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Avian Flu

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, for facilitating this debate. I cannot underline and emphasise enough the importance of the point she made at the beginning of her remarks; that is, the need to do something about the exaggeration and the hysteria that surrounds the current outbreak of avian flu. Much of the blame lies with the absurd stories we have been regaled with in the media, particularly in the tabloid press. One headline stated: ““750,000 People in the United Kingdom Likely to Die””. I think that was in the Daily Express. In ““my soaraway Sun”” there was a picture of a flock of geese with the caption, ““Ducks of Death””. That sort of reporting is irresponsible—it is absurd—and needs to be addressed. Of course one has to be aware of the potential dangers, but it is essential to keep the whole thing in proportion. I understand that there are at least 144 strains of avian influenza, and most of the viruses in the wild bird population are benign. Here we are talking about the highly pathogenic flu virus H5N1 which can cause high mortality in domestic poultry flocks, but it is rare in wild birds. Indeed, it appears that H5N1 had never previously been recorded in wild birds before the recent outbreaks in south-east Asia, Russia and the countries bordering the Black Sea. The chances are that the infection originated in domestic poultry and was then transmitted to wild birds. What upsets me most about this—I have to try to control myself when I get involved in debates of this sort—is that, along with most ecological disasters, the blame lies essentially with the practices of human beings. We ought to have learnt the lessons by now. If we play dice with nature, there will be a price to pay, and the price is likely to be high. In the case of avian flu the cause has been clearly attributed to the methods of husbandry practised in south-east Asia where dense populations of domestic flocks are allowed to intermix with wild birds, especially water birds. The noble Baroness referred to yet another reported death, but to put the danger to human beings in context we have to remember that since 2003 only 60 deaths worldwide have been caused by avian flu. It is pretty tough if you were one of the people who happened to die as a result of avian flu, but when more than 60 people a week are killed in road accidents in this country, we must realise that the whole thing is getting out of proportion. To go from 60 deaths around the world since 2003 to 750,000 deaths in one country, as suggested in the Daily Express, is a statistical leap of quantum proportions. It really is about time that the headline writers on our newspapers behaved more responsibly. A further point of concern is the talk of carrying out culls of wild birds. Not only would that be unacceptable and incredibly difficult to implement, but it would also be unlikely to stop the potential spread of the disease. I believe that the danger to human beings is being exaggerated, but the threat to wild birds is real and genuine. It is estimated that between 5 and 10 per cent of the world population of wild bar-headed geese died in the recent outbreak in China. The real sufferers in the current avian flu scare, notwithstanding the people who regrettably and tragically have died, are domestic poultry. The last outbreak of avian flu in Belgium in 2003 resulted in the destruction of 30 million poultry, while there was one human fatality. In the current outbreak many millions of healthy domestic animals are being slaughtered, often in the most appalling circumstances. We have seen pictures of birds being burnt while they are clearly still alive. That is obscene and unacceptable. I do not understand what it is about human beings that we are so destructive of animal life. When wild animals affect domestic animals it is, ““Let’s kill the wild animals””. When domestic animals affect human beings then it is, ““Let’s kill the domestic animals””. We never seem ready to blame ourselves for the kinds of scenarios that we can see unfolding in front of us. The carnage is our responsibility and the cause of the problem lies essentially with us. I keep thinking about the BSE crisis, which was entirely man made. If you are going to feed herbivores reprocessed animal protein, how on earth can anyone expect that there will not be a price to pay at some later stage? There was, and millions of healthy animals were destroyed. I said at the time—I have said this in the other place on many occasions—that the programme of destruction owed more to voodoo than it did to science. My noble friend the Minister was a little put out by a point I made in a Question recently when I referred to the Daleks in his department. It was certainly true of the old MAFF. ““Exterminate them”” seems to be their answer to almost everything, whether it is bovine TB, BSE or, potentially now, avian flu. All I can say is, ““Thank God his officials do not run the National Health Service””. Clearly the answer to the current outbreak lies in improved bio security, primarily in the poultry industry. The noble Baroness also referred to the import of wild birds. I believe that the current temporary ban on the import of wild birds should be made permanent. I do not see any reason why we should allow this trade to go on. It is unnecessary, abhorrent and entirely destructive. When you look at the statistics you realise how appalling they are. The European Union is the largest importer of wild caught birds in the world, responsible for 93 per cent of imports of threatened and endangered species. This equates to more than 2.5 million birds imported into the EU between 2000 and 2003. When one adds all the illegal birds—which come in, I might add, under the cover of the legal trade—one realises how venal and destructive of wildlife this trade is. It will not come as any great surprise to my friends in the other place, and perhaps to my friends here, that I care more for animals than I do for people. I make that confession mainly because I have found in my experience that people as a species are fairly disgusting. That is something that I will have to live. No doubt Members will get used to it in the years to come. I am willing to bet my pension—which, in view of the previous debate, is probably a good bet to place—that there will not be a human pandemic arising from the current outbreak of avian flu. That is my prediction and that is the bet that I am prepared to make. But, of course, I have the comfort that, were I to be wrong on this occasion, I will not be around to surrender my pension.