Posted on 04/28/2009 10:06:00 PM PDT by DrGop0821
DHS Chair Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to avoid using "swine flu" or "pig flu" today, opting instead to call the virus by its given name "Obama's Flu"...er, H1N1.
Look. I don't care what they call it, but let's fix the problem before it becomes a worldwide pandemic!
You can put lipstick on a swine, but it's still killing people! Overseas Immunodeficiency Operation? What is it with these people?
U.S. officials want 'swine' out of flu name
What's in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu.
At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the "H1N1 virus."
"This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that's not what this is about," Vilsack said.
Israel has already rejected the name swine flu, and opted to call it "Mexico flu." Jewish dietary laws forbid eating pork.
The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.
And there is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus -- although disease expert Anthony Fauci told a Senate hearing the "swine flu" designation reflected scientific naming protocol.
For U.S. pork producers the swine flu name has hurt, forcing government officials into the position of stressing that American pork is safe to eat and that other countries should not ban imports.
Pork, soybean and corn prices have fallen in the last two days, "and if this continues, obviously you have significant potential, which is why it's important to get this right," Vilsack said.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was also talk of stripping the "swine" from swine flu, which CDC acting director Richard Besser said was leading to the misapprehension that people can catch the disease from pork.
"That's not helpful to pork producers. That's not helpful to people who eat pork. It's not helpful to people who are wondering, how can they get this infection," Besser told a briefing.
Porcine health challenged!
They don’t want to offend the muslims who get the ‘swine flu’. Get it?
Foreign Viral Contingency????
If you don’t have the sense to know what swine flu means then you don’t deserve to purchase pork roast at $1.70 a lb.
Quite frankly call it what you would like. I am still eating sausage and ham.
Swine Flu is Coming ---
Please avoid this type of behaviour
I guess after the new name takes effect, we’ll be seeing it in those countries too.
They will never cop to it unless they change the name.
Could it be that I actually agree with something this administration has said?????!! Nah, not really. I do think that this should be called Mexico Flu or Mexiflu—I actually agree with the Israelis on this. Swine flu is way too simplistic given that it is a double swine+avian+human virus, the H1N1 name is too technical; Mexiflu is where it originated; like Spanish Flu, it fits. Just sayin....
Chimera Flu sounds good to me.
Another poster mentioned it-maybe it was LibertyRocks?
Well, the truth is, it’s a “hybrid” flu, most likely the product of genetic engineering here in the U.S.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/jan1404hybrids.html
True swine flu doesn’t jump between swine and humans terribly well; this flu is a combo of 3 possibly 4 strains.
“Chimera Flu sounds good to me.
Another poster mentioned it-maybe it was LibertyRocks?”
Yep, probably! LOL
Chimera Flu is actually my daughter’s suggestion from the other night when she and I were discussing this. [My daughter is FReeper/Lurker Izzy_Box]
THE OTHER WHITE MEAT COUGH, FEVER AND SNIFFLE DISEASE!
Or a shortened version:
THE OTHER WHITE MEAT DISEASE!
Husse1N-1st flu fits nicely.
I’m calling it Manbirdpig.
Yeah, “mexican” is already far too close to being an epithet.
Cerdo flu
I’ve already volunteered to step up and double my pork intake. Although, I do agree with the point that swine flu lends the thought of it being a food born illness, and it is not. Good thing is, more pork for me.
AMEN! AMEN! THX.
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