Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
US block processed chicken shipments from China |
Post Reply |
Author | |
JMcB
Valued Member Joined: March 28 2006 Location: Tennessee Status: Offline Points: 172 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: May 03 2006 at 12:19pm |
Spending bill would block processed chicken shipments from ChinaLIBBY QUAID
May 3, 2006 11:57 AM AP Food and Farm Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Spurred by concerns about bird flu, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block chicken processed in China from entering the United States. The prohibition is part of a $94 billion spending bill for food and agriculture programs that cleared a House subcommittee and now goes to the full Appropriations Committee. The Bush administration had said last month that it would allow poultry processed in China, so long as it comes from birds raised and slaughtered in the United States. Agriculture Department officials said the meat would be fully cooked and perfectly safe. But Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said there's no way to guarantee the safety of chicken cooked and packaged in China, where thousands of birds and several people have died from bird flu. DeLauro, the agriculture spending subcommittee's senior Democrat, mentioned a recent recall in Tennesee of chicken breast fillets, sold as fully cooked, that may have been undercooked. ''If undercooking can occur at a U.S. plant, where there are daily inspections, think of how easy it will be for undercooking or other problems to occur in a Chinese plant, which is inspected by U.S. inspectors only once per year,'' DeLauro said. ''The public health risk increases exponentially when a product from China is undercooked, because the threat of avian flu is so high in that country,'' she said. The panel approved DeLauro's amendment blocking processed chicken from China on a voice vote. The spending bill would provide $80 million to protect against bird flu, about $33 million less than what President Bush requested. |
|
Ironstone
Valued Member Joined: March 13 2006 Status: Offline Points: 383 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Rahhhhhhhh!!!
|
|
Ironstone
|
|
Guests
Guest Group |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Thank God.
|
|
Guests
Guest Group |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
Gimme
Valued Member Joined: March 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 428 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Well surprise surprise...they did something right!! So is the trade deal dead or just post poned? |
|
JMcB
Valued Member Joined: March 28 2006 Location: Tennessee Status: Offline Points: 172 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Poultry shipments also likely spread bird flu - expert04 May 2006SINGAPORE: A leading flu expert warned the scientific community on Wednesday against blaming the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus on migratory birds, saying the movement of poultry around the world could play a major role. "We forget that there is an enormous commercial industry with the movement of animals all the time. That, to me, is the most obvious thing to look for," said Kennedy Shortridge, who spent three decades studying influenza viruses. "Don't rush to blame migratory birds straightaway," he said in Singapore at a bird flu conference organised by the Lancet medical journal. Shortridge's assertions would probably not sit well with many experts in this field, who have credited the spread of the H5N1 virus in parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East in the past few months to wild migratory birds from China's Qinghai Lake. An outbreak of the virus in Qinghai Lake last May killed thousands of birds and that particular strain of the virus has since been found in affected places in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. That gave rise to the popular theory the virus was probably brought to these places by surviving wild birds from Qinghai, in remote western China. But Shortridge questioned this, saying: "Birds go north-south, they don't usually go east-west." "There's a railway line that runs from there to one side of Qinghai Lake and there's a road that goes to the other side. If you look at the movements with H5N1, they don't seem to tie in with migratory bird routes for the simple reason they seem to follow the Trans-Siberian railway," he added. "Lots of people don't realise that there's movement of poultry from one country to another, even to Nigeria, where we've got bird flu. People are transporting all sorts of poultry meat." Since re-emerging in Asia in late 2003, the H5N1 virus has killed 113 people out of 205 reported infections, most notably from Asia, Turkey and Egypt. Although it is predominantly a bird disease and most of the victims contracted the virus directly from birds, experts fear it could mutate into a form that will transmit easily among people and trigger a pandemic of catastrophic proportions. However, not everyone was quick to debunk the migratory bird demon. Hiroshi Kida of the department of diseases control at Japan's Hokkaido University said migratory birds and water as agents of viral transmission cannot be underestimated. H5N1 can be preserved in frozen lakes and ponds, and be carried from place to place by wild birds - not necessarily in one, spectacular sojourn, but many short-haul flights. "Not one bird can do this, but many, many birds are involved in many, many short flights, helped by water," Kida, who gave a lecture at the conference, told Reuters later. "Through water-borne transmission, the virus is carried to Europe, Africa." |
|
Scott
V.I.P. Member Joined: February 06 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 131 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
It's about time!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
As the Dark Horse Approaches.
Improvise Adapt and Overcome! |
|
Ravendawn
Valued Member Joined: March 16 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 462 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Good news for you all in the USA i am happy you received this result i found it hard to believe this import had even been considered.I hope we in the UK are not next in line for some cheap processed chicken
|
|
BelleStarr
Valued Member Joined: March 17 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Must have been a few politicians that were scared
|
|
Serenity now!
|
|
Ironstone
Valued Member Joined: March 13 2006 Status: Offline Points: 383 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Raven, it is not over yet. This has to go to the Houses for votes and then to the President for signature. If he vetos it then back to both houses to see if they can overide it with a 2/3 vote. We have yet to see if this will be in the bill that goes to the President. At least there is enough background noise to have this happen.
|
|
Ironstone
|
|
Ravendawn
Valued Member Joined: March 16 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 462 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Ironstone i did not realize this legal issue remained,my hopes are with you . |
|
redcloud
V.I.P. Member Joined: March 08 2006 Status: Offline Points: 334 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Even if he signs the bill, he can still issue a "signing statement" (he's done that 750 times so far) that effectively nullifies the authority of Congress.
|
|
If all is not lost, where is it?
|
|
Ironstone
Valued Member Joined: March 13 2006 Status: Offline Points: 383 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
In which case it goes to the Supreme Court if challanged. The court has alread deemed them illegal in regards to the Constitution.
|
|
Ironstone
|
|
JaxMax
Adviser Group Joined: March 01 2006 Status: Offline Points: 801 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I am extremely pleased with this development.
|
|
He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.Proverbs 13:20, The Bible
|
|
redcloud
V.I.P. Member Joined: March 08 2006 Status: Offline Points: 334 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Hearing vowed on Bush's powers
Senator questions bypassing of laws By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | May 3, 2006 WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing the White House of a ''very blatant encroachment" on congressional authority, said yesterday he will hold an oversight hearing into President Bush's assertion that he has the power to bypass more than 750 laws enacted over the past five years. ''There is some need for some oversight by Congress to assert its authority here," Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said in an interview. ''What's the point of having a statute if . . . the president can cherry-pick what he likes and what he doesn't like?" Specter said he plans to hold the hearing in June. |
|
If all is not lost, where is it?
|
|
Gimme
Valued Member Joined: March 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 428 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Ravendawn,
"hard to believe this import had even been considered"
~~~
Well not only that, it was ridiculous, the birds raised and slaughtered in the US, then sent to china for cooking or packing, then sent back??
It was nuts!! Hope it isn't revisited when we aren't lookin!!
|
|
Gimme
Valued Member Joined: March 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 428 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Ironstone,
EWWWW I dont think this President has vetoed anything ??!!
|
|
Gimme
Valued Member Joined: March 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 428 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Redcloud,
Don't get all excited, it will end up with a bunch of senators puffing and huffing. blabbering on for months, then a vote. Nothing will come of it, just MORE WASTED tax dollars!!
Edited by Gimme - May 03 2006 at 4:03pm |
|
redcloud
V.I.P. Member Joined: March 08 2006 Status: Offline Points: 334 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Yeah, you got that right. Once the initial dust up dies down (hey! alliteration!), they will quietly pass something similar. We'll be eating chinese cats before you know it. MMMM, tastes like chicken. |
|
If all is not lost, where is it?
|
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You can vote in polls in this forum |