Conspiracy theory on the swine flu

MIGGY and I were recently discussing about the swine flu and I, in my usual conspiracy theory mode, ventured that for all we know, Influenza A (formerly known as swine flu) caused by the H1N1 virus, is a result of experiments by the U.S. government. After all, nuclear weapons and missiles will no longer be the weapons of choice when a country goes to war; it will most probably engage in biological warfare. The U.S. government cannot afford not to have such a capability, otherwise it will be at the mercy of warmongering countries who already have biological weapons of mass destruction.

As it turns out, the CDC had in fact, planned to do experiments on avian flu and mix it with the virus that causes human influenza back in 2004. Even the World Health Organization had begged CDC to do these experiments to prepare the world against a possible flu pandemic. So Influenza A maybe was not made by mad genius evil scientists in the U.S. for use by the U.S. military when it goes to war, but it still could be the result of actual experiments. Read this and this.

Don't say I didn't warn you

Philippines Moves to Fight Pig Ebola
Dec. 19, 2008

But health officials say it is too early to rule out a possible threat to humans, and expressed concern over the fact that this incident, first revealed in an Oct. 30 teleconference between the Philippine government and U.S. health authorities, wasn't made public until a news conference for local media in Manila last week. (Read the rest in Wall St. Journal.)

(Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap)

What a coincidence, but shortly after reading this, I received a phone call from a leader in the local hog industry who was calling about a totally unrelated matter, but after peppering him w/ questions about the issue, admitted that they tried to dissuade Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap from publicly announcing the Ebola Reston virus outbreak.

If not for the insistence of the World Health Organization, OIE, and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the DA officials would've kept quiet on the issue, leaving the public in the dark about possible risks to our health. Salamat Arthur Yap, ang galing mo talaga.

UPDATE (Dec. 20, 2008,11:58 AM): I've just been told that a similar WHO story was supposed to have been published in a major broadsheet today but was killed, not just by the editors, but by the WHO officials themselves. The WHO officials were supposedly afraid to offend the presidentita. Tsk, tsk...when even a global org such as WHO turns on its tail on a vital issue such as this, and gets caught up in the politics of a country it's in, then it is useless. Afraid to offend Malacañang but not afraid to risk the health of Pinoys, ey? Tsk, tsk.