Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suggested that the bird flu virus be allowed to spread among the poultry population to identify and create immune birds. Critics claim that culling is the only answer and that allowing birds to live is “disastrous.”

Instead of culling birds when an H5N1 infection is discovered, farmers “should 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,” Mr. Kennedy said recently on Fox News according to a report by the New York Times. 

“Culling puts people at the highest risk of exposure, which is why Secretary Kennedy and NIH (National Institute of Health) want to limit culling activities,” said Emily Hilliard, the deputy press secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services. “Culling is not the solution. Strong biosecurity is.”

“There 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,” Ms. Rollins told Fox News last month.

“That’s a really terrible idea for any one of a number of reasons,” said Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas.

While culling has proven ineffective at stopping the spread of bird flu, allowing it to spread could also have drawbacks.

Every infection is another opportunity for the H5N1 virus to evolve into a more virulent form. Geneticists have been tracking its mutations closely; so far, the virus has not developed the ability to spread among people. If H5N1 were to be allowed to run through a flock of five million birds, “that’s literally five million chances for that virus to replicate or to mutate,” Dr. Hansen said. “So now you’re setting yourself up for bad things to happen. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

If farmers were instead to let the virus make its way across the farm, “these infections would cause very painful deaths in nearly 100 percent of the chickens and turkeys,” said Dr. David Swayne, a poultry veterinarian who worked at the U.S.D.A. for nearly 30 years.

The result would be “inhumane, resulting in an unacceptable animal welfare crisis,” he added. Methods to cull birds can also be cruel. –The New York Times

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