BANGKOK -- Thai politicians belatedly ceded center stage to the public health experts as a strategy was mapped out to curb and contain the rapidly spreading avian flu. Until Jan. 23, the Thai government emphatically and continuously denied, in the face of mounting evidence and allegations of a coverup, that Thailand had been hit by avian flu. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra went as far as taking a few bites of fried chicken on TV to convince the Thai people, and the world, that there was no bird flu in Thailand and that Thai chicken was indeed safe to eat.
It's hard to overstate the importance of the humble chicken to Thai culture and economy. Thais eat chicken like Americans eat beef; it's the unofficial national meat, and of great pedigree. Biologists believe chickens were first domesticated in Thailand many millennia ago. In recent weeks, millions of chickens have died and millions more were culled, including 10,000 highly prized fighting cocks. But the biodiversity that gave rise to the ubiquitous bird, valued as much for its eggs as its meat, is diminished. Today, most of Thailand's 1 billion chickens live on factory farms, crammed into tight pens. If one bird gets sick, it can infect tens of thousands of others in short order.
Japan, the biggest importer of Thai chicken, announced a ban on imports, effectively shocking the Thai government out of its lax efforts to contain the disease and alerting the Thai public to the fact that chicken meat might possibly be infected. Despite appeals to patriotism and other reminders from the government that Thai chicken is safe to eat, chicken consumption has dropped to an all-time low.