November 09, 2005

PETA sees a moral dimension to the anticipated pandemic

Of all the pathetic things I hear about...this has to be right up there on the top of my list. I should make a new category called "Give Me A Break!" for this baloney.

(CNSNews.com) - Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals say they will lie naked in flower-decorated coffins outside the Department of Agriculture in Washington on Wednesday to "remind consumers that an addiction to poultry could lead to a bird-flu pandemic." Protesters will raise a banner reading, "Bird Flu Kills: Go Vegetarian," and they plan to hand out "emergency vegetarian starter kits."

Using such a potentially serious and devasting virus as a backdrop for a publicity stunt is LOW. I'm surprised PETA isn't loosing feathers over the mass cullings that have occurred in the past several months.

PETA quoted the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as saying that bird flu can be caught by eating undercooked meat or eggs. But the CDC also notes that poultry products can be safely eaten, "provided these items are properly cooked and properly handled during food preparation." According to the CDC, the bird flu virus is sensitive to heat, which means that "normal temperatures used for cooking" will kill the virus. "Avian influenza is not transmitted through cooked food," the CDC website specifically says. And it says there is no evidence so far that anyone has become infected after eating "properly cooked poultry or poultry products, even when these foods were contaminated with the H5N1 virus."

Trust me...birds with H5N1 would not be something ANYONE would ever consider for human consumption. Birds infected with this virus don't make it to the grinder shop, so to speak. What is more disturbing, though, is this thought process coming out of PETA:

PETA sees a moral dimension to the anticipated pandemic. "It's payback time, with avian flu now showing up as a direct consequence of a very sick and cruel industry," said PETA Vegan Campaign Director Bruce Friedrich. "With diseases running rampant in crowded, filthy factory farms, not to mention the known link between meat-eating and heart disease, the safest thing to do with chicken flesh is to avoid it like the plague." PETA is among the activist groups that oppose "factory farming," where birds and other livestock live in conditions that activists describe as cruel and inhumane.

You know...these morons are spoiled idiOts who have no medical or science background, for sure. If they did they would not (ever) joke around about such issues. Pandemic flus are horrible. They kill MILLIONS. The next flu has potential to kill BILLIONS. This didn't start with birds who were caged up; it started with field chickens in Vietnam...PETA needs to do it's homework and get the facts right.
Cross Posted @ ARS

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