Political Quotes

“I see that the distinguished ranking member of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, Senator Leahy is here on the Senate floor. I am wondering it he would take just a moment to discuss with me the critical issue of the avian flu. Mr. President, an outbreak of the avian flu would be an international calamity. In this age when you can get on a plane in Bangkok and arrive in Chicago or Burlington in hours, we must face the reality that this threat is not a problem isolated half a world away, but is one that could affect people in Illinois, Vermont, and all across America. The director of the Centers for Disease Control recognized the grave consequences this virus could pose to international health when she recently stated that ``this is a very ominous situation for the globe . . . [this is] the most important threat we are facing right now.'' It is something that is clearly an emergency and is appropriately addressed in the Iraq Supplemental. At this point, humans contract the virus overwhelmingly by coming into contact with infected animals, and once contracted, the virus is extremely deadly--a 65 to 75 percent mortality rate for humans-- especially because there is no proven vaccine for the H5N1 strain. Further, effective treatments for this strain of the virus are not widely available and must be delivered within 24 hours. The recent trends with respect to the spread of the avian flu are very alarming.…”