Plague and Profit - The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu - page 44

ledged an avian flu epidemic in two provinces and Japan announced the discovery of H5N1 among hens
in Yamaguchi prefecture. (The outbreak in western Japan had originally been concealed by poultry com-
pany officials—one of whom later committed suicide—and only came to light thanks to an anonymous
tip-off from a company employee.) 180
The WHO and its veterinary counterpart, the OIE, as well as the UN Food and Agricultural Organiza-
tion (FAO), were horrified to realize that bureaucrats and agribusiness spokespeople had for months been
covering up an avian flu epidemic of continental scope. (In impeccable, understated bureaucratese, FAO
Director-General Jacques Diouf observed that “the lack of timely reporting of infection to the national
competent authorities, OIE and other international bodies has contributed to the scale of the problem.”) 181
Facing an increasingly cynical world press, it became almost impossible for the international agencies to
accept the reassurances that continued to flow from Chinese and Thai ministries—the Chinese, in particu-
lar, seemed to have reverted to the Orwellian culture of secrecy and deception previously associated with
the Jiang Zemin camp. When another mystery respiratory infection swept Guangdong in January 2004,
officials dismissed it (shades of SARS) as the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae and refused to let the
WHO investigate on the spot. (A skeptical Chinese researcher told Nature : “But that can't be the whole
story. From a clinical standpoint, it seems to be related to a virus, and we cannot rule out the bird flu.”) 182
In Thailand, meanwhile, lies were being manufactured almost as fast as sick chickens were being
slaughtered and shipped to overseas markets. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Newin Chidchob talked
nonchalantly about a few cases of “avian cholera,” while Prime Minister Thaksin and his ministers, to
assuage a nervous public, “devoured a big feast of deliciously cooked, Thai-style chicken dishes in a na-
tionwide television broadcast.” 183 CP senior executive Sarasin Viraphol assured reporters that, although
the company would not allow the press to inspect its plants, avian flu was completely absent in Thailand.
In fact, as the Bangkok press later reported, the government had been colluding with CP and the other
giant poultry producers to conceal the epidemic by paying contract farmers with infected flocks to keep
quiet; official deceit gave the big exporters several months to process and sell diseased inventory as well
as to disinfect their plants and institute isolation procedures in their battery warehouses. Small producers,
however, were left alone to bear the brunt of the epidemic's human and economic costs. 184
Finally, in late January, with two young farm boys critically ill from influenza, the Thai parliamentary
opposition, led by maverick senator Nirum Phitakwatchara, was able to force Prime Minister Thaksin Sh-
inawatra to admit that H5N1 was, in fact, ravaging the poultry belt. His staff immediately off-loaded re-
sponsibility for official mendacity onto lowly provincial officials. “What looks like a cover-up,” Thaksin's
spokesman deadpanned, “was a misinterpretation of procedures. The most appropriate word is 'screw-
up.' Some agencies screwed up. We found there was lots of confusion about the kinds of information that
needed to be reported upstairs.” 185
Small producers, in response, screamed that “by denying the facts, the government was helping out
the major operators, but in the end it's us small farmers who are suffering.” 186 A Bangkok newspaper
contrasted the fate of big and small poultry producers in Sukhothai province. The commercial growers
“integrated” by CP and other conglomerates were notified about the epidemic in December and were
provided with antiviral vaccines by livestock officials, and thus their inventories were saved. But small
holders were kept in the dark about the disease, and as a result most of their chickens perished as did one
peasant's teenage son. “If we had at least known about the disease,” Laweng Boonrod told the press, “I
would not have allowed my son to go close to my sick chickens and he would not have died.” 187
The main importers of Thai poultry were also furious at the elaborate deception, none more so than
EU Health Commissioner, David Byrne, who had just returned to Brussels with Prime Minister Thaksin's
personal assurance that Thailand was free of avian flu. Byrne told the press that he “felt dishonored.” 188
The EU, Japan, and South Korea promptly embargoed poultry imports from Thailand, while the Bush ad-