Originally from: Pat Gardiner
                        
Pat's Note:

I thought something was boiling in the pig world. They have been looking decidedly shifty lately

When they start lashing out it always means that they have something new to hide.

That it is the French that are watching them comes as no surprise. That wild boar surface as a risk, especially in France, comes as no surprise either. Britain has been lining up wild boar for some weeks,

"You have more wild boar than we do!" or an appropriate equivalent is Britain's usual defence when caught out red-handed.

We do at last have an admission that (at most!) only 1/3 of British pigs are out-door.

The British pig industry would not admit that unless they really thought that Toxoplasmosis was present in British outdoor pigs.

In their inept generic marketing, they prefer everyone to infer incorrectly that the majority of British pigs are out-door – and very carefully do not collect statistics for fear of the truth coming out.

This disclosure is a major change in pig industry policy that will favour indoor producers and hit the outdoor producers.

That seems a shame. There are good producers in both systems. That the outdoor producers should be targetted by their own representative organisation seems wrong.

Once again the industry are forced into contradictory statements.

Britain's pigs are sick, and have, for at least the past seven years, presented a danger to human health. That danger is difficult to quantify but it undeniably exists.

Britain's State Veterinary Service are, as always, hiding up and underplaying animal health problems.

They are a danger to the health of Britain's children, world health and in their usual criminal breach of international obligations. They are a bunch of crooks running a crude protection racket favouring the veterinary industry at the expense of the taxpayer and the liberties of smallholders

I'd back any French scientist against our sleazy government veterinarians whether in the SVS or FSA.

You can see that Dr Pascal Boireau gives animal to animal transmission an emphasis unknown in a Britain obsessed with imaginary illegally imported infected ham sandwiches.

Needless to say,the article was removed from the website after a few hours. Pressure no doubt.

http://www.npa-uk.net/

June 13

Toxoplasmosis endemic in British pigs, claims French expert

By Digby Scott

According to some researchers, outdoor pigs are over 20 times more likely to be infected with toxoplasma gondii than indoor pigs.

And now a respected French food safety expert, Dr Pascal Boireau, is claiming toxoplasmosis is endemic in the British national herd, where about a third of sows are kept outdoors.

This claim could have important implications for the way British pork is marketed.

As trichinella has not been detected in British pigmeat for 26 years consumers are gradually being weaned off the idea that pork has to be overcooked to be safe.

All the evidence suggests that slightly pink pork is perfectly safe, and certainly more succulent and tender.

But if toxoplasma gondii really is becoming a problem in outdoor pigs – and the evidence has yet to be produced – pork may once again be seen as a meat that must be handled with special care.

Outdoor producers might therefore consider intensifying rodent control. They should also do what they can to discourage cats, which shelter toxoplasma gondii in their faeces. It will also be helpful if Defra decides to kill-out the pockets of feral wild boar in Britain.

Pigs can be infected with toxoplasma gondii through ingesting contaminated feed, water, and soil, and by eating infected rodents.

Toxoplasma gondii infection in food-producing animals is acknowledged as a potential public health problem by the Food Standards Agency. Infection can be transmitted to humans through the handling and consumption of raw or undercooked meat containing the organism.

Although it does not present a hazard to normally healthy adults it can pose a threat to unborn children and to immunocompromised individuals such as the ill and elderly.

It has been shown by researchers that pigs kept indoors are far less likely to be infected with the organism. Conversely, the problem of infection with outdoor pigs may be greater than was hitherto supposed.

Researchers in Brazil found over 86 percent of outdoor pigs tested had antibodies to toxoplasma gondii.

There is also evidence that the prevalence of toxoplasma gondii increases with age.

Dr Pascal Boireau, a director of the French equivalent of the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency, has suggested Britain is underplaying the risk of contracting toxoplasmosis from British pigmeat.

He claims the toxoplasmosis threat is real and probably growing, and says more studies are needed, especially into animal-to-animal transmission.

He acknowledges the truth in Britain's claim that the national pig herd is free of the parasite trichinella but says no such claim can be made for toxoplasmosis.

He is also concerned about the situation in France where there are greater opportunities for outdoor pigs to be cross-contaminated from wild boar, where infection rates are running at 10–20 percent.

Regards
Pat Gardiner
www.go-self-sufficient.com