Bird Flu Overhype

Allright, I’ve had it. Just tuned in for a late night cable news roundup before I’m off to bed. And guess what was on two of the three news channels I polled? Updates on avian influenza. There was even a bird flu show on FNC hosted by Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich!

I will go out on a limb here and say now that there will be no bird flu pandemic! There will not be hundreds of thousands of deaths. Quick comparisons of a potential avian flu outbreak to the 1918 influenza pandemic and other disasters are nonsense, and the alarmist hyperbole describing supposed “super-morphing” viruses is reckless.

What science do I have do bolster my criticisms? None. But remember the Hanta virus? How about Swine Flu? How about the Avian Flu scare of 1997? Yakkety Yakkety Yak.