bush announces bird flu strategy

Bush Announces Bird Flu Strategy

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - President Bush is proposing a
seven billion-dollar plan to fight a possible bird flu pandemic, saying failure to act now could cost many U.S. lives.

The president's plan includes a "crash" program to develop U.S. vaccine-making capacity, a worldwide early-detection program and the stockpiling of supplies in American hospitals.

Speaking at the National Institutes of Health, Bush acknowledged avian flu is mostly an animal disease right now. And it hasn't come to America yet. But he says a mutation could allow it to spread quickly. And he says scientists think a pandemic flu is only a matter of time.

Noting flu outbreaks last century cost tens of millions of lives, Bush said America must be ready to act "at the first sign of danger."

He's asking Congress for the cash on an emergency basis, saying if lawmakers wait for a pandemic to appear, "It will be too late."

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