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[george]

We are awaiting news from The Public Relations Department regarding the bird flu. We will revert as soon as we know more, approx at 18:45pm BKK time.

We are waiting for a transcript of the event.

Edited January 28, 2004 by george

[mrentoul]

Here's something else in the meantime. Check out the bit in the white box. Says it all, really: Thaksin knows his own media is timid.

Thailand seeks to overcome credibility gap over bird flu cover-up

Associated Press

Asked by foreign reporters Wednesday whether the government's concealment had exacerbated the problem, Thaksin said, ``I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to answer questions from the foreign media.''

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Battling a bird flu epidemic, Thailand's government also has its hands full with another serious problem _ doubts over its credibility after it tried to cover up the outbreak.

More is at stake than just a tarnished international image: the cover-up may make it harder for Thailand to revive its billion-dollar chicken export industry, the world's fourth largest.

Hosting an international conference Wednesday aimed at fighting the disease, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra reportedly told delegates that bureaucratic inefficiency rather than any intention to hide the truth explained why the government didn't come clean sooner.

``The most appropriate word is screw-up. Some agencies screwed up in Thailand,'' government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters, adding that heads would eventually roll, but that firing people now would make it seem as if the government was looking for scapegoats.

The spokesman said Thaksin denied to delegates from Asian and Western nations as well as international organizations that his government had staged a cover-up. ``He said what looked like a cover-up was merely a misinterpretation of the procedures,'' Jakrapob said.

In an opening address to the meeting, Thaksin said, ``What we need most are facts and transparency, not speculation and overstatement.''

Before the meeting, suspicions and concerns about the Thai government's handling of the crisis had been raised.

The European Union and Japan _ the biggest markets for Thai chicken products _ have said that Thailand's word is not enough for them to lift their bans, imposed last week.

``Given the unfolding of the events in Thailand last week and the admission of the Thai prime minister that things were not as the public was led to believe, an independent verification of these measures (taken to check the disease) will have to take place,'' Beate Gminder, an EU spokesman, said Monday.

``In these circumstances in which we have seen non-transparency, only a complete reliance on Thai assurances does not seem to be the best way to go forward,'' Gminder said.

After weeks of denial, the Thai government admitted on Friday that bird flu had erupted. On Sunday, Thaksin said he had suspected ``for a couple of weeks'' that the disease had appeared in the kingdom, but kept it quiet for fear of sparking a nationwide panic.

Critics charge that the government covered up knowledge of the disease to protect the lucrative poultry exports.

``Thailand must find scientific proof to show that their cooked chickens are safe,'' said Yoshio Okawara, chairman of Japan's Market Access Ombudsman Council. ``We can't say when we will resume importing Thai chicken.''

Thaksin has said he thinks the bird flu outbreak will be under control within 30 days. But the disease appears to be spreading, with the government announcing Wednesday that about a third of the country, including Bangkok, has now been affected. There have been two confirmed human deaths from the disease and some 10 million chickens have been slaughtered.

Asked by foreign reporters Wednesday whether the government's concealment had exacerbated the problem, Thaksin said, ``I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to answer questions from the foreign media.''

[mrentoul]

Quote of the day from a man nobody believes:

``What we need most are facts and transparency, not speculation and overstatement,'' Thaksin told the delegates.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Accused of inaction and a cover-up, Thailand's prime minister on Wednesday demanded quick and decisive action to forestall a global bird flu pandemic.

Thaksin Shinawatra opened an emergency meeting of Asian ministers and international health experts by warning that the virus poses a serious threat to public health and could also devastate the region's economies, as they try to recover from last year's SARS epidemic.

Adding to the urgency and drama, the meeting went ahead despite a declaration by Deputy Mayor Prapan Kitisin that Bangkok was a ``danger zone'' after the avian disease was detected in a fighting cock, chickens and ducks there.

The national police chief has warned farmers not to throw dead birds into the nation's waterways, including in the capital's web of canals, to avoid spreading the virus.

The Thai government has been accused of trying to keep the bird flu outbreak secret to protect its billion dollar poultry industry. Thaksin said Wednesday bureaucratic inefficiency, rather than any intention to hide the truth, explained why the government didn't come clean sooner.

``The most appropriate word is screw-up. Some agencies screwed up in Thailand,'' government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters, adding that heads would eventually roll.

For weeks, Thai farmers complained that their poultry were dying of the same disease that had killed thousands of chickens in neighboring Vietnam. The Thai government initially claimed the birds were suffering from chicken cholera, a disease not harmful to humans.

Thaksin has since admitted that officials suspected for weeks the country was facing a bird flu outbreak, but had kept it quiet to deter public panic.

Thailand has so far confirmed two human deaths from bird flu, both children. Eleven other people in Thailand are suspected to have been infected with the virus, six of whom have died. Officials are awaiting test results, the health ministry says.

``The lessons of SARS must not be forgotten,'' Thaksin told the emergency meeting. ``Yet, as in the case of Thailand, the current situation has reminded us that even when we were so mindful of those past lessons, mistakes and human errors could always be possible.''

``What we need most are facts and transparency, not speculation and overstatement,'' Thaksin told the delegates.

``Not only does this pose a grave economic threat, forcing the elimination of millions of chickens, it also poses a serious threat to public health,'' Thaksin said.

``We must fight back before getting struck with a more deadly blow. Quick, decisive action to contain avian flu is therefore of the utmost importance if we are to avert a global pandemic that affects not only birds but also humans,'' he said.

``The enemy we face is no less deadly than SARS,'' Thaksin said, citing World Health Organization warnings that the bird flu and SARS viruses ``could constantly undergo genetic changes that make them hard to protect against.''

Bird flu-affected countries need to ``coordinate efforts and exchange views and information so that we can avoid the extremes of overreaction and complacency,'' he said.

The three-hour conference was attended by agriculture, health and foreign ministers from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Also at the talks were representatives from the European Commission, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan, along with experts from the World Organization for Animal Health, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the WHO.

Earlier Wednesday, officials announced that the bird flu epidemic has spread to about a third of Thailand's provinces, including the capital.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsutin said the bird flu had been detected in chickens in 12 additional provinces. The virus has now infected birds in 25 of Thailand's 76 provinces.

In addition to the two Thai children, eight people have died of bird flu in Vietnam, the only other Asian country which has reported human cases of the disease.

Ten Asian governments have reported outbreaks in poultry stocks. Millions of fowl have been slaughtered, including some 10 million in Thailand alone.

There has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission. Thailand is the world's fourth largest chicken exporter. Two of the country's biggest poultry markets _ Japan and the European Union _ have banned Thai chicken along with other countries. About 1.2 billion chickens are processed in Thailand annually, according to industry figures.

The EU earlier this week blasted Thailand for lack of transparency, saying it wanted independent verification before lifting its ban.

Government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said Tuesday that officials estimate the country has lost up to 3 billion baht (US$77 million) so far because of the bird flu outbreak.

[george]

The transcript is delayed as the press cenference is still going on, we are expecting a summary at approx. 19.45 BKK time.

[Spellbound]

Check out the bit in the white box as written at the section at the bottom of this report.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been under fierce fire at home, accused of a major cover-up and facing a general election early next year.

He is under fire from abroad, where the European Union, the second biggest customer of a Thai chicken industry earning more than $1 billion a year from exports, said it no longer trusted his government

.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Experts are gathering to figure out how to halt the rapid spread of bird flu through Asia, which has killed at least eight people and threatens to develop into an epidemic more terrifying than SARS.

Their task was huge now that the virulent virus has struck in China, the birthplace of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The world's most populous nation is home to a vast poultry industry.

So overwhelming is the job of killing tens of millions of domestic birds in hopes of removing the breeding grounds of the virus, international organisations have launched an urgent appeal for the money and expertise to fight an all-out war on it.

"This is a serious global threat to human health," World Health Organisation chief Lee Jong-Wook said on Wednesday. "We must begin this hard, costly work now."

The great fear is that the H5N1 avian flu virus might mate with human influenza and unleash a pandemic among people with no immunity to it.

So far, there is no evidence of people-to-people transmission. Humans infected so far are believed to have caught the virus directly from birds.

CHINA OUTBREAK "UNDER CONTROL"

But experts say no matter how remote the possibility, they fear it could happen and the WHO underlined that by launching its appeal with the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health.

A birdflu outbreak in China was what experts dreaded most given the speed at which the virus spreads.

An outbreak on a southern Chinese duck farm is under control, a government official said on Wednesday, as residents of the capital were urged not to panic on the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday.

According to USDA figures, nearly four out of five chickens in China are raised on household farms, making epidemics harder to control. The world's most populous country, which also accounts for 46 percent of total world egg production, said it had followed all the right procedures after discovering the case on the Guangxi farm.

Thailand, accused of covering up its outbreak for weeks, said on Monday two of its 76 provinces had been hit.

On Wednesday, it expanded its crisis zone to 25 provinces.

"Clearly it is of concern now that there is an outbreak here in China," said Dr Julie Hall, a WHO coordinator in Beijing. "It is very urgent that the matter is dealt with quickly."

COOPERATION, COOPERATION

The big hope for the Bangkok meeting of experts and officials is that the international cooperation which helped douse last year's SARS epidemic, albeit after nearly 800 deaths from China to Canada, can be reactivated swiftly.

But little appears to be available to fight the bird flu bug, unlike the fight against SARS in the similar early stage of the rampage of that disease, another one which passed from animals to humans.

There are no vaccines for it because the bird flu virus has mutated since first crossing the species barrier in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six people.

Seven of the eight dead were young children. No one knows why they are so vulnerable. No one is sure how it spreads, although wild birds are the prime suspects, or how it has hit 10 Asian countries from Japan to Pakistan in such a short time.

There is simply no historical precedent for such near simultaneous outbreaks so far apart, the WHO says.

The two latest countries to declare outbreaks present particularly alarming problems.

China's huge population and humans living in close proximity to poultry and other livestock in farms across the south alarm epidemiologists, who worry they will be cauldrons for the next big flu epidemic.

POLITICAL DIMENSION

Laos, an impoverished, largely agricultural nation of just five million people, has what the WHO calls a "very poor public health infrastructure".

"If the virus became embedded in Laos, we'll have very serious problems," World Health Organisation spokesman Peter Cordingley said.

The political dimension of the crisis is also acute for some countries, with small farmers who are dependent on poultry getting increasing agitated and stock markets starting to take hits as investors fear a SARS-like impact.

SARS cost Asia $60 billion last year and pummelled the airline and tourism industries, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Indonesia confessed it did not have the money to pay farmers compensation for killing their birds and so could not follow the recommended procedure of slaughtering all poultry on an infected farm and within a radius of up to five km (three miles) of it.

It will use vaccines, which are cheaper.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been under fierce fire at home, accused of a major cover-up and facing a general election early next year.

He is under fire from abroad, where the European Union, the second biggest customer of a Thai chicken industry earning more than $1 billion a year from exports, said it no longer trusted his government.

http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/article.aspx?as=a...ae=windows-1252

[george]

Thanks for your help so far, Spellbound and mrentoul. It is broadcasted live on Thai CH9, and my fax goes warm...

Seems that this is not a simple bullshit meeting, they are really trying to solve the ploblem?!

[george]

A first draft:

Asia agrees bird flu plan

BANGKOK - Asian governments have agreed to create a regional animal survey system and plug it into the health system to make

it easier to tackle diseases such as bird flu and SARS which cross from animals to humans.

Experts met today to figure out how to halt the rapid spread of bird flu through Asia, which has killed at least eight people and threatens to

develop into an epidemic worse than SARS.

Their task was huge now that the lethal virus has struck in the world's most populous nation, China, the birthplace of Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome and home to a vast poultry industry.

"We agreed to create a regional veterinary surveillance network and link it with existing human health surveillance mechanisms to promote

rapid, transparent and accurate exchange of information and provide early warning," said Asian governments in a statement on Wednesday.

"Areas of cooperation will include joint R and D initiatives to reduce the hazards of animal disease outbreaks on human health, share best

practices, devise countermeasures and develop effective low cost diagnostic test kits, vaccinations and anti-viral drugs," it said.

"As there is not yet evidence of human-to-human transmission, we agreed that the disease does not pose a threat to the travel and tourism

industry and travel restrictions are unnecessary," said the statement, read out by Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.

WHO URGES "TRANSPARENCY"

International organisations have launched an urgent appeal for money and expertise to fight an all-out war on bird flu that will require killing

tens of millions of domestic birds in hopes of removing the breeding grounds of the virus.

"This is a serious global threat to human health," said World Health Organisation chief Lee Jong-Wook on Wednesday. "We must begin this

hard, costly work now."

The WHO says the near simultaneous eruption of the virus across Asia from Pakistan to Japan has no historical precedent.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accused of covering up the outbreak for weeks, acknowledged "mistakes and human errors" and

called for a coordinated fight against the virus that threatens the region's economies and public health.

"Transparency and disclosure of information are essential to bring back confidence and trust to the general public," he told the meeting of 13

countries, the European Union and several international organisations.

The great fear is that the H5N1 avian flu virus might mate with human influenza and unleash a pandemic among people with no immunity to it.

So far, there is no evidence of people-to-people transmission. Humans that have been infected are believed to have caught the virus directly

from birds. Thailand has 11 suspected human cases, of whom six have died.

But experts say no matter how remote the possibility, every outbreak shortens the odds a little. The WHO underlined that by launching its joint

appeal along with the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health.

CHINA OUTBREAK "UNDER CONTROL"

A birdflu outbreak in China was what experts dreaded most given the speed at which the virus spreads.

The U.S. government says nearly four out of five chickens in China, which accounts for 46 percent of world egg production, are raised on

household farms, making epidemics harder to control.

A Chinese government official said a confirmed outbreak of the H5N1 virus on a duck farm in the southern region of Guangxi was under

control and Beijing residents were urged not to panic on the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday.

But Julie Hall, a WHO coordinator in Beijing, said an outbreak in China was worrying. "It is very urgent that the matter is dealt with quickly."

The unusually large number of ducks dying from bird flu in southern China indicates the bug has become more virulent, which will put more

people at risk of contracting it, a Hong Kong scientists said on Wednesday.

"H5 viruses are generally less fatal to ducks, so it is uncommon for so many ducks to die. This means this particular H5N1 strain has become

more virulent," said virologist Leo Poon from the University of Hong Kong.

"This means it can cause extensive deaths in poultry and this may in turn increase the chance of more people contracting it."

The big hope for the Bangkok meeting is that the international cooperation, which helped douse last year's SARS epidemic albeit after nearly

800 deaths from China to Canada, can be reactivated swiftly.

But little appears to be available to fight the bird flu bug, a dilemma similar to the early stages of the fight against the SARS epidemic,

another disease that passed from animals to humans.

There are no vaccines for it because the bird flu virus has mutated since first crossing the species barrier in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six

people.

Seven of the eight dead were young children. No one knows why they are so vulnerable. No one is sure how it spreads, although wild birds

are the prime suspects.

PARTICULAR PROBLEMS

The two latest countries to declare outbreaks present particularly alarming problems.

China's huge population and humans living in close proximity to poultry and other livestock in farms across the south alarm epidemiologists,

who worry they will be cauldrons for the next big flu epidemic.

Laos, an impoverished, largely agricultural nation of about five million people, has what the WHO calls a "very poor public health

infrastructure".

"If the virus became embedded in Laos, we'll have very serious problems," World Health Organisation spokesman Peter Cordingley said.

The political dimension of the crisis is also acute for some countries, with small farmers who are dependent on poultry getting increasing

agitated and stock markets starting to take hits as investors fear a SARS-like impact.

SARS cost Asia $60 billion (33 billion pounds) last year, the Asian Development Bank says, and pummelled the airline and tourism

industries.

Indonesia confessed it did not have the money to pay farmers compensation for killing their birds and so could not follow the recommended

procedure of slaughtering all poultry on an infected farm and within a radius of up to five km (three miles) of it.

It will use vaccines, which are cheaper.

--Agencies and thaivisa.com 2004-01-28

[mrentoul]

(Posted elsewhere on this board)

Please look out for a story in tomorrow's Bangkok Post where Thaksin proposes cash hand-outs to kamnan and village heads - the core of Thailand's ''grassroots'' democratic system - at the same time as proposing to do away with elections for those posts.

He says they should be picked by provincial panels instead (no doubt stacked by Thai Rak Thai-appointees).

He was speaking at a seminar on the same day as he told an international audience at the bird flu conference of the need for more ''transparency'' (for which read openness and honesty). This man's gall knows no bounds.

[george]

This thread continues here