When in a rush, post a press release. I am still at my conference, and not getting a chance to blog. So as not to desert my blog completely, here’s a press releasr from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

And it makes sense. Right now, all bird flu in humans has been caused by very close contact with infected birds, like chickens and ducks. Like eating raw infected birds. And if people ate less birds and animals, the number of farms would decrease (thus less harboring of the microbes) and thus less spread.

Anyway, think about bird flu before you next sink your teeth into a chicken breast…

Concerned About Bird Flu?
Doctors Offer “Vegetarian Starter Kit”

Meatless Diets Could Help Stop the Disease at its Source, Physicians’ Group Says

WASHINGTON—In response to the growing concern over a potential worldwide outbreak of the avian flu, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is offering a free 16-page Vegetarian Starter Kit for worried carnivores. Although the lethal H5N1 strain of the flu has not yet been found in the United States, the World Health Organization and other authorities fear the possibility of a deadly pandemic if the virus mutates and begins spreading easily among humans.

Avian influenza develops on poultry farms, where routine confinement, overcrowding, and poor sanitary conditions create the perfect reservoir for viruses and other diseases to incubate and spread. Once a pathogen emerges, it is easily carried by migrating birds or commercial livestock transport. But a meatless diet helps eliminate the farms that breed infectious disease.

Vegetarian eating habits also eliminate animal fat and cholesterol, which have been linked to heart disease, one of America’s top killers. “The fat, cholesterol, and cancer-causing agents in chicken, turkey, and other poultry meats are damaging America’s health,” says PCRM nutritionist Tim Radak, DrPH, R.D. “Switching to a vegetarian diet would dramatically decrease obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other diet-related illnesses in this country. And meatless eating habits could also help reduce the risk of a bird-flu pandemic.”