The eyes of the world are turned to Mexico as more than 80 people are killed by a suspected outbreak of H1N1 Swine Flu; and increasingly we look to our own governments to protect us from what could be the start of a global pandemic. The Tamiflu is being prepared; national emergency plans are being updated, and there is a tangible sense of fear sweeping the globe.

We should not be surprised this is happening: but there is no reason it should…

It only takes one person in the vast genetic pool of our major cities to contract a transgenic virus for it then to become a human epidemic. It only takes one flight across the world for an epidemic to turn into a pandemic.

Humans like to fly; it has become one of the key aspirations of the consumer society to take long trips to different parts of the world and experience the way that other nations move to the rhythm of the tourism machine. We travel to distant lands to lie on distant beaches, then come home and tell our distant friends all about it. Tourism is not just big business, it is the primary business of many countries; and God help anyone who tries to stop flights from continuing to feed their economic boom! Air travel, which is excluded from all international targets – and the vast majority of national ones – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is expected to account for 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, up from just 3% in 2006. It is illegal for an individual country to tax aircraft fuel and aircraft parts.

A study published in the scientific journal Nature in 2006 found a remarkable drop in the numbers of early-onset influenza cases amongst humans in the period following the World Trade Center attacks in September 2001. “The 27% drop in passenger numbers on international flights delayed the normal peak of flu deaths by nearly two weeks, from February to March. And the fall in domestic air travel meant that the disease took 16 days longer to spread throughout the country.” Incredibly, and almost certainly due to economic pressure from business and business-friendly governments, restricting air travel does not form part of international plans for preventing the spread of any potential strains of highly pathogenic influenza.

(extract from “Time’s Up! An Civilized Solution To A Global Crisis“)

In order to dramatically reduce the chances of a full-blown pandemic, it is simply necessary to stop passenger flights from the affected area until the epidemic is under control. Simple, yet it won’t happen because money is more important than life in the civilized world.