wasting looms is definitely an issue.
Posted on 11/26/2006 10:56:07 AM PST by SJackson
John Stauber recently stopped at a sporting goods store in Richland Center to get his chainsaw repaired.
Earlier that day, Stauber says, the Legislative Audit Bureau reported that the Department of Natural Resources' $27 million plan to thin the state's deer herd in an attempt to eradicate chronic wasting disease has been a flop. And Stauber, director of the Madison-based Center for Media & Democracy, says most of those waiting in line to purchase deer hunting licenses were "laughing and ridiculing the DNR."
"They saw this as another public funding fiasco where know-nothing game managers are wasting money and interfering with the activity of sportsmen," Stauber surmised in an interview last week.
Stauber has similar disdain for the agency - but for different reasons. He believes the DNR needs to take far bolder action if it's ever going to slow the spread of CWD and, even more important, prevent it from possibly spreading into people.
"I'm not saying it is spreading into people. I'm not saying it will spread into people. But there's absolutely no reason why it couldn't spread into people," says Stauber, who co-authored a 1997 book ("Mad Cow USA") about the Mad Cow disease crisis in Great Britain, where more than 100 people died from a human form of the disorder after eating infected beef.
Stauber's been sounding the alarm about CWD since the fall of 2001 - several months before it was first discovered in Wisconsin in three deer that were killed near Mount Horeb. In 2003, as the disease continued to spread, he suggested in this space that the DNR take five major steps to keep it in check. None were adopted.
In fact, not only has the DNR ignored his advice - "I'm a public relations problem to them, not somebody whose brain they might tap," he suggests - but it ran ads on area radio stations in the fall of 2002 that poked fun at anyone who feared contracting the disease by eating venison.
Since then, two studies have come out that should make every hunter shudder, Stauber says.
One, by scientist Glenn Telling of the University of Kentucky, found that infectious prions have been found in the thigh muscles - a part of the animal that people commonly eat - of CWD-stricken deer.
The other, by researchers at Colorado State University, showed that infected deer can spread CWD to healthy deer through their blood and saliva.
"And that's really stunning," Stauber says. "It means there's no way anyone knows of to stop the spread of CWD."
If all that weren't disturbing enough, the British government has reported that at least two people who died of Mad Cow disease in that country were infected through the blood supply, he notes.
So where does the DNR go from here?
"They should go back to the drawing board and erase all the garbage, all the convoluted, illogical talking points that are up there," Stauber says. "Then they should start over and list stopping infected deer from entering the human food supply as their No. 1 goal. Period."
And there's only one way to do that, Stauber maintains: By testing every deer that's killed in the state and keeping every deer that tests positive for CWD out of processing plants and slaughterhouses.
"There are some good, rapid tests that have been developed with cattle that are cheap and easy to use," he says. "Somebody would have to investigate whether those tests are applicable to deer. And if they're not, the state would have to put money into developing an applicable test."
But these aren't big hurdles, Stauber says. And had the DNR taken this approach when CWD was first discovered here, the system would already be in place.
"But they haven't even considered this because the position they've taken is one of downplaying and ridiculing the human health threat. And frankly, the most cynical analysis of the DNR's intent has been borne out. Which is, bottom line, all they really care about is killing deer and managing the deer herd and selling licenses and pretending that there's no problem."
Sad fact is, "they've got no real plan ... and they've got egg on their face in front of the public," Stauber says. "So this train is wrecked, it's off the tracks, it's burning.
"And it's hard to speculate what the hell they're thinking at this point."
The author has a great idea.
"Then they should start over and list stopping infected deer from entering the human food supply as their No. 1 goal. Period."And there's only one way to do that, Stauber maintains: By testing every deer that's killed in the state and keeping every deer that tests positive for CWD out of processing plants and slaughterhouses.
Except those deer are, well, dead already. Dead deer don't have fawns in the spring. That doesn't reduce the deer population either. Good for the testing labs though.
Bookmarked bump
bureaucracies.
wasting looms is definitely an issue.
Important post.
I think deer, squirrels, rodents, rodent urine etc. all pose a hazard in a number of regions . . . and folks seem to be blase about all such.
I don't think we have to run around super paranoid. But wisdom is in order.
And no normal, conventional . . . actually, NO treatment I'm aware of, renders the prions involved safe.
Thx.
Anyone know about this being a problem with PA deer? I am going hunting next week - only my second trip but I feel lucky (or unlucky...I guess it depends!).
Much obliged to anyone with insight.
They publish study after study done by people who couldn't find their own a$$ with a mirror and a flashlight. Oh - and unless the deer has some transgenic autoimmune disorder and you kill it and eat it... there is zero threat to humans.
"Much obliged to anyone with insight."
Read up on Prions. They can't be killed by cooking.
They are present in CWD and BSE.
Carolyn
Well, yes, I realize that. This is why I asked. I am wondering the level of risk asssociated with eating deer from the NE. Specifically NJ or PA.
LOVE your moniker BTW.
If you really want to be safe though I would contact your state health department to make sure things haven't changed- the map is from 2004 after all.
See the map I posted- its from 2004 so things may have changed but almost certainly the deer are safe.
The map comes from an article on the CDC website
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/03-1082.htm
It doesn't look like CWD has spread to Missouri.
http://www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/cwd/
Much obliged.
Or so you have been told.
The goal would be to keep CWD from jumping over to humans. That is the most important thing to keep in mind. The health of the deer is a minor consideration compared to that.
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