Move over, duct tape and plastic wrap:
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is offering a rather specific warning about how to prepare for the disease [bird flu]. He urges Americans to buy extra cans of tuna and powdered milk and stash them under the bed to get ready.
It’s not the first thing you might think of to protect yourself against a potential pandemic.
“Let me acknowledge that no one in the world is prepared for a pandemic,” Leavitt said this weekend at a conference in Wyoming. “When you go to the store and buy three cans of tuna fish, buy a fourth and put it under the bed. When you go to the store to buy some milk, pick up a box of powdered milk. Put it under the bed. When you do that for a period of four to six months, you are going to have a couple of weeks of food, and that’s what we’re talking about.”
Does tuna have special anti-flu properties? Just wondering. I’m not a tuna eater, and if it’s just a matter of having something on hand to eat, I could go for canned something else.
As funny as this story seems, it’s worth noting that at least on the surface, Leavitt seems like one of the more reasonable voices in this administration.