Report say flu is bigger risk than terror in UK

health.yahoo.com — Pandemic flu, not terrorism, is the most serious risk to the U.K. public, says Britain's first ever national threat assessment, published on Friday. The document, part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's overhaul of homeland security strategy, considers the likely dangers posed by threats including terrorism, climate change, extreme weather and pandemic disease. Britain's Cabinet Office — which drafted the document — said on Friday that a potential flu pandemic poses the most imminent danger over the next five years. Previous government assessments have suggested an outbreak could cause as many as 750,000 deaths in Britain and acknowledged it could take several months to develop adequate vaccines against a particular strain of the virus. Brown ordered a list of threats faced by Britain to be drafted shortly after he replaced Tony Blair in June 2007, arguing that previously classified assessments should be made public. read more...

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