{"id":24235,"date":"2025-03-18T17:22:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T18:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24235"},"modified":"2025-03-18T18:28:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T18:28:24","slug":"rfk-jr-s-prescription-for-bird-flu-on-farms-let-it-spread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24235","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr.\u2019s Prescription for Bird Flu on Farms: Let It Spread"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation\u2019s top health official, has an unorthodox idea for tackling the bird flu bedeviling U.S. poultry farms. Let the virus rip.<\/p>\n

Instead of culling birds when the infection is discovered, farmers \u201cshould consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it,\u201d Mr. Kennedy said recently on Fox News.<\/p>\n

He has repeated the idea in other interviews<\/a> on the channel.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kennedy does not have jurisdiction over farms. But Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, also has voiced support for the notion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity,\u201d Ms. Rollins told Fox News last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Yet veterinary scientists said letting the virus sweep through poultry flocks unchecked would be inhumane and dangerous, and have enormous economic consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a really terrible idea, for any one of a number of reasons,\u201d said Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation\u2019s top health official, has an unorthodox idea for tackling the bird flu bedeviling U.S. poultry farms. Let the virus rip.Instead of culling birds when the infection is discovered, farmers \u201cshould consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it,\u201d Mr. Kennedy said recently on Fox News.He has repeated the idea in other interviews on the channel.Mr. Kennedy does not have jurisdiction over farms. But Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, also has voiced support for the notion.\u201cThere are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity,\u201d Ms. Rollins told Fox News last month.Yet veterinary scientists said letting the virus sweep through poultry flocks unchecked would be inhumane and dangerous, and have enormous economic consequences.\u201cThat\u2019s a really terrible idea, for any one of a number of reasons,\u201d said Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24237,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24238,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24235\/revisions\/24238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}