Joining forces on avian flu

I fully agree with Raymond Bencini's plea for the government and the opposition to put their heads together and present a common policy on how to deal with the threat of the avian flu pandemic.

Lawrence Gonzi is not the person I associate with endangering public health to pander to the hunters' lobby. I am more than convinced of his integrity and can only conclude that he was misled in allowing hunting to go on in the face of such a threat. I also think that Alfred Sant will not seek to take political advantage if it means courting a catastrophe in the process.

I believe that Louis Deguara and his opposition counterpart, Michael Farrugia, should hold a press conference together to spell out the danger to our people if we are not determined to stop hunting at least until we are sure that there are no inherent dangers of bringing this calamity on ourselves.