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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: redfish who wrote (13301)	4/13/2005 9:29:56 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361143

Labs Race to Destroy Killer Flu Samples Wednesday, April 13, 2005 Scientists around the world were scrambling to prevent the possibility of a pandemic after a nearly 50-year-old killer influenza virus was sent to thousands of labs, a decision that one researcher described as "unwise." Nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries, mostly in the United States, were urged by the World Health Organization (search) to destroy samples of the dangerous virus because of the slight risk it could trigger a global outbreak. The labs received the virus from a U.S. company that supplies kits used for quality control tests. "The risk is low and we've taken appropriate action," said Dr. Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (search) in Atlanta. Her counterpart at WHO, Klaus Stohr, agreed but said, "If someone does get infected, the risk of severe illness is high, and this virus has shown to be fully transmissible." The germ, the 1957 H2N2 "Asian flu" strain (search), killed between 1 million and 4 million people. It has not been included in flu vaccines since 1968, and anyone born after that date has little or no immunity to it. The WHO said Tuesday that there have been no reports of infections in laboratory workers associated with the distribution of the samples and that "the risk for the general population is also considered low." Still, the decision to send out the strain was described by Stohr as "unwise" and "unfortunate." The CDC learned Friday that test kits prepared by Meridian Bioscience Inc. (VIVO) of Cincinnati contained the virus. The company makes kits for at least four groups that help labs do proficiency testing, which involves identifying viruses to check a lab's quality controls or to acquire certification. The largest of those groups, the College of American Pathologists (search), said it had sent 3,747 kits to various labs starting last year and ending in February. Dr. Jared Schwartz, an official with the pathology college, said Meridian was told to pick an influenza sample and chose from its stockpile the deadly 1957 strain, which it had received from a "germ library" in 2000. Other test kit providers also used the strain. Schwartz identified them as Medical Lab Evaluators, the American Association of Bioanalysts and the American Association of Family Practitioners. Officials at Meridian could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday after business hours. Most of the labs that received the test kits were in the United States. The vials also were sent to labs in Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Brazil, France, Germany, Chile, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Taiwan. Some of the labs outside the United States have already incinerated their samples, Stohr said, and WHO hoped the rest of the vials would be destroyed by Friday. The kits contain blind samples that labs must correctly identify to pass the test. The influenza virus included in the kits typically is one that is currently circulating or has recently circulated. A Canadian laboratory detected the 1957 pandemic strain on March 26 in a sample that was later traced to a test kit. The WHO notified health authorities in countries that received the kits and recommended that all samples be destroyed. The College of American Pathologists asked labs to incinerate the samples immediately and confirm their actions in writing. The virus' presence in thousands of labs focused fresh attention on the safe handling of deadly germs — an issue that led to toughened U.S. rules after anthrax was sent in the mail in 2001, killing five Americans. Cox said officials strongly doubt someone deliberately planted the dangerous germ. "It wouldn't be a smart way to start a pandemic to send it to laboratories because we have people well trained in biocontainment," she said. But Stohr said the test kits are not the only supplies of the 1957 pandemic strain sitting in laboratories around the world. "The world really has to think what routine labs should be doing with these samples they have kept in the back of their fridges," he said.

To: redfish who wrote (13301)	4/13/2005 1:30:30 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 361143

Stagnant US Exports & Implications 4/13/2005 globblog.blogspot.com ”Yesterday I reviewed the horror film which is the monthly US trade balance release and noted that all indications are that greater-than-$60bn deficits are the all-but-assured near-term future. This is not so much because of run-away oil prices or our insatiable desire for cheap clothes from China. It is instead because of the worryingly stagnant US export performance of late.” --- General Glut's Globblog Over the past three months, US goods exports (SA) have been completely stagnant: $71.1bn, $71.1bn and $71.2bn respectively. The robust growth of 2004 during which goods exports grew 13% is – for the time being at least – just a memory. A closer look suggests this memory is only going to fade as dark clouds begin gathering around the edges of the US export picture, and thus the US trade balance, and thus the terribly imbalanced global economy. The export outlook for the US is pretty dark, which means of course that the East Asians are going to have to go on an incredible dollar-denominated asset eating spree to keep up with the swelling US trade deficit. You get a better view by looking at the top four export markets for US goods: Canada, the EU, Mexico and Japan. Country specific data is not seasonally adjusted, so they have to be taken with a grain of salt. Overall, SA goods exports rose 3.2%, but the drops in NSA exports to Canada, Mexico and Japan are much larger, so we can surmise that we'd still find an SA export decline if that data was available. Canada, the EU, Mexico and Japan together absorb nearly two-thirds of total US exports. Let's take them in order. Canada US exports to Canada have been stagnant to slightly declining since spring 2004, and the downward pace has really picked up since the fall. In the September-November 2004 period (which I'll call “last fall”), US exports to Canada averaged $16.8bn per month, whereas for December 2004-February 2005 (which I'll call “this winter”) they have averaged just $15.9bn – a 5.7% drop. European Union US exports to the EU have been stagnant: $14.7bn/mo. last fall, $14.8bn/mo. this winter. With growing German economic troubles, the return of French stagnation and even some clouds on the UK horizon, stagnancy is the best we can probably hope for into the near future. Mexico Things are even worse here than in Canada, where the export downturn has been particularly steep of late. Last fall monthly averages were $9.9bn; this winter just $9.1bn. That racks up an 8.1% decline in the country's third largest export market. Latest news out of Mexico is that the country's central bank has ended its tightening for this economic cycle, a sign that the export market will if anything be shrinking rather than expanding in coming months. Japan The story for US exports is probably worst in Japan. Last fall monthly averages stood at $4.7bn while this winter they fell to $4.2bn – a 10% decline. Even worse news is that the year-over-year export figures to Japan are completely stagnant – $4.2bn/mo. this winter, $4.2bn/mo. last winter. As Japan shows no evidence of decisively pulling out of its 10+ year economic funk, more declines are to be expected. With the Chinese economy apparently slowing down for real now, perhaps the time has finally come when Beijing will find the courage to change the peg and thus cut back on its (and Korea's, Taiwan's and Japan's) need to devour US assets