buy some shares in vaccine manufacturing companies...

[McKenzie]

...maybe...

I don't know much about Bird Flu apart from reading posts here and following the links. I posted a question earlier today to ask if a vaccine existed or whether one was under development. It seems the jury is out on whether it can jump the species barrier.

Notwithstanding the ambiguity over that question there is no doubt that it has created a lot of fear. Scary pictures have appeared on the net showing people in protective masks handling birds, an emergency meeting in the EU and so on. Result: Fear and alarm, that great generator of the headless chicken (sic) boogie. So if Bird Flu does eventually jump the species barrier there will be a big market for any vaccine that gets developed because people will be crapping themselves.

The reason I asked about Bird Flu was that I found an article dating back to January 2003. The article appeared on Reuters and it made me a tad suspicious; see link below.

The article itself seemed to be just a simple commentary on business growth. What struck me about the article was the following statement:

<snip>

At the same time, the threat of bioterrorism in the wake of September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States has spawned a new business in supplying vaccines against smallpox following fears that the deadly virus might be used as a weapon.

</snip>

Hmmmm...

I'm probably paranoid but I wouldn't put anything past this shower. After all, Iraq has made megabucks for private companies as a result of what is almost certainly collusion between government and corporate interests. Moreover, the Reuters article appeared in January 2003 and it predicted:

<snip>

Sales of vaccines, once considered a commodity market, are booming with global revenues set to reach nearly $10 billion in 2006 from $5.4 billion in 2001, according to research published on Tuesday.

</snip>

More hmmmm...

And look who the beneficiaries of the big profits will be as vaccine demand soars...our bestest friends, the corporations.

<snip>

The global vaccines market is currently dominated by four large pharmaceutical companies -- Aventis SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Wyeth and Merck & Co Inc -- which together account for almost 85 percent of sales.

</snip>

Worth thinking about this amongst all the hype about Bird Flu...just in case it is bloody hype for yet more fleecing of an unsuspecting public profit making.

http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/vaccines10billionby06.html

[Village Idiot]

1. Why bother? Indian and Pakistani GENERIC companies...

will be supplying most of the world other than those tied to Big Pharma...