Scientists have produced genetically modified chickens that appear to prevent the spread of avian influenza. Though the chickens can themselves become infected with flu viruses such as H5N1, say the researchers, they cannot pass on the virus to any other birds with which they come into contact.
The technique, if adopted commercially, could provide a new strategy to slow or prevent outbreaks of bird flu within poultry flocks, which would protect the health of chickens and also reduce the chances of viruses transferring to humans. Many flu viruses that infect humans, including the H1N1 strain behind the swine flu pandemic that swept across the world in 2009 and caused 6,000 deaths, start in domestic birds before transferring to mammals such as horses and pigs, and then ending up in humans.
Pretty obvious where this is headed…
We just had an unspeakable tragedy here in Florida, oh the humanity:
[Those were genetically altered rubber duckies. - ed.]
Apparently these scientists have not heard about Charles Darwin.
Assuming this technique does work, one has to realize nature always adapts.
Antibiotics serve as a great example.
Alternatively, if it does stop the spread then immune systems may undergo a negative evolution and become weaker thus creating a new vector for attack.
Still waiting for the boneless chicken farm.
(beef and pork too, while they’re at it)
dittmv said “Assuming this technique does work, one has to realize nature always adapts.
Antibiotics serve as a great example.
Alternatively, if it does stop the spread then immune systems may undergo a negative evolution and become weaker thus creating a new vector for attack.”
Ultimately, nature will always win, we can only fight for our survival while we can. Superbugs or not, without antibiotics a lot of us would be dead now, or perhaps have never existed!
This is all part of the human reduction program to eliminate over population.
I may seem callous here, but I hope it works.
The British came to North America bearing smallpox infected blankets and it too care of the Indian overpopulation problem.
The Spaniards and the Portuguese took a more, uh, hands-on approach to spreading venereal disease across South America.
Now that there are no new lands to infect, we’ve got to do it ourselves to ourselves with our food.
“Live long will become a curse.
If only we could grow some food which would kill only the will to accountancy.
We might not care if our checkbooks really balance, but we would be spared the kinds of minds which deceive, lie, cheat and kill for the sake of a bottom line.
There is no food source that has not been genetically modified. Think about it.
Someday, all our food will be produced in the lab.
Nobody thought, salmonella kills more people than flu, let’s make a sam-resistant chicken.
Parts of the problem exist in,
HOW MANY animals did the WHITE MAN destroy in the USA to claim the land for farming.(over 1/2 or all the creatures)
Why do we grow over 10 times the food we need in this nation? It destroys the land.
WE Denude it of all its parts, then ADD artificially what was already there?
We over process, over Sterilize our foods.
Monsanto make SEED that will NOT grow a second crop. You have to buy and buy the seed each year. You cant reseed from what has already been grown.
Monsanto Forces you to sign a contract FOR their seed, and say you will not RESEED from the seed you just bought.(COPYRIGHTS)
Cross pollination, and adaption from MODIFIED SEED. this is a time bomb. if a mistake is made, it affects OTHER CROPS.
Over production CUTS CORNERS. we loose QUALITY to gain QUANTITY. making a market that differentiates for the RICH. Soon you will eat CRAP, as the rich eat STEAK.
Many farms and ranches, create mega tons of food. But the market can only handle so much. WE cant even get the EXCESS to other countries that COULD/WOULD USE IT..without MONEY.(who asked about the super rich that control the world? Its always been the same, TRANSPORTATION and the sea.)
ECA: Read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies is a 1997 by Jared Diamond (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel). There is a number of interesting points he makes. One them is that anywhere in the world that humans have gone, mass extinctions have followed (and not just the WHITE MAN either). Another point he makes, which others on here have also made, is that all farmed good has been genetically modified.
Ben,
Another topic you should read.
and has been written about.
Search for Food as a weapon.
And bypassing the idea that NATURE created most of these plants over millennia, and that MANKIND can do a better job, is abit strange.
Think of it like this.
MANkind survived only in areas they could get GOOD nutrition. Even if they had to find specialized plants, that would grow in certain areas, NATURE created them over time. The mistakes FAILED and DIED. what was left is WHAT survived.
If the bugs and Rats/mice wont EAT IT, should YOU?
Lets look at 1 type of business..BEER.
HOME made beers MIGHT LAST(before they are stale) about 2 months.
Companies MAKE beer last as LONG AS POSSIBLE.. about 6-12 months. which is funny. AS IF’ the beer was being Drunk/drank it wouldnt LAST that long on the shelf. Is it any cheaper to ADD to the beer to make it last longer? is the beer any better then what Ben Franklin had(Beer is the bread of life)?
They do the same with MOST products at the store. YOUR BREAD will last over 1 month on the cabinet, NOT 2 weeks as it was. there is NO DAY OLD BREAD, its over 1-2 weeks OLD.
ECA–are you right about beer? I thought its shelf life was because it was kept “clean” before canning/bottling? No pasteurization if that even applies to a fermenting process. Different with bread. I make bread and yes, it rots faster than storebought, but storebought actually has preservatives in it ((most brands-not all)).
Beer: water, hops, barely, yeast, refrigeration. Ben Franklin: dirty vessels, same ingredients, room temperature. Modern beer may or may not taste the same as Ben Franklin’s beer but to be sure its tastes “the same” every time you drink it–not true with Ben.
Just asking.
Bobbo, most if not all beer made for mass consumption is a pasteurized blended beer. I think Coors is one beer that at least claims to have never been pasteurized. Check out the AB brewery in St Louis if your in the area. The blending is done to provide “the same” flavor because each batch no matter how quality controlled is just a bit different. The same thing is done with milk. For that matter blending is done with tea, and coffee as well. I would also suspect that it is done with any mass produced food to some extent. Soft drinks taste the same across the country, however water supplies differ as do supplied. If you have ever had sourdough bread in San Fransisco you find that it tastes different than what you would make at home. I didn’t believe it until I tried it.
Re: The boneless pork farm. They should keep producing spareribs, though…gnawing on those makes me feel like a happy dog.
Thanks SoWhat==so most beer is pasteurized huh? I didn’t see that on Modern Marvels. I don’t think that makes the beer any less “food worthy” as ECA suggests. And taste is taste having much more to do with what you are used to than what is “good” in any sense of the word.
In the main, the benefits of all this factory food far outweigh the negatives which is why life expectancy used to go up all the time==part of anyway. More e-coli infections with organic food than factory farm.
Still–label the food as consumers desire and let the market play out. To each their own.
Actually, I should have said most U.S. made beer. I myself am not a beer fan but the tour was an interesting way to pass a few hours on a rainy day, plus they give samples. I would agree that “factory food” benefits out weigh most environmental concerns. Confined animal feeding operations which are prevalent in the mid west particularly pork production can have some devastating environmental impacts when not operated appropriately. Missouri is principally pork and chicken production. What I found most interesting in the article itself was that this was not for production per see, but a proof of concept. As the article states the possibility of this ever actually going into production is years and many tests away. Might I add I really hate the term “franken” anything I wish the media would read the book before they use the term.
PS how do you post pics? I find it interesting.
So what. You are our new booze expert. Yes, Bobbo, most mass produced beer (in the USA) is pasteurized. I don’t think it is primarily to increase shelf life. There are many home brewed beers that are aged for years. Hops is naturally bacteriostatic and inside the bottle is an alcohol and CO2 rich environment. Not really conducive to most pathogens. But some do live in those conditions.
If a beer is not pasteurized, it is still usually treated to remove bacteria by filtering. I think Coors uses this method even though some people claim it reduces the hops’ flavor. The other method is my favorite: bottle conditioning. Belgian beers are famous for this. The beer is still alive when it is bottled and continues to age/ferment in the container. It may not produce consistent flavors but it does produce richer, deeper flavors.
So what–go ahead and post the link to the pic and the moderators will code it to show if they happen across it and think it worthy. Alternatively, go to an html coding website and learn how to copy past the “imbeded” or “link” code that most websites have. NOTE: I could be totally wrong. Lots of reasons any web site would prohibit posting of pics without moderator review.
Animby–it makes sense “any” liquid product would be pasteurized even though as stated I’ve never seen all the shows I’ve watched mention it AND it seemed to me the brewing process itself would have an end product that was “pure” absent some kind of contamination along the way. I wonder why all the “How its Done” shows skip the pasteurization process? Amusing. Don’t even mention germs?
Bob – Many years ago, I had a roommate who brewed his own. Many and boring where the expositions on “How It’s Done.”
I did gain an appreciation for beer – just not his.