• OPINION

  Bright side to Covid

  News, Postbag, Published on 28/12/2020

  » A recent depressing letter in PostBag focused only on corn farmers and how difficult it would be to stop crop burning. It's not difficult at all if legal action is used.

• OPINION

  What pandemic preparedness would look like

  Oped, Published on 06/10/2023

  » Humanity was caught off guard by the Covid-19 pandemic, even though we had effectively been warned by smaller-scale outbreaks -- of Sars, Ebola, Mers and avian flu -- for decades.

• OPINION

  Eradicating bird flu by pretending it doesn't exist

  News, Published on 08/02/2014

  » That's a question China's poultry industry, facing $3.3 billion (108 billion baht) in losses due to a recent outbreak of bird flu (and still reeling from almost $10 billion in losses from a spring outbreak), may have finally answered. According to a Feb 4 report by Xinhua, China's state-owned newswire, poultry companies and associations in Guangdong province, home to a significant percentage of China's recent H7N9 bird flu infections, are proposing to require authorities drop "bird" or "avian" and simply refer to the disease as "the flu".

• OPINION

  One way for China to stop the world's next pandemic

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 28/02/2017

  » The deadliest outbreak of H7N9 bird flu since its discovery in 2013 is sweeping across China. It's caused at least 100 deaths and has been detected in half the country's provinces. So far, the virus seems to be spreading only between birds and the humans who slaughter them for food. But the potential for human-to-human transmission -- the trigger for a full-blown pandemic -- can't be ruled out. In response, Chinese authorities have temporarily shut down live poultry markets in some of the country's biggest cities.

• OPINION

  How to make agriculture sustainable

  Oped, Published on 23/12/2021

  » Thailand's agricultural sector is often considered the backbone of the economy. As the producer of most of the food for the population, the sector provides around 30% of employment for Thais.

• OPINION

  Leading by serving, not ruling

  News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 24/05/2021

  » About two weeks ago, through a Facebook group, more than half a million Thais expressed a desire to leave Thailand to settle down in countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand, among others.

• OPINION

  Will our food bring new diseases?

  Oped, Published on 18/03/2020

  » Seeing the current lockdown across Thailand makes me want to pull my hair out. Not just because it's disruptive, but because the signs that an outbreak like Covid-19 would happen have been so clear. Seventeen years ago, when Sars first made headlines, I locked myself in a cage in Hong Kong to illustrate the way our taste for animal flesh contributes to animal-borne diseases.

• OPINION

  Whose post-pandemic century?

  Oped, Bill Emmott, Published on 05/01/2021

  » In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was common to divide countries and their responses according to their political systems, with many attributing China's success in controlling the virus to its authoritarianism. As of late 2020, however, it is clear that the real dividing line is not political but geographical. Regardless of whether a country is democratic or authoritarian, an island or continental, Confucian or Buddhist, communitarian or individualistic, if it is East Asian, Southeast Asian, or Australasian, it has managed Covid-19 better than any European or North American country.

• OPINION

  Chinese food will determine spread of pandemics

  News, David Fickling, Published on 24/01/2020

  » With the world's largest high-speed rail network, a payments system that's largely conducted via phone apps, and half the world's solar-power plants, China often looks like a country at the technological frontier. When you consider how it feeds itself, though, it's still just catching up.

• OPINION

  Aid response never better

  News, Published on 13/05/2015

  » All members and organisers of the recent aid missions to Nepal deserve praise and respect. Especially as there's more work to do in the wake of the second 7.3-magnitude quake that hit the Chautara district close to Everest yesterday. The toll from that shock cannot yet be dertermined. From the moment news of the first killer quake two weeks ago reached Thailand, there was no lack of sympathy for victims and survivors alike. Voluntary donations to aid funds quickly surpassed the government's contributions. And while there was plenty of support for home-based help, a few groups and individuals stepped up and "walked the walk" in search, rescue and aid missions into Nepal.

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