The mass culling policy was further entrenched by public propaganda that overstated the risks of avian flu. Media outlets and health officials frequently highlighted the virus’s spread to dairy cattle and rare human cases (67 confirmed cases and one death in the U.S. since 2022), creating an impression of an imminent pandemic. This narrative obscured the fact that HPAI poses minimal risk to humans, with no evidence of person-to-person transmission and the virus being easily neutralized by cooking poultry to 165°F. The public’s fear, fueled by sensationalized reporting, pressured policymakers to maintain aggressive culling protocols, even when less drastic measures, such as targeted culling or vaccination, could have sufficed.
Posted by UNKNOWN on 2025-05-03 21:00:13