Dangerous Animal Virus moving to Mainland?

JinxieJada

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Another excuse for groceries to go up? Along w/ other major implications if this were to ever "get loose into the public?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350135,00.html


The Bush administration is likely to move its research on one of the most contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak.


Skeptical Democrats in Congress are demanding to see internal documents they believe highlight the risks and consequences of the decision. An epidemic of the disease, foot and mouth, which only affects animals, could devastate the livestock industry.


A simulated outbreak of the disease — part of an earlier U.S. government exercise called "Crimson Sky" — ended with fictional riots in the streets after the simulation's National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets. In the exercise, the government said it would have been forced to dig a ditch in Kansas 25 miles long to bury carcasses. In the simulation, protests broke out in some cities amid food shortages.






More at link-
 
A simulated outbreak of the disease — part of an earlier U.S. government exercise called "Crimson Sky" — ended with fictional riots in the streets after the simulation's National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets. In the exercise, the government said it would have been forced to dig a ditch in Kansas 25 miles long to bury carcasses. In the simulation, protests broke out in some cities amid food shortages.

Why riot? Since this disease cannot be transmitted to humans I reckon the worse that can happen is that we'll have to eat less meat but on the bright side they'll be plenty of surplus cattle feed for us to munch on.
 
I'm sorry, but stories like this are why major news outlets need to hire actual scientists to help them to not write over-reactive bs.

Plum Island, where my boss and his former boss have been to several times, is no longer up to par with advances in technology. Moving the lab to the mainland in a new, technologically equipped facility is the right thing to do. My institution was in the running originally, but a bunch of crazy citizens decided their kids were going to get anthrax and protested to the point that we were taken out of consideration. It was a shame because it would have brought hundreds of jobs here on top of making the area a haven for life sciences research.
 
bnhall....you want the news people to actually research and write the stores instead of just googling and then writing something that is sensationlized? Keep dreaming. :crazy: The press hasn't done real work since...what, the '70s.
 
bnhall....you want the news people to actually research and write the stores instead of just googling and then writing something that is sensationlized? Keep dreaming. :crazy: The press hasn't done real work since...what, the '70s.
I don't know how sensationalized it is, but I just spent an hour googling, as I live in a rural area of Colorado that partially depends on livestock. Also we are within 15 miles of the western Kansas border. We occasionally buy young calves and raise them. The profit is great for us. We also buy young hogs and sell them privately at maturity. We have approximately 20 horses, so I took this seriously.

In our area, there is a large commercial hog farm. They are picky, picky, picky. You cannot enter the facility at all. If you get a job there, you must give up all swine and poultry you may own. None of these animals are allowed to be owned by you. You go through a disinfecting shower, into paper clothes while you work, and another shower to go home. They are totally paranoid. We have been given a pet turkey and other chickens by people who decide to work there.

An accident at CDC would be just as alarming.
 
Stock up on Beano! We'll have to get protein from somewhere. I can't eat peanuts, so beans, raisins, eggs and fish or soy if I can afford them will be what I'll have. :crazy: Wait, isn't there a inoculation for Hoof and Mouth disease? There is, a vaccination. In the first bit in this Wikipedia article. I remember reading about it in James Herriot's books.
 

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