Don't Eat Free Range Chickens! They could get Bird Flu! Unsafe...

[KoKo]

The subtle "conclusion" from the Poultry Industry folks like Tyson/Perdue. "Our chickens don't have contact with the outside world so the chances of them being exposed to wild birds that might carry this are minimal."

Subtle underlying message is "Don't Eat Organic/Free Range Chickens, that might just happen to have a "Migrating Bird Flu Carrier land where the 'happy chickies' are free ranging.

Wow...let's just hand it over to AGRI-BUSINESS! If you are concerned about "Bird Flu" buy from "Bird Pens." And...the spokespersons for the Purdue/Tyson/ETC. say ..."the minute we have an incidence of Bird Flu show up in just one chicken that bird is DESTROYED AND COMPOSTED."

(Conclusions drawn from Chris Matthews interview with Agri-Bird Business spokesperson) :eyes:

[stevedeshazer]

1. Well, this proves that capitalism means opportunity!

Never miss a chance to advertise for free.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Bird flue comes to this country

I have more to worry than just me, my three parrots...

So I should trust then why?

I worked at a chicken coup for six months though and yes indeed you go through a desinfectant bath for the shoes every time you go in and take showers, trust me hard work... but they will use this very cynically

[chalky]

3. Just one chicken, huh? How can they pick which chicken is the offending

bird, since they're packed in their cages like...well, sardines (so to speak).

[phantom power]

7. They don't. They kill the entire population.

[Nihil]

41. Then feed the mixed remains to the next generation ... (n/t)

[kestrel91316]

47. NOT CORRECT. If the birds are destroyed because the law

requires it (as in the case of bird flu) they are NOT fed to more birds. Do you really think veterinary infectious disease specialists are that stupid???? They are generally BURIED. Underground.

Contrary to popular belief, USDA APHIS veterinarians actually have regulations that they enforce, and they have common sense, too.

[Nihil]

48. Ah ... it's only natural fatalities & faeces that is fed back in the loop

OK Kestrel, I'm just being facetious and not knocking you or your
profession. My gripe is mainly with the factory farmers.

Peace.

[kestrel91316]

51. Gotcha. Don't even THINK about getting ME started on the

@$#%$&@%$%$($&#% factory farming in the US. It's evil profiteering. Period.

Oh, and thank you for knowing the proper use of "facetious". LOL

[pitohui]

31. they de-populate the entire coop or operation

sorry

they have the right to de-populate pet birds as well if infected

i believe the small pet owner is more heavily motivated to protect his birds from infection because 1) the bonds of affection, love, and respect between bird and owner, and 2) in cold crass terms, their pet is not insured

[silverweb]

4. Heh.

Another solution: Don't eat chicken at all. Try Quorn products instead! http://www.quorn.us/fiabout.htm

First mad cow, now avian flu. This is a great time to be a vegetarian!

:D

[Dogmudgeon]

14. Don't gloat too fast

Prion diseases can be carried by plants as easily as by animals. In fact, many of the fears about Mad Cow Disease (vCJD) center around the possibility of infected feces, urine, or animal parts making it to the open environment, being taken up by plants, and entering the non-meat part of the food supply.

Reducing levels of phytic acid in the diet also improves immune response and may inhibit prions from propagating. Right now, the only way to reduce phytic acid in the diet is to avoid eating grains. So, like with most things in the environment, the interconnectedness is the key. It isn't irony so much as complexity.

Better, more eco-friendly practices in both animal raising and vegetable production is what we really need. It's hard to fully "trust" anything sold as food today. Eating is an act of faith, and the anxiety we experience will hopefully cause us to demand action from our "leaders".

--p!

[crispini]

16. Oh, great, I hadn't heard that.

Wonderful. :scared:

[Peter Frank]

38. Fascinating Info...

Do you have a link or two I can use for future reference?

[SpiralHawk]

5. One of the Grandmothers once told me

She only ate chickens she was on a first-name basis with. If she didn't know the chicken, she wouldn't touch it -- no matter how fine the sauce and fixins. She wanted to know the chicken, its history, and its story...Once she was certain, she was all knife and fork.

hell, she's in her 80s and going strong, still making Good Medicine, so maybe...

[KoKo]

15. SpiralHawk...we must have had wise Grandmothers we shared...

I had my Grandmother tell me much the same thing, in a different way. She grew up on a farm in SC and was in charge of the chickens as a child through growing up. She came from a large family and each child was responsible for one part of the farm and that included the different animals. She got the chickens. She had a reverence for food, and had the same personal relationship with the chickens in that she looked for the healthiest for the "Sunday Dinner."

She wouldn't have been as involved with worrying about the chickens as I am..(only buying them at the supermarket and not being involved with their raising and killing) but she was very pragmatic. She felt she raised them and watched over them to eat so she could survive. But, she did know that a "Happy Chicken is a Healthy Chicken..that also tastes good." She did have a couple of them she couldn't "wring necks, pluck and cook" so I guess even she had some "friends amongst" the chickens.

Thanks for your post....:-)'s

[phantom power]

6. Technically true, but much more true in Asia.

They've had a lot of success in limiting poultry infection by adopting the enclosed chicken coops in Asia. Sort of a shame, since I favor the free-range principle.

At any rate, it's not really an issue here in the western hemisphere, although if some strain of bird-flu ever makes it into our wild duck populations, it might become a going concern.

[KoKo]

17. and, our embryos will produce "Genetically Correct" kids and the World

and the parents will be so relieved and happy. All illness or "imperfections" that cost money to the Governments will be banned and we can go and select gentically perfect, innoculated embryos from a Cosmetics Type Counter" at our local Deparment Store.

It's amazing how wonderful our technology will be in the NEW FUTURE...where all is controlled so that contact with the outside world and the viruses, unsafe elements and genetic imperfections can just be whisked away so that "clone happiness" produces a remarkable culture.

The Dark Side of this happy scenario...is yet to be seen. Sort of like the PNAC who thought Iraqi's would greet us with flower petals and rosewater...and whatever the hell else their blather was. THOSE WHO REMEMBERED HITLER AND WHAT HE WAS ABOUT...THOSE WHO OF ALL FOLKS...SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER. :-(

[XemaSab]

36. If bird flu hits and goes p2p

it won't be the domestic chickens we need to worry about most, it will be each other.

I'd also guess that the birds spreading it throughout the US won't be the ducks, but the shorebirds (but if it spreads to the ducks, they're also good migrants). There's a lot of birds that breed in Alaska and winter in SE Asia (including many shorebirds such as RN stint, ST sandpiper, and BT godwit) that share breeding grounds with many shorebirds that winter here in CA and along the Pacific coast.

[phantom power]

44. Limiting poultry infections limits human infections, which...

in turn slows the evolution of the virus.

One common evolutionary path is wild reservoir (ducks) -> poultry/pigs -> humans, so by limiting the infection of poultry and pigs, we can eliminate that path, or make it smaller.

The Asian custom of eating duck blood soup, unfortunately, provides another path. Oh, well.

[mojavekid]

8. They Destroy and Compost the infected Bird??

Come on! Everyone knows you just bring their birds to a boil, melting them and pour yourself a NEW ONE!

duh.

[Algorem]

9. Colonizing the ocean bottom is only way to avoid certain bird-flu death.

[Reciprocity]

13. Ahh your just being shellfish. n/t

[Nihil]

42. *groan*

:applause:

[mojavekid]

19. Parrot Fish n/t

[Algorem]

43. Get finny or get finis.

Live,dammit!LIVE!

[Dogmudgeon]

10. Cooked birds should be safe anyway

I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will post with accurate information, but as of now, I'm under the impression that a properly-cooked, if infected, fowl is safe to eat -- it's the bacterial and (possibly) the prion diseases that make the bird unsafe. Some of the vegetarians like to promote this angle on the news, especially when it comes to vCJD ("Mad Cow").

Mainly, what I'm concerned with, is how the Great and Mighty American Free Enterprise System and its ever-loyal Government can't produce half a billion doses of vaccine. They whine how it's too labor-intensive, the lawyers will sue them, and they can't make Indians or Pakistanis do the work for a nickel an hour.

I guess they want a pandemic to hit so they can say, "see, this wouldn't have happened if only you had enacted laws prohibiting people from suing us!"

--p!

[AspenRose]

12. That's what the epidemologist here told me.

eom

[Taxloss]

11. They're the ones pumping antibiotics into their animals and

building resistant superbugs, so I'm not taking any public health advice from them.

[RebelOne]

18. I'm not worried about it, since I am vegetarian.

[KoKo]

21. What vegetarians can fail to realize is that some of us biologically

need to eat "a little meat." I can't be a vegan...and I eat probably 75% of my diet from Veggies. I still know my particular chemistry needs to have some protein from meat.

I don't think all of us can follow one specific diet..that maybe our genetic make up is different. But, I think to try to tell all folks they need to only eat vegetables and to ignore the problems with our "meat" production might be kind of "counterproductive?

It's hard enough to find veggies that taste good unless from "legacy seeds" (pre-AgriBusiness) and we need to realize that our WHOLE FOOD SYSTEM IS IN PERIL. How do we deal with it? There isn't enough land for organic farmers (lots has been taken over by "housing developments" replacing great soil for tomato/squash/beans farming in the Southeast US.

The places that can grow tasty/healthy veggies are diminishing given sway to the Gated Communities.

It's hard to know how we will all survive. But maybe some kind of MASSIVE Government Green Houses...Controlled with proportional pesticides, water, sunlight...is REALLY going to be the answer.

:shrug:

[Beaverhausen]

22. Defensive much?

Someone said they are vegetarian and you go off on why you have to eat meat? That poster did not anywhere in his/her post say "But, I think to try to tell all folks they need to only eat vegetables..." like you implied in you post.


:shrug:

[KoKo]

24. We have many Vegans here on DU...and it's admirable that they can

exist on veggies alone. I'm not sure what you are "quibbling" with but our DU Veggies are great folks... Not all of us can be total Vegans, though.

What's your problem? :shrug:

[Beaverhausen]

25. Because I'm one of the vegetarians

and we are constantly accused of telling other people that they "shouldn't eat meat" when in fact we never say that.

and I repeat...you implied that the poster you were responding to said that when in fact they were just stating that they were vegetarian.

[KoKo]

27. OFGS....I'm trying to point out both sides of the issue.

:-(

[Beaverhausen]

33. Ok- I over reacted. sorry about that

:hi:

[KoKo]

34. No problem....I understand!

:hi: It's not easy being "green" And, I love you guys...really. I just gotta have a little meat every now and then...My body needs it. But,I take trashing when I eat so many veggies that friends ask why I prefer them over the "main course."

If we go out to eat I always order "sides of veggies." Waitresses give me the :eyes: because they wonder why I order the "Veggies Side" over the "Appetizer." :D...so I get my share of fuss about what I eat, too.

[Reciprocity]

49. This won't make any difference.

The pandemic is NOT from poultry to human, but if it mutates to human from human.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

20. Darn, no more Free Range Chicken Tartar this month!

Like people eat raw chicken?

[KoKo]

35. ROFL....a good one...but some might say "cooking doesn't kill it."

:D

[sepia_steel]

23. Okay, that's just disgusting.

opportunism at its best.

[KoKo]

26. Yes...I saw it as a "Corporate" throw away since most of Matthews show was

trashing Bush..(and Chris seems grim..having to do that, considering how he pumped him up since the "Selection).

So..I think it was his "Corporate Agri-Business Whore Moment." Tomorrow Night for Chris it will be his "Pentagon/War Moment" or his "Bush looks great doing Habitat Houses for Humanity Moment" or whatever the hell the Mainstream Media $$$$ finds to get their point across.

They want to control our WHOLE LIVES...THROUGH FEAR...and making us Rely on the Corporate Globalist Companies. Of which Tyson, Perdue and others are a part of. :shrug:

"Pigs at the Trough." It's what the Repugs are all about...

[Kablooie]

28. What about the expensive Range Chicken? Are they better?

[KoKo]

32. Yeah....they are...but it depends on the brand and where you live, I guess

I've bought some "so called Free Range Chicken parts" that weren't so great. But in the intervening time I've had to take so much of Tyson's products back to my grocery store, that I stopped buying it.

I've had some good luck with Purdue..as long as your store doesn't "refreeze" it...but my best luck for taste and quality has been the organic chickens from the places like "Earth Fare, Fresh Market, Whole Foods" and my local Chain Grocery that handles Organics like Harris-Teeter here in the Southeast.

Not all organic "Free Range Chickens" taste great and some have been refrozen..(depending on the management quality of your individual store supplier) but in general...the chicken products have gotten terrible, that most of us used to buy and rely on from our Supermarket Main shelves.

Just my opinion...for taste and quality.

[benburch]

29. Properly cooked poultry is safe even if it had flu to begin with.

Thats WHY you do not eat rare chicken, and why you use different utensils for uncooked and cooked poultry.

Sheesh!

[KoKo]

37. I know...but the "Penned Chicken Advocates" on Matthews said "COMPOSTE"

just in case anyone has a question...they destroy the thousands of "penned birds." But to them ...it's all about "Business." They don't want anyone to think that they won't destroy it all even if it's only the "few who have a problem." :eyes: It's our NEW WORLD ECONOMICS.

[pitohui]

39. the usda requires infected birds be properly killed & composted

birds w. newcastle's disease, avian flu, & other infectious poultry diseases are not introduced into the diet

the concern is for the spread of the disease to other operations or for the poultry worker, you the housewife would not get newcastle's disease infecting yr eyes but you the poultry line worker handling hundreds of birds certainly could

yes, the de-populated birds are composted last i heard, can't really see how they could do it any differently for the safety of the workers

[pitohui]

30. yes this does concern me

prior to katrina there was legislation introduced into the usa senate to require ANYONE, even if you breed only one chick a year, to be registered with usda

people who breed dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, would also be required to be registered & inspected by usda

if passed the law would make everyone who quietly raised their own free range chickens to be in violation of federal law

unfortunately w. the displacement caused by katrina i can't find my paperwork on this topic any longer nor as a louisiana resident can i fairly gripe to my senators to take command of this issue when they have bigger fish to fry

if you want to have the right to raise yr own chickens for pets, for eggs, for show, etc. you had better not fall in line w. bird flu hysteria

of course there is a large & growing element in the usa that doesn't want anyone to be able to breed their own pets, show animals, or even food, sad, we grow further & further away from reality in this society

usda has excellent, aggressive protocols ALREADY for locating and de-populating poultry during avian flu outbreaks

they don't need even more control or the right to interfere w. a small hobby farm that affects no one else

[OnionPatch]

40. Well, that just sucks for me

I have six free-range chickens. Did they say the chickens can get it from wild birds? I guess I'm going to have to take my chances then because I'm not getting rid of them.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

45. i have raise free range chickens for myself and family...for eggs only

[SOS]

46. "Our chickens don't have contact with the outside world"

Except when they transport the birds in filthy, overcrowded trucks.
These corporate shills are so full of sh#t.

[porphyrian]

50. Avoid all areas with birds! You could die!

Cower in fear! Abdicate all choice and responsibility to an approved authority figure! Your only hope lies in total obedience! Slavery is Freedom!

[apple_ridge]

52. I'm with you. Please show me the way!! Call the army in!!!

[porphyrian]

54. Right! Martial law is the answer!

And advocating televangilism! Trust in Haste, Regret at Leisure!

[lumpy]

53. Is Avian flu the reason

I paid over 6 bucks for a whole chicken today that ordinarily would have cost a little over 3 bucks two weeks ago?