SciScoop contributor and University of Buffalo medic Bradford Frank sent us a copy of his latest book “Terror Unleashed” recently. Frank’s hypothesis is that the human race is soon to face a whole range of major crises from bird flu and oil shortages to financial collapse and devasting terrorist attacks. He begins by emphasising that the ideas he presents, are just that, ideas, and that there is no proof any of the events he describes will come to pass. However, what he does hope to achieve is to raise awareness of the potential threats to you, your family, your nation, and your planet.
You can read it, go into denial, and dismiss it as pure, unadulterated scaremongering. Or, you can absorb the warnings, make provision for their occurrence, and feel smug and fairly secure should they ever come to pass. For instance, it does seem like it is only a matter of time before we enter a period of financial depression, after all the boom-bust cycles of modern economics are well founded in history. Again, bird flu is the virus of the day, but it needn’t be H5N1 that leads to an influenza epidemic on a bigger scale than that of 1918-1919, there are dozens of emerging viruses just waiting to spring across the species gap from their current animal hosts. As to the impending oil shortage, global warming, nuclear terrorism, and electromagnetic pulses…we’ll certainly know about them if and when they hit.
Frank’s book is scaremongering. That’s for sure. And, if he weren’t a well-respected MD at a well-known US university, he might be the kind of man to walk the city streets with a placard proclaiming “The End of the World is Nigh”. The only trouble is, he might actually be right.
Frank’s website points to resources that could help in an emergency, but I also suggest you check out Stephen Jones’ Bird Flu Survival Guide.
As Britain braces itself for the arrival of avian influenza from Continental Europe, I thought it would be timely to remind Sciencebase readers of a