slams" in a rule/law; making it a binding ruling immeadately - then says it'll take commentray about what they did untill August!

resq'd said:

Fuzzychick- How , and to whom are you going to be replying? As a citizen, I want my words to be heard as you said "Loud and Clear"- Am here as a backup- me and everone else I can drum up to support the scream heard round the world. "I will not go silently into the Night".....

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National Nurses Association, we've got big mouths...

Amen, Thomas! On a side note, last nights news in Seattle had the health dept. on, saying that in the event of a pandemic, the public needed to be aware of the steps necessary to take care of bodies that could not be picked up right away- they are posting on their website the procedure to take to preseve bodies safely until they can pick them up.....I REFUSE TO CAVE IN TO THE CULTURE OF FEAR THAT IS BEING PROPIGATED HERE! Yes, we face dangerous times, but damn! Where is our courage? I will not trade freedom for a false promise of safety offered by a government that has proven itself to value it's own existence above and beyond those it has sworn to serve! Reality check everyone- who are we, and do we stand for anything at all?

Thomas Paine said:

Yep it's the rule/law.but they better bring a butt load of badasses to dig me out of my home.

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It's the rule right now...just wait till they deal with tons of pissed off health care workers with conscience...yep, I'll be the quiet one....

The Flying Dutchman said:

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After reading the article (and then the replies). I am a bit 'taken aback' that no one seems to have pondered; "What do the PTB know that they are not telling us???

Has H5N1 gone ballastic? They surely must "feel" that something warrents "shoving a law down our throats!

There is some "shadowy reason" why all of a sudden the FDA "slams" in a rule/law; making it a binding ruling immeadately - then says it'll take commentray about what they did untill August!

Click to expand...

Of course they know Dutch...it's the goobermint ya know......arghhhh

The Flying Dutchman said:

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<center></center>

After reading the article (and then the replies). I am a bit 'taken aback' that no one seems to have pondered; "What do the PTB know that they are not telling us???

Has H5N1 gone ballastic? They surely must "feel" that something warrents "shoving a law down our throats!

There is some "shadowy reason" why all of a sudden the FDA "slams" in a rule/law; making it a binding ruling immeadately - then says it'll take commentray about what they did untill August!

Click to expand...

Good point Flying Dutchman !!

What, Thomas Paine said !

GRrrrrr

Dutch- Yep- it could be here and now- it's pretty obvious that we're all pretty incidental in the scheme of .gov schemes, but I am a citizen of heaven, a human being, and a free woman, and by God, I will die one.....funny- when I was a kid, I used to think I was born at the wrong time. I should have been born in the revolutionary war days...maybe not so far from the truth, yes? Your posts have been very valuable to me in the past- you're a seeker....keep seeking and sharing. Many of us will be doing just what God has placed us in this time and place to do, and probably very shortly.

The Flying Dutchman said:

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​

After reading the article (and then the replies). I am a bit 'taken aback' that no one seems to have pondered; "What do the PTB know that they are not telling us???

Has H5N1 gone ballastic? They surely must "feel" that something warrents "shoving a law down our throats!

There is some "shadowy reason" why all of a sudden the FDA "slams" in a rule/law; making it a binding ruling immeadately - then says it'll take commentray about what they did untill August!

Click to expand...

The past couple of weeks have been like this... lots of 'don't worry articles, then WHAM! slight mention of something that the PTB didn't want you to notice.

When they say, don't worry... is when to have your alerts on high.

Bulls-Eye Dutch!

resq'd said:

Dutch- Yep- it could be here and now- it's pretty obvious that we're all pretty incidental in the scheme of .gov schemes, but I am a citizen of heaven, a human being, and a free woman, and by God, I will die one.....funny- when I was a kid, I used to think I was born at the wrong time. I should have been born in the revolutionary war days...maybe not so far from the truth, yes? Your posts have been very valuable to me in the past- you're a seeker....keep seeking and sharing. Many of us will be doing just what God has placed us in this time and place to do, and probably very shortly.

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Yep, odds are it's here, I'd make money if betting on the lotto, but you're right about something, many of us will be doing what the Good Lord intended us to be doing, we've been placed in our positions by fate and the Grace of God and it won't be pretty.

I totally agree that nobody should be experimenting on people without their consent, however, it LOOKS like what they were talking about was not performing experiments on people, but using experimental procedures on lab samples. That's not quite the same thing.

Kathleen

Freeholder said:

I totally agree that nobody should be experimenting on people without their consent, however, it LOOKS like what they were talking about was not performing experiments on people, but using experimental procedures on lab samples. That's not quite the same thing.

Kathleen

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Trust me, they wanted us health care professionals to lift our sleeves, what's to stop them from performing "quiet" experiments in the name of humankind on unwillinging participants.......

I think they will be getting a lot of brick shaped stool samples in the mail very soon.

This just makes me sick. NO. NOT SICK. I'm not sick, really. You want to jam that thing WHERE? I don't think so. AAAAIIIIEEEEE!

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<B><center>(AFX UK Focus)
2006-06-08 04:10 GMT:

<font size=+1 color=red>China reports first bird flu outbreak among poultry since Feb</font>

Article layout: raw
<A href="http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5669143&action=article">www.iii.co.uk</a></center>
BEIJING (AFX) - China has reported its first bird flu outbreak among poultry since February.

The Ministry of Agriculture said the new H5N1 outbreak was on a farm in Xinjiang, with an unspecified number of domestic poultry killed by the virus.</b>

China's national bird flu laboratory confirmed the cause of the deaths as H5N1 on Wednesday, the ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website.

Although a series of bird flu cases have been reported in China among wild birds in recent months, the last official report of an H5N1 outbreak among poultry was in February in the eastern province of Anhui.

kma/jah/dg/tr

Fuzzychick- Love your thinking! Nope, it won't be pretty, but my gut tells me that many of us have been "trained" in the avenue of suffering, and will stand till the very end- that is my hope. So, that said, What do we send to the FDA to express our outrage? Lab samples? For testing? At their discretion?

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<B><font size=+1 color=brown><center>CDC head says states should aim to contain possible bird flu </font>

BROOKE DONALD, Associated Press Writer
June 7, 2006 7:27 PM
<A href="http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=NATIONAL&ID=564748793367888055">www.newspress.com</a></center>
BOSTON (AP) - States preparing for a possible bird flu outbreak should focus on how to contain the virus because a vaccine will be unavailable for several months, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.</b>

The preparation could help medical centers, which are likely to experience shortages in staffs, supplies, beds and medicine in the event of a pandemic, Dr. Julie Gerberding said.

''Out of the starting gate there won't be any vaccine, it'll take some time,'' Gerberding told The Associated Press. ''So we've got to look at old-fashioned ways of slowing the virus down.''

The federal government has been preparing for bird flu, the name for the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu that has killed more than 100 people, mostly in Asia, to come to the United States.

The virus is typically spread from direct contact with contaminated birds, but scientists fear the virus will mutate and be passed person-to-person, which could lead to a pandemic.

''The old fashioned ways - setting up quarantines, wearing masks - are not high tech, but as we saw in SARS they can work. The goal is to slow down the spread,'' Gerberding said in a phone interview on her way to Boston for a forum on state bird flu preparedness.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told the AP Tuesday that local officials would be responsible for distributing vaccine doses once they're available.



Gerberding echoed his remarks, adding: ''Every community and its planners will have to decide how to distribute the doses. It's impossible for us to prescribe that federally.''

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/

The Flying Dutchman said:

=




<B><center>(AFX UK Focus)
2006-06-08 04:10 GMT:

<font size=+1 color=red>China reports first bird flu outbreak among poultry since Feb</font>

Article layout: raw
<A href="http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5669143&action=article">www.iii.co.uk</a></center>
BEIJING (AFX) - China has reported its first bird flu outbreak among poultry since February.

The Ministry of Agriculture said the new H5N1 outbreak was on a farm in Xinjiang, with an unspecified number of domestic poultry killed by the virus.</b>

China's national bird flu laboratory confirmed the cause of the deaths as H5N1 on Wednesday, the ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website.

Although a series of bird flu cases have been reported in China among wild birds in recent months, the last official report of an H5N1 outbreak among poultry was in February in the eastern province of Anhui.

kma/jah/dg/tr

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Yep Dutch and they were so upfront about the SARS outbreak...I don't trust them or their numbers.

Uh...wow...I don't get it...I've been around a long time but I had no idea that a government entity like the FDA had the power or the authority to relieve me of my personal liberty like this. Can you sue the FDA?

Going on in Carolina right now

Some hospitals are testing PolyHeme, an artificial blood product. If you are injured in an accident, the mere fact that you are being taken to the hospital is considered "implied consent" for them to give you this artificial blood.

Once you get to the hospital, you still will not get a blood transfusion...you will get more PolyHeme to see how you react to it.

The only way to ensure that you do not get this experimental product is to call Duke and tell them you want a bracelet, which you must wear at all times, saying that you decline to be in the study should you become injured and need a transfusion.

I think this is unethical

resq'd said:

Fuzzychick- Love your thinking! Nope, it won't be pretty, but my gut tells me that many of us have been "trained" in the avenue of suffering, and will stand till the very end- that is my hope. So, that said, What do we send to the FDA to express our outrage? Lab samples? For testing? At their discretion?

Click to expand...

I had a long happy post here that my pinky deleted...oh well....my point being that birdflu will travel from point A to B...it's only a matter of time from one individual on a transatlantic flight gets sick, leaves the plane and exponetially infects individual...imagine NYC, Boston, Washington? It just takes one and all those on the plane with the individual to really bring it home.

Health care workers will be free to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, according to the rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration.

Click to expand...

Seems to me like this is applied to samples taken from a patient, not procedures on a patient. The latter would be far more troubling...

If push comes to shove Woodshed, I wouldn't put much past them...I know it sounds downright evil, but hey, this is not an every year occurance...this is pandemic season.

San Antonio, Ten 'Clock news tonight they were telling how there were several cases of Legionaires Disease.

Not a cluster, no common source, different hospitals.

Now folks, don't worry about that upper respiratory disease its ONLY Legionaires.

I have to work tomorrow, will be talking with the guy in the lab.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/medical/stories/MYSA060706.en.legionnaires.6269b005.html

Officials trying to pinpoint source of Legionnaire’s disease

Web Posted: 06/07/2006 12:31 PM CDT
Don Finley
Express-News Medical Editor

Health officials are investigating 10 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in people from Bexar and Comal counties over the past two months to determine if a single source is involved.

Two of the 10 died, although one of those deaths involved a patient with advanced cancer. Most were elderly and all had some medical condition that increased their risk of contracting the bacterial illness, which is often found in damp conditions. One patient had recently undergone cosmetic surgery.

Healthy people generally are not at risk.

Bexar County sees a handful of cases each year, mostly in warmer months. The fact that all 10 cases were diagnosed in two hospitals in the South Texas Medical Center, and took place over the past two months, prompted the concern.

“It’s very early in the investigation,” said Roger Sanchez, an epidemiologist with the Metropolitan Health District, which is heading the probe with help from the state health department and a four-person team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The CDC team arrived on Monday.

Health officials are interviewing patients, going over hospital medical records and testing water sources for the bacteria. In past years, Sanchez said, Legionnella bacteria has been found on hotel shower heads, in hot tubs and even the automated vegetable sprayers in a grocery store.

“Obviously we want to make sure there isn’t an ongoing exposure somewhere that we can intervene with and get rid of,” said Dr. Sandra Guerra-Cantu, regional medical director of the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The bacteria typically causes pneumonia after someone breathes contaminated droplets. It is not spread person to person.

Thousands of people a year nationwide are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease, which was named for an outbreak at the 1976 American Legion conference in Philadelphia. The death rate is typically about 35 percent, although the bacteria can also cause a milder illness with cold-like symptoms called Pontiac fever.

A San Antonio outbreak in 1996 infected 16 people. The source of that infection was never found.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dfinley@express-news.net

Another unusual illness as posted by Bubba Zanetti here....

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=200105

Bird sellers say bird flu does not exist​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20060608172713&irec=1

JAKARTA (Antara): Bird sellers in Jakarta said Thursday they did not believe that bird flu really existed, although it has killed at least 37 people in the country, 13 of whom were from the capital.

"I do not believe that bird flu really exists. There is no bird trader here infected with the disease," Santoso, 30, a bird trader at Pramuka bird market in Central Jakarta was quoted by

Antara news agency as saying.

"If there is bird flu, all the birds in the market would have already died," he added.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah said Wednesday she was struggling to warn people of the danger of bird flu. During a seminar for Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group, Muhammadiyah, she said many people have seen information campaigns on television but "donot realize that they are directly threatened by the disease".

The World Health Organization said it was working with Indonesian health authorities to improve public awareness in the country, and the government is urging the public to avoid close contact with poultry for at least six months.

Data issued by the Health Ministry says that there have been 13 bird flu patients who have died in the capital between July 2005 and June 4.

According to Santoso, reports on bird flu are just rumors which have caused a significant decline in bird sales at the market.

"We have suffered losses from the decline in bird sales because the (bird flu) reports have frightened people from buying birds," according to Santoso.

A similar remark came from Romiati, 29, who sells animal food.She said her turnover declined by around 50 percent following the reports on bird flu. She called for fewer bird flu reports.

Indonesia has reported the most H5N1 cases this year. The nation of 238 million people is attracting international attention after seven members of a family from the island of Sumatra were infected, representing the largest reported instance in which H5N1 may have been spread among people and the firstevidence of a three-person chain of infection.

New human cases provide opportunity for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form that may kill millions of people, according to the WHO. Clusters of cases may signal the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans, not just birds. (**)