Laurie Garrett has an absolutely must-read article in today's International Herald Tribune: Unless we act now, bird flu may win. Here's an excerpt:
By June or July, if the biological imperatives continue to follow their course, H5N1 should turn up in eastern Siberia, and then Alaska, via the East Asia flyway. It might also at that time jump from Iceland, via Greenland, to northern Canada.Once in the Arctic zones of the Americas, H5N1 will be able to follow any, or all, of the four primary north/south flyways that span the Americas, from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego. It is in the realm of reasonable probability that H5N1 will reach the United States this summer or early autumn.
Instead of simply sitting back and watching nature take its course, the global community should be proactive.
Update: Here's an interview with Laurie Garrett in emagazine, an environmentalist periodical, from last summer. Still very much worth reading.
