Why don't we simply allow foot and mouth to determine evolution rather than spend billions in killing infected

Question

animals. What harm to humans would eating infected animals be?

Dozy: I ask a question and I ask it with a degree of ignorance. But there's no need to be so rude.

Chey and dozy: You really are a pair of f^kwits. (Chey espesecially - what has BSE etc got to do with foot and mouth. And Dozy: How the f6ck do you know what any animal suffers. Meet me and I'd happlily show you pain.

Flingebut and Gm: Thank you for your mature responses.

So I guess my next question would be why don't we immunise them. I believe the Dutch do?

horsemanure pal: Go blow a pig or whatever mutants like you do for your kicks- t^at!

Nick birch : I thank you too. I get tired of petty rudeness, when a simple answer is sufficient.

Zeggy I hope you and most others remain free of this latest outbreak.

Dozy: I talk to people as I see fit. Still, I hope your operation goes well.

Ray: I asked this question in earnest, I've already had some silly, unhelpful answers. Many people's lives may be terribly affected. Let's try and keep the RAY versus Sid debate where it belongs.

Crispy Bacon: I took the 8 bn figure from mthe BBc website......What conerns me is this can easily be introduced be terrorists or those with a grudge. I'm sure you and the others who answered with sense, will agree, this becomes a multi-faceted problem and one which I don't believe was handled well by the government in 2001.

john h: I accept that in cases like bird flu, culling is needed. I'm still not convinced by the answers given regarding foot and mouth. I mentioned Holland, others have mentioned countries such as Argentina, though I'm aware there are many others. If you wish to insult me, you should try harder, still I might just come after you - and there are no rules if i do. I hope you will find your answer worthwhile.

Answer 1

FMD is an economic disease, and where economics are concerned, government gets involved. There is a vaccine available for FMD that hasn't been used because the antibodies from the vaccine can't be differentiated from the antibodies formed by exposure to the disease. International trade agreements prohibit importing animals with the antibodies.
If left alone, most animals recover from FMD, but with weight loss from not eating. The disease is also highly contagious. It can be carried from farm to farm by people, cars, and the wind.
As usual, government over reacts. Hopefully, they've learned something from the 2001 outbreak in England when millions of healthy animals were destroyed to prevent the disease from spreading. In the aftermath, some farmers committed suicide and the countryside has been contaminated from the vast number of carcasses that were burned.

Answer 2

It's true that eating infected meat cannot communicate the disease to humans, since human stomach acid kills the virus. However, foot and mouth disease has a severe debilitating effect on the animals, that results in dropoffs in milk and meat production. Thus it is considered that the money spent controlling foot and mouth outbreaks is nothing compared to the consequences of an outbreak. It's an economic issue, not a health or evolution issue.

Oh yeah, and Chey, BSE is mad cow disease, not foot and mouth disease. You might want to do some research yourself.

Answer 3

Several reasons I think that this would not be a good idea.

Foot and Mouth is an extremely contagious virus and it wouldn't take long for the country's population of cattle, sheep goats to contract it. If it was completely left untreated, this would cause the animals an enormous amount of suffering, sores in their mouth, on the tongue, problems with their feet. I most definitely wouldn't want to see any animal suffering in this way. If a treatment to relieve the symptoms of F & M was developed then the animals would still suffer from severe weight loss and low productivity. If you have an animal that is hardly producing any milk and has no meat on it there is no point having that animal, there is no market for it and no money to be made for the farmer. Therefore it is not viable to run the business anymore. What will then happen is farms shutting all over the country as farmers are hardly making any profit at the moment with healthy animals let alone sick ones. If this country is not producing any milk or meat then obviously we would have to import it - probably at sky high prices. Then there is the money that the country would lose by not exporting meat as there is no longer any to export.
There is no proven link of a significant health risk to humans from F & M, but if viruses are allowed to evolve then there is the possibility of mutation, with the virus developing into something nasty that could have a devastating effect on the population.
We have a Dairy Farm and were lucky enough to not get F&M in 2001 but I saw animals that did have it in nearby farms. They look ill, they look as if they are suffering and there is no way that you can work with animals that you know are in this condition. Our cows are happy and healthy, they need to be tended and cared for. There is no way that we continue to breed, care for, raise and milk animals if they are going to suffer from illness for the rest of their lives, it's not what farming is about and if it ever came to that, then our days as Dairy Farmers would be over.

Thanks Ding Dong .... that is greatly appreciated.

Answer 4

Well Ding Dong, I'll try not to insult you, you've received enough of that already. Why just limit your question to Foot and Mouth disease in animals. Why do we spend billions on cancer research and looking for a cure for HIV? Why not let diseases like the black plague and small pox take their course in evolution? It would solve the problems we have of over population and those that survived would be a much more hardy breed of people. To me the answer to these questions is obvious, people are basically humane creatures, but your helmet may be a little too tight for you to get the point. (Sorry, I tried not to slip an insult in there, but just couldn't help it.)

Answer 5

Billions is an overstatement but I take your point!
History tells us that diseases sometimes cross the lines between species. Do we wish to take the risk?
Do we wish millions more animals to suffer if we can eliminate the disease (or at least radically reduce its effects?)
On a practical point even if it were safe (and problem free - which it isn't) many people would not eat meat from such sources.
(There is another debate as to whether or not this would be a good thing!)
Thanks for your question and I am sorry you have received some rude and ill-thought replies - in my opinion!

Answer 6

Since before humans were humans, we have been using tools to modify the environment and make our life better (fire and stone tools predate the evolution of homosapiens).

There are many benefits in letting nature take its course. When we get sick we avoid the doctor and if we die we eliminate those genes. Are you volunteering?

With foot and mouth, it causes suffering to animals and the cost of treatment is less than the cost in terms of loss of livestock. Also evolution of cows is not really fast enough to keep pace with evolution of diseases.

If we ignore such diseases next thing we know we don't have enough food (like the potato famine in Ireland).

So there are moral and economic reasons.

Answer 7

Foot and mouth is not usually fatal to cows etc. The reason farmers hate it is that it reduces milk and meat yield and these animals are not pets !!

So you can either let it go endemic as in South America, but get reduced milk and meat, or eridicate it with a mass cull.

Answer 8

Have you ever seen an animal suffering with foot and mouth? No. Well before you come out with such a ludicrous statement in future you ought to take the time and go see for yourself!
You want your head looking at seriously. Then again, why don't you eat some of the infected meat and do us all a favour. Humph!:((

Edit
Pain, I'm sorry but you do not know what pain is unless you have sat in my shoes for a day. I had a radical mastectomy 7 years ago which entailed removing my right breast and lymph nodes under my arm, then I had to go and have another operation on that arm as I developed a chronic infection which would not clear up without being cut out, and that has left me with a severe disability in my arm.
I have osteoporosis of my spine, chronic arthritis in both hips, knees and ankles. I'm going in hospital next week to have a hip and knee replacement at the same time. Very dangerous and very rare!
You only posted this question to generate the responses you received, and I am kicking myself for yet again biting and taking the bait!

Just a suggestion, why don't you check these sites ot for more info?
Also, would you really talk like that to your own mum or grandma? My grandchildren wouldn't talk like that to anyone!

Answer 9

You don't have a good track record with you cows Hope that doesn't cost y'all alote of money! What is this the 3rd or 4th time.It's a two way street ding dong

Answer 10

economics.no one wants the meat or milk(suposed to be ok)nor i supose the meat or milk from the future generations.so they cull (why don`t they spell it with a K same end result)the infected cows.