Are we cock sure ?
Everything Tastes Like Chicken
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Photo source
by Curtis
Not too many people ever think about the multitude of diseases which may be lurking in that piece of chicken you just sat down to. However; it may be wise to think about it because a new study has found that around 40 billion commercial chickens may be carrying or susceptible to horrible diseases.
This is due to the fact that these chickens breed over and over again with each other, and because of this half of the genetic diversity that is possible in the chicken genome is lost. One of these diseases is the ‘bird flu’ or Avian Influenza which William Karesh, head of the Field Veterinary Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, stated that “There are more [bird] flu infections in more countries than ever before.” In other words, the problem of the bird flu is not going away.
A study was conducted with 2,500 chickens where the variety of genes was compared between different types of chickens. In some of the most extreme cases, the commercial chickens (those raised for meat and eggs) were found to have only about 10% of the genes which were carried by other free range chickens. This means that 90% of the genes had been lost due to confined breeding habits. The average loss of genes was around 50%. Hans Cheng of the US Department of Agriculture and also an Avian disease specialist who conducted this study said that the “commercial stock may lack the genetic diversity necessary to combat new and emerging diseases.”
Bill Muir, Purdue University animal sciences professor, who was also part of the study said that it is important to protect the non-commercial species of chickens in order to interbreed the two to keep disease resistance up along with genetic diversity. Muir stated that “traits such as disease resistance may be found among the rare alleles of other (non-commercial) birds.”
Many scientists are encouraging an immediate interbreeding of chickens in order to prevent the “pathogenic avian flu viruses.” Poultry consumption in the US, per person, has never been higher. It would be a disaster if poultry production had to immediately cease due to health concerns. Cheng states that “this would greatly impact both the poultry industry and human health.”
Do you believe that these are valid concerns? Why are these reports just now coming out? Are there other sources of data that back up the information provided in this study? Does this cause you to worry about the chicken you are eating? Are there other types of agriculture (cows, sheep, etc.) that are at risk for these types of diseases?
Everything Tastes Like Chicken
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Photo source
by Curtis
Not too many people ever think about the multitude of diseases which may be lurking in that piece of chicken you just sat down to. However; it may be wise to think about it because a new study has found that around 40 billion commercial chickens may be carrying or susceptible to horrible diseases.
This is due to the fact that these chickens breed over and over again with each other, and because of this half of the genetic diversity that is possible in the chicken genome is lost. One of these diseases is the ‘bird flu’ or Avian Influenza which William Karesh, head of the Field Veterinary Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, stated that “There are more [bird] flu infections in more countries than ever before.” In other words, the problem of the bird flu is not going away.
A study was conducted with 2,500 chickens where the variety of genes was compared between different types of chickens. In some of the most extreme cases, the commercial chickens (those raised for meat and eggs) were found to have only about 10% of the genes which were carried by other free range chickens. This means that 90% of the genes had been lost due to confined breeding habits. The average loss of genes was around 50%. Hans Cheng of the US Department of Agriculture and also an Avian disease specialist who conducted this study said that the “commercial stock may lack the genetic diversity necessary to combat new and emerging diseases.”
Bill Muir, Purdue University animal sciences professor, who was also part of the study said that it is important to protect the non-commercial species of chickens in order to interbreed the two to keep disease resistance up along with genetic diversity. Muir stated that “traits such as disease resistance may be found among the rare alleles of other (non-commercial) birds.”
Many scientists are encouraging an immediate interbreeding of chickens in order to prevent the “pathogenic avian flu viruses.” Poultry consumption in the US, per person, has never been higher. It would be a disaster if poultry production had to immediately cease due to health concerns. Cheng states that “this would greatly impact both the poultry industry and human health.”
Do you believe that these are valid concerns? Why are these reports just now coming out? Are there other sources of data that back up the information provided in this study? Does this cause you to worry about the chicken you are eating? Are there other types of agriculture (cows, sheep, etc.) that are at risk for these types of diseases?
