BUSH UNVEILS AVIAN FLU PANDEMIC PLAN

Confined flocks safer?

President Bush has showcased his plan to protect U.S. citizens from a potential avian influenza pandemic, asking Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency funding as an "investment" providing for vaccine production, creation of a treatment stockpile, development a coordinated U.S. pandemic response and other strategies.

In an ironic development, governments around the globe, particularly in Europe, told their poultry producers who raise birds in outdoor "open" or "free range systems" to move birds indoors to avoid infection from wild birds. USDA acknowledged it is discussing the possibility of ordering producers of pasture-raised or free-range birds to confine flocks if high path bird flu is found in the U.S. Industry has long touted controlled environment housing as one of the most effective means of keeping poultry disease free.

USDA conducts over a million commercial bird flu tests every year and the U.S. Geological Survey and other federal agencies conduct another 12,000 tests on wild bird populations.