It isn’t government that is hyping avian flu threats. It’s the markets: global banks and investment houses and large international companies that trade in Asia.

They are rightly concerned, and have been for more than three years now. This isn’t a new concern, it’s just a new concern to the media. Bethell is right on one point: the media has oversold by not being forthright about how the disease is most likely carried over from fowl to human. Who wants to know the intricacies of nonmodern butchering techniques in the hinterlands of Mongolia, after all?