Jiglu: Farmtalking: Discussion: Re: Virus shift to sheep feared

Originally from: David Oakes

Hi Coleen,
I agree with you that these tactics have been used before, and the good people on this board know how the game goes.That
is what this is to this government a game, and they don,t give a dam whos lives are ruined and how many animals are killed
along the way.We may be in a minority Coleen but i feel we can be counted, am I wrong to think that we cannot call on those,, good people who still read this board.To come to our aid when and if we need there help. Take care Coleen..
David Oakes

----- Original Message -----
From: ...
Originally from: "Coleen Taylor" <...>
To: <...>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: [farmtalking] Virus shift to sheep feared
Dear Jane
When I first read this yesterday I was horrified – I then remembered (some
time later) how and when it first originated, as will other people from
this
board and readers of Warmwell. We sadly, though are in the minority.
I suspect that the Government have learned their lesson well after fmd,
and
will not wish to be seen as the ones instigating a mass cull of sheep, so
what better way then to let the press drip drip the story. The sale of
lamb
drops both in the shops and at the auctions. No MARKET for British lamb.
So in step the Government offering a 'rescue package' to sheep farmers.
They will buy up all of the sheep, at a rock bottom market price. All
sheep slaughtered – and bless the Government they rescue the sheep
farmers!!
And none of this was their doing! Clever hey. Followed by the cherry on
the
cake. British Lamb is obviously unsafe to eat (have not papers been
leaked
today stating that T Blair and Lord Sainsbury wish for GM testing to
continue here in the UK) so we your 'Caring Government' have taken measure
to make sure all lamb (and if this goes down a treat what follows next)?
is
disease free.
Anyone like to bet me that this is NOT the path we are about to go down?
Coleen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jane Barribal" <...>
To: <...>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 8:42 AM
Subject: [farmtalking] Virus shift to sheep feared
From the Sunday Herald
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7322437^663,00.htm
l
By SEAN POULTER
21sep03
BRITISH farmers face their third devastating crisis in recent years
after
a
mystery virus similar to mad cow disease was found in sheep.
Government advisers called for urgent research as the European Food
Safety
Authority called a summit of scientists.
If mad cow disease, or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), has
infected
the national flocks of Britain and other countries, it could pose a
major
risk to human health as well as the farming industry.
British farming has been pushed to the brink by mad cow disease and then
an
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.
The latest illness was found in the brains of sheep culled in Britain
and
animals reared in France and Germany.
But Sir John Krebs, chairman of the Food Standards Agency, said he
believed
there was no reason for people to stop eating lamb or mutton.
BSE has never been found in farm sheep, although animals have been
deliberately infected in laboratory experiments.
But farm animals are known to have been fed the same infected feed that
triggered the epidemic in cows.
So far about 30,000 sheep brains have been tested in a British program
designed expressly to see if BSE has spread to the national flock.
The results causing the current worry involved 52 brains.
Initially they showed positive for a spongiform brain disease called
scrapie, similar to BSE but which has been in sheep for many years and
is
considered harmless to humans.
However, further investigation revealed 28 of the brains might have had
a
disease other than scrapie, possibly BSE.
Scientists say they do not know this other disease.
If the disease is confirmed as BSE it could mean millions of European
consumers have put themselves at risk of infection over the past decade.
In a worst-case scenario, 40 million sheep would have to be slaughtered
in
Britain.
Of particular worry is the fact that the infectious BSE agent – known as
a
prion – spreads much further through the body and meat of sheep than it
does in cows.
SEAC, the British Government's expert committee on BSE, met this week to
discuss the research, but says there is too little evidence to draw
conclusions.
"Our advice to consumers remains the same," Sir John Krebs said. "We are
not advising against the consumption of lamb and sheep meat."
The British Government has drawn up a contingency plan to destroy the
national flock over four years should it be discovered BSE has spread to
sheep.
It has also set up a $500 million project to encourage farmers to stock
only sheep which are resistant to brain diseases, although this has
suffered a setback with the discovery that they are not as resistant as
had
been hoped.
DAILY MAIL
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