Free Chicken barbecue parties nationwide

[francois]

hi'

news .... or how far can stupidity goes

Chiang Mai celebrates !!!

chicken given to eat on Tapae Gate in Chiang Mai

it's free from any virus and free to eat , "take and eat, it's safe" they say

any comment ?

francois

[pal78]

It is safe to eat.... what's the problem?

Sometimes the smaller bones, or fragments of bone can get stuck in the throat, but that's about as dangerous as it's going to get.

Dead birds and therefore cooked birds do not have the virus. WHO says!

[Dove]

Best place for infection if it spreads. This place is quite filled with pigeons.

[meadish_sweetball]

Yes, I believe the WHO too... but I will just repeat what some of my Thai friends say - when the Prime Minister eats a chicken which has decidedly died by bird flu, and then has been cooked, I will follow his example and start eating chicken again.

I find it very hard to believe that the chickens the promoters have eaten so far have even lived at farms where the virus is present.

I feel sorry for the chicken farmers, but I'll wait a few months anyhow. Now rediscovering vegitarian food. Great stuff, really.

[george]

Thailand confident it will be free of bird flu by end-February

BANGKOK : As Thailand gears up for its "National Chicken Feast" on Saturday [today], government officials are confident the kingdom will be free of bird flu by the end of the month.

Their upbeat assessment comes despite skepticism from World Health Organisation representatives and activisits.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jathusripitak had originally declared that the country will be free of avian flu by this weekend.

But with infected chickens still being found in the capital Bangkok and with at least 39 other provinces under close surveillance, his comments were met with widespread skepticism.

Banyat Bantatarn, Thai Opposition Leader, said: "I want the government to be very careful when deciding to declare infected zones safe. If they are not 100 percent sure, they should wait because if there is a recurrence, the country's credibility will take another hit."

Local representatives of the World Health Organisation have voiced the same concerns.

They say that although they sincerely want Thailand to be free of the avian flu, there are still some areas that need to be re-evaluated.

Avian influenza or bird flu has killed five people in the kingdom. Another 20 suspected cases have been reported.

WHO officials believe the higher number of cases is due partly to improper steps taken by those trying to prevent bird flu from spreading.

They said proper preventive measures were not thoroughly exercised during the culling and disposal of birds, some of which could have been infected.

But Thai authorities insisted that appropriate steps are being taken.

However, the government now said the country would be bird flu free not this weekend, but later this month.

Somkid Jathusipitak, Thai Deputy Prime Minister, said: "We will be conducting random checks to make sure that there are no reoccurrences of the virus anywhere in the country. It will be completed by the end of this month."

Officials are also looking ahead to recovery measures after ridding the kingdom of the H5N1 virus.

Final talks about compensation to chicken farmers will soon take place.

And standards of chicken farms will be improved nationwide to try and ensure such a health crisis does not occur in the future.

-- CNA 2004-02-06

[george]

How can the Thai government arrange Free Chicken Parties contrywide when people still are dying of the flu in Thailand?

I normally avoid to discuss politics in this forum, but isn't it enough now, PM Thaksin?? Any plans to resign?

[ovenman]

How can the Thai government arrange Free Chicken Parties contrywide when people still are dying of the flu in Thailand?

Perhaps the free chicken for the masses is the opening salvo in the war that's been declared on the poor?

[george]

Thailand expects to stamp out bird flu in days - PM

BANGKOK - Thailand hopes to clear its last bird flu outbreak within the next two days and the country's fast growing economy will not take a major hit from the epidemic, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday.

Thailand, the world's fourth biggest chicken exporter has slaughtered 26 million fowl and was confident the virus was under control, Thaksin said.

"There is only one red zone, in Bangkok at Lat Krabang. We hope to clear that within one or two days," Thaksin, accused by newspapers and the political opposition of covering up the outbreak, said in his weekly radio address to the nation.

Last week, Thailand, one of the worst hit of the eight Asian countries struck by the H5N1 virus which has also killed 18 people, had more than 140 of the "red zones", the five-km (three-mile) area around a confirmed outbreak within which the government orders the slaughter of all poultry.

Officials say they will go back over all the former red zones to make certain bird flu, which has killed at least five Thais as well as at least 13 Vietnamese, has been eradicated.

The government, which admits it was slow to realise there was a bird flu epidemic but says it acted swiftly once it did, is now trying to persuade people who have shunned poultry during the crisis to eat chicken again.

The Bangkok Post newspaper said army chefs across the country had been ordered to put chicken back on their menus in a bid to allay public fears.

Army chief General Chaisit Shinawatra had instructed mess halls to serve chicken at least three days a week to both officers and other ranks, it said.

"Soldiers will serve as role models in proving it was safe to eat well-cooked chickens," it quoted a military official as saying.

CHICKEN EATING FAIRS

The government also organised "chicken-eating fairs" across the country on Saturday in a bid to convince people that the experts are right to say well-cooked chicken and eggs pose no danger.

Thaksin, clad in a white hat and apron, chopped a chicken, deep-fried it and handed it round at the main event at Bangkok's 30-acre (12-hectare) Sanam Luang in the shadow of the Grand Palace.

"The event today is to tell every Thais that well-cooked chickens are safe, not just 100 percent safe, but a million percent safe," he said as an estimated 5,000 people queued up to eat free fried chicken and boiled eggs.

The other main event was a bid to make a world record size Kai Pa Lo, a sweet Chinese style soup eaten with rice, with 10,000 eggs.

"I don't care much whether foreigners buy Thai chicken. What I do really care about is my people. They should not panic," Thaksin said.

Not everyone was convinced.

"I ate chicken at the fair. I'm not afraid because the Prime Minister will take fresh chicken from closed farms without the virus. But I am not sure that chickens in the market are virus free," said a 60-year-old housewife.

Thaksin, who had said the economic impact would be "minimal, admitted in his radio address it was possible it could be greater than anticipated initially, but he said he was confident growth this year would meet his eight percent target.

"In the worst case, the economy will grow six percent," he said. "But I assure you it should grow more than 7.5 percent."

"We will be trying to meet the eight percent growth target and I am confident we can," he said.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect growth of seven percent in 2004 after an estimated 6.3 percent rise in 2003.

Thailand, which rears one billion chickens a year and earns more than $1 billion from poultry exports, has slaughtered 26 million birds, by far the greatest number of the 10 Asian countries struck by flu.

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates 50 million poultry have been killed in Asia, including Taiwan and Pakistan which have reported outbreaks of a milder strain which cannot cross the species barrier.

-- Reuters 2004-02-07

[huski]

"I don't care much whether foreigners buy Thai chicken. What I do really care about is my people. They should not panic," Thaksin said.

so the EU ban for 6 months means nothing to thaksin and the effects it will have on thailand as the fourth largest chicken exporter of the world.

is there anyway we can extend the gag order for thaksin from 7 days to 6 months?

The Bangkok Post newspaper said army chefs across the country had been ordered to put chicken back on their menus in a bid to allay public fears.

Army chief General Chaisit Shinawatra had instructed mess halls to serve chicken at least three days a week to both officers and other ranks, it said.

what's next? farangs won't be able to get a visa extension unless they eat a piece of chicken at immigration?

[cdnvic]

Free chicken? Naw, I'm sick of it.

Gonna put all my efforts into developing a strain of Pizza Flu

As for the mass feeding of chicken to that many people, I'd be more worried that they wouldn't cook it enough in the rush to feed everyone and have a bad bout of salmonella (present in most poultry) getting loose and causing everyone who ate there to panic.

"Thaksin Poisons Thousands" The Nation

"Gastro-intestinal problems lead to record profits for hospitals" Bangkok Post

cv

[markt]

BANGKOK - an estimated 5,000 people queued up to eat free fried chicken and boiled eggs.

Apparantly a group a Pattaya balloon chasers were first in the queue.

[francois]

How can the Thai government arrange Free Chicken Parties contrywide when people still are dying of the flu in Thailand?

I normally avoid to discuss politics in this forum, but isn't it enough now, PM Thaksin?? Any plans to resign?

I do agree ...

after all these lies, launching such a campaign is a shame ...

no respect for the families who lost someone ...

and for those to come ...

francois