Pandemic (Swine) Flu

You know, I think that there may be something in the man made speculation, only this morning whilst I was on my smoke break I overheard two men whilst they walked past saying it was man made in lab.

Strangely enough, they were all dressed in black...

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Tuftus

Strangely enough, they were all dressed in black...

It comes to something when the New Zealand rugby team gets involved.

Originally Posted by Tuftus

You know, I think that there may be something in the man made speculation, only this morning whilst I was on my smoke break I overheard two men whilst they walked past saying it was man made in lab.

Strangely enough, they were all dressed in black...

The thing is most here are poo pooing the idea of it being man made when we all know that stuff like this and worse exists in labs around the world. Even if its not man made its still in labs being messed around with .

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Russ B

It comes to something when the New Zealand rugby team gets involved.

Anyway. back on topic.

Your Fear Will Make Some People VERY Rich in Today's Crumbling Economy

According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future10 -- and that's without a pandemic outbreak.

More than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies with a stake in flu treatments and detection, have seen a rise in their shares in a matter of days, and will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

The thing is most here are poo pooing the idea of it being man made when we all know that stuff like this and worse exists in labs around the world. Even if its not man made its still in labs being messed around with .

So if it was man-made - why? It doesn't have any lethal properties, it's no worse than any other flu that does the rounds, just seems like a pointless operation to me.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Russ B

So if it was man-made - why? It doesn't have any lethal properties, it's no worse than any other flu that does the rounds, just seems like a pointless operation to me.

And why target Mexico? It's not exactly high on Americas 'enemy list' and, as has been shown, targetting your neighbour with a man-made virus isn't exactly the most sensible option...

Originally Posted by Russ B

So if it was man-made - why? It doesn't have any lethal properties, it's no worse than any other flu that does the rounds, just seems like a pointless operation to me.

Ok to play devils advocate. A group has access to bio weapons . They plan to cause mayhem with them. To test if it is going to work you go to a country that has a lot of tourism. You then release a low grade bug similar to the killer bug you have for your plan to see if it will spread how you wish. It spreads worldwide quite quickly. You see your plan may work and move onto phase 2. This is how I would do it if I was a terrorist with access to bio warfare.

Originally Posted by Nugget

And why target Mexico? It's not exactly high on Americas 'enemy list' and, as has been shown, targetting your neighbour with a man-made virus isn't exactly the most sensible option...

because of tourism look at how far afield it has spread even if its not all that dangerous

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Ok to play devils advocate. A group has access to bio weapons . They plan to cause mayhem with them. To test if it is going to work you go to a country that has a lot of tourism. You then release a low grade bug similar to the killer bug you have for your plan to see if it will spread how you wish. It spreads worldwide quite quickly. You see your plan may work and move onto phase 2.

This is how I see it too it's what terrorism should be.

I think I'm going to apply for MI6 as suggested

[Russ]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Ok to play devils advocate. A group has access to bio weapons . They plan to cause mayhem with them. To test if it is going to work you go to a country that has a lot of tourism. You then release a low grade bug similar to the killer bug you have for your plan to see if it will spread how you wish. It spreads worldwide quite quickly. You see your plan may work and move onto phase 2. This is how I would do it if I was a terrorist with access to bio warfare.



because of tourism look at how far afield it has spread even if its not all that dangerous

So why not countries with huge populations in condensed areas, such as America, China etc? Dropping a test tube of pig flu in a large city with an international airport would see plenty of home-grown victims as well as spreading it around the world.

[piggy]

so to summarise the last few posts, the new zealand rugby team invented the virus and we are all going to die in a nuclear holocaust!! have i missed anything

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Ok to play devils advocate. A group has access to bio weapons . They plan to cause mayhem with them. To test if it is going to work you go to a country that has a lot of tourism. You then release a low grade bug similar to the killer bug you have for your plan to see if it will spread how you wish. It spreads worldwide quite quickly. You see your plan may work and move onto phase 2. This is how I would do it if I was a terrorist with access to bio warfare.



because of tourism look at how far afield it has spread even if its not all that dangerous

If it's tourism they are after, why not target the London Underground? There may be thousands of tourists in Mexico, but there are probably (at any given moment) at least 10s of thousand of tourists in the London Underground system, and in a nice, closed system as well (increases the chances of infection). Not to mention the fact that it has direct links with one of the world's busiest international airports, and the sheer amount of people on the system would make it difficult to track who deployed the virus.

Combine that with the fact the a lot of terrorist groups appear to think of us as America's pet, so any such attack could easily be linked to terrorism.

Originally Posted by Stuart C

If it's tourism they are after, why not target the London Underground? There may be thousands of tourists in Mexico, but there are probably (at any given moment) at least 10s of thousand of tourists in the London Underground system, and in a nice, closed system as well (increases the chances of infection) and the sheer amount of people on the system would make it difficult to track who deployed the virus.

I said I was play devils advocate. Maybe the underground is phase 2 Release the test in a less secure country to reduce the risk of having plans found out. Then once you know its succesful hit the main target

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

If it's tourism they are after, why not target the London Underground? There may be thousands of tourists in Mexico, but there are probably (at any given moment) at least 10s of thousand of tourists in the London Underground system, and in a nice, closed system as well (increases the chances of infection) and the sheer amount of people on the system would make it difficult to track who deployed the virus.

By doing it from Mexico they get to see how far it will reach outwards. and releasing it in London would arouse more suspicion than there already is.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Gary L

By doing it from Mexico they get to see how far it will reach outwards. and releasing it in London would arouse more suspicion than there already is.

Suspicion which could easily be diverted onto various terrorist groups.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Gary L

By doing it from Mexico they get to see how far it will reach outwards. and releasing it in London would arouse more suspicion than there already is.

Supposition. Arousing suspicion would only happen if people were dying from it. Otherwise it's just a bad case of the flu which could easily have got in to the country.