Our President said as much in the November 1, 2005 statement from the White House: "While your government will do much to prepare for a pandemic, individual action and individual responsibility are necessary for the success of any measures. Not only should you take action to protect yourself and your families, you should also take action to prevent the spread of influenza if you or anyone in your family becomes ill."
This is the White House talking, mind you, using phrases like, "... these new strains have the potential to sweep the globe, causing millions of illnesses, in what is called a pandemic." The official report, entitled National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, goes on to say, "A pandemic, or worldwide outbreak of a new influenza virus, could... overwhelm our health and medical capabilities, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of hospitalizations, and hundreds of billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs."
Too bad the White House never tells you what to do about it. The official response to bird flu, from virtually every government in the world, is all but useless. Here's the truth about what your government is doing to NOT protect you from this potential devastating epidemic:
Official strategy #1: Hope to manufacture a vaccine that takes three years to produce in quantity. Here's a strategy that just makes no sense at all. Let's ramp up production of a vaccine for an unknown strain of H5N1 influenza and try to stockpile it in sufficient numbers so that some small percentage of the population might someday be protected. Of course, it takes three years to manufacture that much vaccine, and it only takes a few months for the virus to actually spread globally. And plus, the virus can mutate again, rendering any "official" vaccine useless. Virologists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) know this all too well, but this isn't really being explained to the public.
Official strategy #2: Stockpile Tamiflu, a drug that will have its entire global inventory wiped out in a matter of days following an outbreak. Tamiflu isn't even being shipped to the U.S. now, thanks to bulk drug importers who are hoarding available supplies.
Official strategy #3: Tell people not to worry. Don't sweat it. We've got you covered. As much as 30% of the U.S. population might be infected, but don't worry. We're from the government, and we're here to help.
Consider this: there may be as many as five million people needing hospitalization if this pandemic spread throughout the United States. We only have 500,000 (or so) hospital beds. That one bed for every ten sick people. That means nine out of ten people will be turned away from hospitals. I call it the "go home and die" approach to public health. But don't worry. The White House is working on it!
On top of that, our public health infrastructure is already in shambles, thanks to a continuing state of oppression of herbal medicine, shocking nutritional illiteracy throughout the medical community, and the fact that more than 40% of working Americans have no health insurance.
To make matters even worse, the White House isn't talking about one of the most obvious problems with the whole "public health" approach to surviving bird flu: its the doctors and medical personnel who will be infected first. It happens in every epidemic: the health care workers are exposed to the carriers, and they become infected. This turns hospitals into a viral propagation machine. Don't believe me? Just read your history books on Ebola, Marburg and all the hot zone microbes coming out of Zaire. Read the history of the 1918 influenza outbreak. It will open your eyes.
So why isn't the conventional medical community telling people about these natural antiviral solutions? The answer is obvious: we still live in the Dark Ages of modern medicine, where anything associated with nutrition, herbs or alternative therapies is routinely discredited. You never hear, for example, that the Tamiflu drug is actually manufactured from an ancient Chinese herb (star anise). That fact remains largely hidden from the public. People are just told it's a drug.
Similarly, people aren't informed about the antiviral potential of natural therapies. And this is potentially a fatal mistake that could cost the lives of millions around the world. Because it is nature, not synthetic drugs or modern medicine, that can save you from the bird flu virus. Nature has the answers, not your government.
That's why, if the pandemic strikes, I'll be especially careful to avoid contact with medical personnel (who are far more likely to be infected). Instead, I'll start munching away on my antiviral plants, foods, herbs and medicines. And even if I get exposed to the bird flu, I'll easily fight it off with the help of these natural health solutions. If I sound overly confident, it's only because I've actually read the thousands of research studies describing the antiviral properties of selected foods, herbs and medicines. I've also been preparing my own garden: I'm growing eight different kinds of antiviral plants right now, and the longer it takes bird flu to strike, the more plants I'll have to go around.
But I can't speak for everyone else. Not everyone lives a healthy lifestyle. Few people actually follow a healthy diet. Most peoples' immune systems are seriously compromised. Some people will need medical care, so I'm not suggesting that everybody else should follow my own personal bird flu plan. That's up to you. But I am saying that my own bird flu survival plan is a simple, effective, natural one that does not require me put my health into the hands of President Bush. (Scary thought, huh?)
I've also written a larger book, How to Beat the Flu which goes into more detail and lists the top antiviral foods, herbs, products, and vitamins / minerals. These is the book to get if you want to know EXACTLY what to buy to prepare for the bird flu virus. (And by the way, I don't sell any antiviral products, and I earn no money on the antiviral products I recommend.)
In addition, all the articles and commentary I've written on the bird flu are indexed on www.BirdFluReport.org. There, you'll find articles and news headlines that keep up with the latest news on this potential pandemic. This is updated daily.
All you have to do is educate yourself about all the antiviral solutions found in nature, then acquire those. And if you can grow some plants, then grow some of these antiviral herbs yourself, so you'll always have a living supply (that's what I do).
Finally, take action now to prepare for a major immune system assault. Give up that unhealthy lifestyle: smoking, drinking soda, eating fried foods, red meat, hydrogenated oils, etc. Learn how to live on healthy, living foods like fresh vegetable juices (get yourself a Juiceman machine, Vitamix or a Champ HP3 blender). Buy some antiviral herbs or tinctures and store them in your refrigerator (they'll last longer that way). And don't be the last person in line to buy a bird flu mask. Supplies will be wiped out within days after the announcement of a human-transmittable bird flu discovery on U.S. soil.
Surviving the bird flu virus is straightforward and relatively simple. It's not rocket science, and you don't have to wait in line for Tamiflu or a flu vaccine (although if you can actually get your hands on Tamiflu or a suitable vaccine, it may very well be a wise decision to go ahead and use them in addition to the other things you're preparing). We have far better information today than our ancestors did during the 1918 pandemic that killed twenty million people. They didn't have a clue what to use, and there wasn't an internet to teach them. But today, you have access to the most amazing healing plants and natural therapies in the world. That is, as long as you don't wait until the last minute to get some for yourself.
The bottom line on all this? The White House is at least acknowledging the bird flu virus is a potentially devastating problem. That's actually a step in the right direction. But don't count on the White House or our public health care system to save your skin. The vaccines and drugs will be wiped out in a matter of days. If you want to protect yourself (and your family), you have to teach yourself how to reduce your viral load using natural healing therapies (specific foods, herbs, minerals, products, etc.). And then stock up on what you need as an insurance policy.
It's cheap, it's easy, and it's very effective against viruses. Does it absolutely guarantee it will protect you from the bird flu pandemic? Of course not. There are no such guarantees. But the White House isn't offering any guarantees either, and the truth is that the more you teach yourself and the more you prepare, the better your odds of beating the bird flu if it strikes.