100 million dead birds later, avian flu persists. Blame our policies.   

We are surpassing a grim historic milestone: more than 100 million chickens and turkeys dead or culled due to highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Since the start of this outbreak in 2022, we have heard from many experts about the alarming ways that this strain of H5N1 in animals could be transmitted to people and cause a pandemic. We’ve also heard from the government that our agencies are relatively unalarmed: The outbreak in animals is under control, and the risk to the human population is low.