Garry k wrote:
Is it conceivable that if Mad Cow and Bird Flu were to spread that Pork would become the only safe meat to eat amongst the major meats ( and how ironic would that be )

mad cow is NOt restricted to cows, it started in sheep.

UnoMundo Photography wrote:
mad cow is NOT restricted to cows, it started in sheep.

Man, not only did the poor bull that did the sheep get a disease, but the damn thing followed him home....

UnoMundo Photography wrote:

mad cow is NOt restricted to cows, it started in sheep.

Gee that answered my question well.

Garry k wrote:

Gee that answered my question well.

If I recall right mad cow disease is caused by a protien, I think it can be found (or very similar disease) in all mammals.

Mike Cummings wrote:

If I recall right mad cow disease is caused by a protien, I think it can be found (or very similar disease) in all mammals.

Well that could be a better answer . Pigs will eat just about anything so ? Mad Pigs?

Garry k wrote:
Is it conceivable that if Mad Cow and Bird Flu were to spread that Pork would become the only safe meat to eat amongst the major meats ( and how ironic would that be )

It's very likely (and expected) that Mad Cow could spread to swine. It's spread to every other mammal it's be introduced into.

Almost all the 'flu' viruses are thought to actually originated in swine (there's even a Swine Flu), although the origin of Avian Flu is not truly known.  SARS, however, is found in both fowel and the civit cat.  One research team believes humans contracted SARS from civit cats.

As pointed out, Avian Flu is not contracted from the food supply, where 'Mad Cow' is.

/tim

Civit Cat connection: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/sars/civetcat.html

Vintagevista wrote:
Well - you can't get bird flu from eating poultry - it's damned deadly to birds and kills them pretty quickly - but transmission of flu viruses doesn't come thru the stomach.

If that was the case, then millions would have died in Asia already - because the flu virus has been in the area for some time now - and people have still been eating poultry in areas where the bird flu has gone through. 

Mad cow did likely come from sheep (a disease called scrapie) and since the outlawing of feeding animal proteins to cattle has been introduced in the US - the disease entering into the human food chain chances are pretty remote.

The most recent possible findings, are from the very rare cases where bovines likely always have had an occasional infection - (from the same source of scrapie)  It just was never tested for before BSE became a hot topic.

VintageV

THis is one of the reasons I love MM . You can learn things from educated people out there ,,,,

just one small point about the chickens - I know that you dont get bird flu by eating them ,that it is spread in other ways originating form chickens ..........which can be equally deadly
My understanding is that China killed some 14 billion chickens after realizing there was a problem with a few .....

Mike Cummings wrote:
If I recall right mad cow disease is caused by a protien, I think it can be found (or very similar disease) in all mammals.

It's thought to be a protein 'gone bad' (this is what happens when proteins are raised on video games and allowed to watch too much HBO) called a prion (pree-on).  Some researchers belive a virus causes normal proteins in the body to become prions; others believe it happens when other prions enter the body through the food chain. 

Scary thing about prions is that almost nothing denatures (kills) them.  Even buring them to ask doesn't render them harmless.  One scientist buried prions in dirt for three years, dug them up, injected them into monkeys, and within a year all of the monkeys had developed nvCJD.  Scary stuff.  Now, think of the bone meal - made from cow bones, which is where the bone marrow is - that we sprinkle on the roses each year to make 'em grow all beautiful.

The human variant of the disease is called new-variant CJD.  The sheep version is called Scrape.  /tim

Vintagevista wrote:
I would guess that number is a considerable overstatement -

14 billion chickens is about 12 birds per capita at any one time - in China, assuming a 40 day production cycle - would mean every man, woman, and infant would have to eat about 1/2 a chicken - every day.  (Very rough guess)

The Chinese did quarantine and kill huge numbers of birds to keep infected flocks from - but that was true all across Asia.  Biosecurity of commercial birds from possible wild bird infections is the new watchword.

Don't fret that we are left out - We'll be tallking about the bird flu in the US this fall.

VintageV (Who is betting that it will break in the Eastern flyway first)

True enuf , maybe you cant beleive everything you read in the newspaper