A controversial proposal from U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to let bird flu naturally spread through poultry farms is raising alarms among scientists – who say the move could be inhumane and dangerous.

  • Cid Vicious@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Let’s not use the word “controversial” when “nobody with any qualifications would ever fucking agree with this” is more accurate. Controversial suggests a lack of consensus.

  • DicJacobus@lemmy.world
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    Who would have known. The russian mafia puppet government that’s doing it’s best impression of the New world order stereotype… is suggesting a population cull

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    The Secretary of HEALTH recommends letting a pandemic spread. Think about that for a second.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    Inhumane is ironic considering that the mere existence of poultry farms is inhumane. But yeah, it would be stupid, cruel and it will raise the chance of mutations that spread to other species including us.

    • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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      I think they really mean it would be inhumane if you consider the problem vis-a-vis the yardstick most Americant capitalists measure their “humanity” by, ie: less dollary-doos for them.

  • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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    I love how the U.S. spent like 90 years building up soft power around the world and we are giving it all up in like a 3 month span.

    Every person in charge of an agency, is literally not qualified to run a grocery store let alone the agencies they run.

    Its alll about loyalty now, and its going to send the U.S. back into the dark age.

    • oxysis@lemm.ee
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      We were already a 3rd world country in comparison to most of our allies. Now we are speedrunning becoming a 7th world country

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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        That’s dumb, leave the U.S. sometime. Despite the problems in the U.S., we are still one of the richest countries on the planet. I went to a plant in Mexico for work a few years ago, and there were people living in sheds with no running water, entire neighborhoods of that. Outside of homeless people, even our poorest people have it better than a lot of other countries.

        • DaveyRocket@lemmy.world
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          Says a lot about a country that they’d enjoy such riches and look to their neighbor and allow them to languish so. Really Christian.

          • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I mean, it’s not my choice. I can yell and scream about how my taxes are used till I’m blue in the face and they’re still gonna use it on the military industrial complex.

            • DaveyRocket@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              They really want us to believe we are powerless. They shoot people for making them wonder if that’s actually true. Idk, maybe we’re not so powerless.

        • pmtriste@lemmy.world
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          I live in the EU now, coming from the US. The US is almost comically backward. The effectiveness of its propaganda is incredible, that the people living there really don’t know what the rest of the world is like. Yes, I have been to Mexico. I’ve also been to towns in northern New Mexico where the majority of the population doesn’t have electricity or phone service. I’ve been to countries where much of the population lived in poverty, but most of them they still had phones at least. I’d say the US is currently just above mid tier from the perspective of median income vs cost of living. In the developed countries I’ve been to, even when they have lower incomes, they at least have much lower cost of living to make up for it. The US has got to be the most expensive place I’ve ever spent time in, except maybe Denmark. So yes, income is high, but I doubt seriously that there are many places less affordable for median-income residents, at least in the developed world.

        • oxysis@lemm.ee
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          I would love to leave the US, but I can’t afford that. I can barely afford to do to college as it is, I work full time plus do commissions in my spare time and I am thousands in debt just to pay for it. If I had the money to travel, I would instead spend it on moving somewhere where my access to HRT could be guaranteed, where I can be safer.
          This country might be rich but it is not turning that wealth around to help its people. I don’t get disability benefits despite being disabled because I am not disabled enough. I don’t get healthcare benefits, I have to pay out of pocket and I pay more per year because of things outside of my control.

        • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          comparing US to mexico was not the point. Mexico city is beautiful and modern however, comparable to new york city in my book.

          Japan is much nicer than the USA in almost every aspect. I really enjoyed traveling around Japan. I spent most of my time in third world countries, and still found a lot of aspects comparable. You know most of the world has nicer airports than us?

    • This is fine🔥🐶☕🔥@lemmy.world
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      I love how the U.S. spent like 90 years building up soft power around the world and we are giving it all up in like a 3 month span.

      Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.

      - Joker, The Dark Knight (2008)

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Every person in charge of an agency was literally selected for the express purpose of destroying that agency. It’s not incompetence, and it’s not an accident. It is deliberate sabotage and treason.

      • Retropunk64@lemmy.world
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        1 hour ago

        Thank you. The only thing they’re trying to run is our current system straight into the ground, so they can build their fascist bullshit on top of it.

    • coffeetastesbadlikecoffee@sh.itjust.works
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      checks notes Yup, I think “sending america back to the dark ages” is the intention. I actually think if written from the perspective of the men, a frightening amount of current gov leaders in the U.S. would unironically enjoy the “Utopia” in a handmaids tail.

  • ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ@lemm.ee
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    stand with rfk. americans voted trump twice into office and shows now sign of stopping their brain rott. bird flu is best that can happen. last time the facist leader was in office we had corona globally - lets just hope for a very localised (to the USA) bird flu outbreak to help the imbeciles remember 2020.

  • froh42@lemmy.world
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    BND: There’s a high probability that the last pandemic was caused by negligence in China.

    US: Last Pandemic? Wait, hold my pisswater.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    For the unaware, this bird flu variant has about a 50/50 survival rate. It won’t be like Covid.

    • robbinhood@lemmy.world
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      It’s a bit complicated. That survival rate primarily includes people who become severely ill and seek medical attention. Since it’s the most severe cases, the case fatality rate (CFR) will appear higher.

      HOWEVER, what also needs to be emphasized is that a disease with like a 10% CFR is probably a civilization (as we know it) ending disease. I believe covid 19 was between like 1-2% and we saw how it nearly broke our health care system, and that was with people more competent than RFK in charge.

      If a disease emerges that spreads as easily as COVID did and with a CFR rate 3 to 4X as worse, it’d obliterate the health care system very, very quickly. Then people are going to start dying en masse from preventable diseases, like common infections, moderate injuries (e.g. broken leg) etc.

      If a disease emerges that spreads as fast and far as COVID and has a 50% CFR, yeah that’d collapse most societies completely. Maybe some societies that can truly lock down and enforce social distancing, like China, could survive long enough for a vaccine or other solution to become available.

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    I remember when people laughed at the concept of the immune system being like a muscle, that needs frequent excercise, and with same excercise it could be built back.

    Good times.

    Nowadays I wonder when will people shoot each other with increasingly higher caliber bullets to build up immunity to bullets.

  • limelight79@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    If bird flu is such a minor issue, I say we inject it into Donald Trump, JD Vance, RFK Jr., and Elon Musk. Demonstrate how safe it is. Do it. Come on. DO IT YOU WUSSES.

    • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      why inject, since you can spread bird flu by coughing in the same room as them. Trump also is a well known germaphobe too, considered trump and his dad both bullied thier brother into suicide and alcoholism.

      • adj16@lemmy.world
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        I’m pretty sure bird flu currently cannot be spread person-to-person and that’s why it’s only a notable concern rather than a pandemic 2.0 level threat

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      Yes. Tell them we need their ubermensch genetics to base a cure on. Tell them they’ll be rich for it.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      Interestingly, my understanding of the way in which flu vaccine was (in part) produced involved injecting blood infected with a the flu into developing chicken embryos (eggs), allowing them to develop the flu, and several probably very complicated steps later, you’ve got flu virus particles for a vaccine.

      Any ways…