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| On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:58:32 +0100, "Pat Gardiner"
<patgardiner@btinternet.com> wrote:
>Pat's Note; The fact that this has hit the headlines now is down to the Soil
>Association.
>
>It is a marketing stunt and not a very good one.
>
>Unfortunately for the State Veterinary Service and Food Standards Agency, it
>is an attack on them too.
>
>The Soil Association say that Britain has not been testing for MRSA in
>livestock. That is wrong. We know they have been testing cattle and say they
>have found nothing.
>
>It has been reported that Britain has not tested pigs and pork and this has
>never been contradicted as far as I know.
>
>I do not believe that. Of course, they have been testing British pigs and
>poultry - and almost certainly suppressing the fact that MRSA in livestock
>is just as common in Britain as it is on the Continent.
>
>They do not publish the minutes of their Committee studying zoonotic
>diseases. They dare not. I've known since 2002 that there was a problem, but
>was unable to prove it.
>
>The problem the government has is that if they admit to MRSA in British
>pigs, they are going to open the PMWS can of worms and that is going to
>expose the CSF and FMD scams and lies.
>
>Imagine the public reaction when they find out that large numbers of sick
>Scottish pigs were banned from being slaughtered in Scotland and shipped
>south to be killed in England
>
>Britain was and is using massive quantities of antibiotics to get sick pigs
>from farm to fork.
>
>So the government are stuck. They either suggest that they have not done any
>tests and look incompetent, or that they have and have been suppressing
>positive results. What they don't want to do is explain.
>
>That's what you get when you employ bent vets. I was amused to see that the
>SA want to screen all vets coming into the country. I suggest lie detectors.
>
>http://www.soilassociation.org/web/...df?OpenDocument
>
We're doomed and society couldn't give a toss!
>MRSA in farm animals - 'A new monster' - coming to the UK soon?
>
>PRESS RELEASE 25/06/2007 (version 1)
>
>Categories: Animal health | Antibiotics | Health | Press Releases 2007 |
>Downloads and other links
>
>Research published today (25/6/07) by the Soil Association reveals that a
>serious human-health threat already present in the Netherlands and other
>European countries, could spread to the UK. [1]
>
>The 'superbug' methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is already
>a high-profile, persistent problem in many UK hospitals. Now a new strain of
>MRSA has developed amongst intensively farmed pigs, chickens and other
>livestock on the Continent. Farm-animal MRSA has already transferred to
>farmers, farm-workers and their families in the Netherlands, causing serious
>health impacts. 40% of Dutch pigs and 50% of pig farmers have been found to
>carry farm-animal MRSA. [2]
>
>In the Netherlands, farm-animal MRSA has been found in 20% of pork, 21% of
>chicken and 3% of beef on sale to the public. [3] It has not yet been found
>in UK livestock or meat products, but neither the government nor the Food
>Standards Agency are carrying out any surveys of the most likely carriers,
>live pigs, chickens and imported meat. [4] Replying to a Parliamentary
>Question on this issue, the minister responsible, Ben Bradshaw, dismissed
>the Soil Association's concerns, '.there is no current evidence that
>food-producing animals form a reservoir of MRSA infection in the UK.'. [5]
>
>The Dutch Minister for Agriculture, Dr C. P. Veerman thinks differently,
>'It is very unlikely that 'animal-farming-related MRSA' only exists in the
>Netherlands, considering the animal types where MRSA is found and the many
>animal movements and comparable livestock farming methods in other EU member
>states. So far, there are no hard facts about this. It is important, for
>these reasons, that all Member States examine their animals.' [3]
>
>Dutch scientists and government officials blame this new strain of MRSA in
>farm animals on the high levels of antibiotics used in intensive livestock
>farming. [6] The UK government has committed itself to reducing the amount
>of antibiotics used in UK farming, yet overall levels remain high. Despite
>an EU-wide ban on growth-promoting antibiotics added to animal feed, similar
>quantities of antibiotics are simply being prescribed by vets for disease
>prevention. [7] Additionally, the junior Minister, Ben Bradshaw MP, gave in
>to lobbying by the farm-drugs industry to allow continued advertising of
>prescription-only antibiotics to livestock farmers in defiance of an EU
>Directive seeking to end this practice. Now these important antibiotics are
>even being marketed for their growth-promoting properties. [8]
>
>Richard Young, Soil Association policy adviser said,
>'This new type of MRSA is spreading like wildfire across Europe, and we know
>it is transferring from farm animals to humans - with serious health
>impacts. Concerned scientists have referred to this as 'a new monster'. [9]
>Fortunately, it has not yet been found in UK livestock or imported meat, but
>then neither the government nor the Food Standards Agency are looking for it
>in live animals or meat.
>
>This is no time for official complacency, but a critical opportunity to
>prevent farm-animal MRSA getting a hold in the UK - so reducing risks to
>human health, costs to the NHS, already burdened by hospital-acquired MRSA,
>and avoiding another potentially devastating food-safety crisis.'
>
>The Soil Association is calling on the government to:
>Urgently instigate a testing programme to establish the MRSA status of UK
>livestock and meat on sale;
>Fully implement its claimed commitment to reducing use of veterinary
>antibiotics - including banning advertising of all antibiotics to farmers;
>Immediately prohibit the prophylactic and off-label use of all antibiotics
>on farms that are defined as 'critically important' in human medicine by the
>World Health Organisation;
>Screen all farm workers and vets coming into the UK from countries where
>farm-animal MRSA has been found.
>
>
>
>Regards
>Pat Gardiner
>www.go-self-sufficient.com
>
>
>
>
--
Hansom <0>++<0>
Avoid the rush at the last judgement. Be converted now instead!
PRAYER FOR A NATION
When Pastor Joe Wright, of Central Christian Church, was asked
to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting
the usual politically correct generalities.
But what they heard instead was this:
Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness
and seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says,
‘Woe on those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism;
We have, worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism;
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle;
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery;
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation;
We have killed our unborn and called it choice;
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem;
We have abused power and called it political savvy;
We have coveted our neighbour’s possessions and called it ambition;
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression;
We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, 0 God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us;
cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have
been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state.
Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the centre of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the Living Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
****************
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