Scientists have produced genetically modified chickens that appear to prevent the spread of avian influenza. Though the chickens can themselves become infected with flu viruses such as H5N1, say the researchers, they cannot pass on the virus to any other birds with which they come into contact.

The technique, if adopted commercially, could provide a new strategy to slow or prevent outbreaks of bird flu within poultry flocks, which would protect the health of chickens and also reduce the chances of viruses transferring to humans. Many flu viruses that infect humans, including the H1N1 strain behind the swine flu pandemic that swept across the world in 2009 and caused 6,000 deaths, start in domestic birds before transferring to mammals such as horses and pigs, and then ending up in humans.

Pretty obvious where this is headed…




  1. So what says:

    Bobbo, most if not all beer made for mass consumption is a pasteurized blended beer. I think Coors is one beer that at least claims to have never been pasteurized. Check out the AB brewery in St Louis if your in the area. The blending is done to provide “the same” flavor because each batch no matter how quality controlled is just a bit different. The same thing is done with milk. For that matter blending is done with tea, and coffee as well. I would also suspect that it is done with any mass produced food to some extent. Soft drinks taste the same across the country, however water supplies differ as do supplied. If you have ever had sourdough bread in San Fransisco you find that it tastes different than what you would make at home. I didn’t believe it until I tried it.

  2. Stiffie says:

    Re: The boneless pork farm. They should keep producing spareribs, though…gnawing on those makes me feel like a happy dog.

  3. bobbo, the law is what happens whether you like it or not says:

    Thanks SoWhat==so most beer is pasteurized huh? I didn’t see that on Modern Marvels. I don’t think that makes the beer any less “food worthy” as ECA suggests. And taste is taste having much more to do with what you are used to than what is “good” in any sense of the word.

    In the main, the benefits of all this factory food far outweigh the negatives which is why life expectancy used to go up all the time==part of anyway. More e-coli infections with organic food than factory farm.

    Still–label the food as consumers desire and let the market play out. To each their own.

  4. So what says:

    Actually, I should have said most U.S. made beer. I myself am not a beer fan but the tour was an interesting way to pass a few hours on a rainy day, plus they give samples. I would agree that “factory food” benefits out weigh most environmental concerns. Confined animal feeding operations which are prevalent in the mid west particularly pork production can have some devastating environmental impacts when not operated appropriately. Missouri is principally pork and chicken production. What I found most interesting in the article itself was that this was not for production per see, but a proof of concept. As the article states the possibility of this ever actually going into production is years and many tests away. Might I add I really hate the term “franken” anything I wish the media would read the book before they use the term.

    PS how do you post pics? I find it interesting.

  5. Animby says:

    So what. You are our new booze expert. Yes, Bobbo, most mass produced beer (in the USA) is pasteurized. I don’t think it is primarily to increase shelf life. There are many home brewed beers that are aged for years. Hops is naturally bacteriostatic and inside the bottle is an alcohol and CO2 rich environment. Not really conducive to most pathogens. But some do live in those conditions.

    If a beer is not pasteurized, it is still usually treated to remove bacteria by filtering. I think Coors uses this method even though some people claim it reduces the hops’ flavor. The other method is my favorite: bottle conditioning. Belgian beers are famous for this. The beer is still alive when it is bottled and continues to age/ferment in the container. It may not produce consistent flavors but it does produce richer, deeper flavors.

  6. bobbo, the name calling analyst says:

    So what–go ahead and post the link to the pic and the moderators will code it to show if they happen across it and think it worthy. Alternatively, go to an html coding website and learn how to copy past the “imbeded” or “link” code that most websites have. NOTE: I could be totally wrong. Lots of reasons any web site would prohibit posting of pics without moderator review.

    Animby–it makes sense “any” liquid product would be pasteurized even though as stated I’ve never seen all the shows I’ve watched mention it AND it seemed to me the brewing process itself would have an end product that was “pure” absent some kind of contamination along the way. I wonder why all the “How its Done” shows skip the pasteurization process? Amusing. Don’t even mention germs?

  7. Animby says:

    Bob – Many years ago, I had a roommate who brewed his own. Many and boring where the expositions on “How It’s Done.”

    I did gain an appreciation for beer – just not his.

  8. ECA says:

    I will suggest 1 more thing, about Natures foods, and HOW the human body adapts.
    WE adapt to the environment, NOT the environment to US/WE.
    The bacteria, the Flora and Fauna.. From the Earth to the Sky we adapt to an area.

    WE dont even understand HOW foods work in our bodies. IF we could replicate what happens we would make MILK, and shoot every COW/BOVINE on the planet.

    You CANT kill ALL bacteria and expect food/life to continue. WE ARE PART of this planet. And if we CHANGE something TO QUICKLY, we wont adapt. IF some IDIOT makes a mistake, and (KNOWING the way plants work) cross pollinates ALL our grain to indigestible/poisonous Plants..Who are you going to CALL, AFTER THE FACT?

    Even for you that LOVE antibiotics, THEY aint going to last another 100 years, UNLESS we adapt. They are looking at using bacteriological alternatives.

    I posted something you ALL over looked. and I dont think you got the point. the USA has gotten rid of 20% of the cattle in this nation. AND STILL we produce as much milk. Thats in the last 15-20 years..THINK HARD how they do it. Drugs and chemicals. (cattle live about 40 years compared to 80 human) For a human it would be like, DRUGS for 10 years of your life, then you are turned to hamburger(IF you dont die from the drugs). I wont even mention the process of changing RAW milk into what you drink, being 1/2 water and FORTIFIED. You might as well eat CHALK. I will also mention that over 60% of antacids are used in the DAIRY BUSINESS.

    We pasteurize and homogenize, and filter our FOOD TO DEATH. Then inject it with extra water to make MORE MONEY. Go find a nice rancher, BUY a 1/2 cow for <$3 per pound, CUT AND WRAPPED. Go TASTE a chicken that been raised in the OPEN(there are more then 100 types of chicken). TRY to find a Good chicken that weighs 12 pounds.. THEY DONT WEIGH THAT MUCH. And look at what they WANT to do..they WANT chickens with 4 legs.

    Find a good HOPS beer, and try to look thru the bottle. You cant. Get drunk on one, and TELL me the difference from the WATER/Alcohol/Flavored Beer we drink in the USA.

  9. Ben-in-the-woods says:

    I call big fat harry bollocks on beer lasting only two weeks. I’ve been brewing for over 20 years and don’t pasteurize, nor is my malt pasteurize. I usually stick in in the primary for about six months, then secondary for at least six, then bottle it, then drink about a year or later (mostly because I am lazy it takes ages to get around to doing anything with it). The beer is fantastic. In America most of what you drink isn’t beer, it is fermented rice sugar with hop flavoring added.

    I am also calling bullshit on “MANkind survived only in areas they could get GOOD nutrition.” Mankind often brought good nutrition from other places and used it to survive. Chickens and pigs, yam and sweet potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, wheat … all things that were brought to different areas around the globe. New York state, while very fertile, had pretty much bugger all to live on until ‘whiteman’ showed up with his mostly Asian crops and started farming.

    Corn on the cob, before it was farmed, a lot smaller than it is now. We figured out way of breeding it is so it became bigger, sweeter, and more tasty (and easier to grown). Thanks to think clever breeding we had all sorts of civilizations rise and fall in central and south America (and even parts of North America).

    To use your tabloid style capitalization (you should consider a career writing for the Sun Newspaper in the UK): Mother natures is a BITCH and if we did nothing and left her have her way she’d have KILLED US ALL a long time ago. Either we GET CLEVER and find BETTER AND BETTER WAYS of feeding ourselves or we ALL DIE SOONER THAN WE NEED TO.

  10. Ben-in-the-woods says:

    oh ya, and I raise my own chickens, ducks and turkeys and you are right that a lot of what gets sold tastes like shit, but that doesn’t mean we all have to be smallholders or hobby farmers to get a good meal. It just mean you get what you pay for….

  11. ECA says:

    #43,
    I hope thats mostly sarcasm..

    AS I can see you bringing Pigs/chickens/seed to the desert..TRYING to farm sand.. Running to the nearest town to PAY for food, to feed your animals. Water? WHAT water?
    and the Indians, Stare down the mountain at you, LAUGHING.

    I see you understand the BASICS of sub standard farming. DID you know? that the USA gov PAID farmers to PLANT and convert a High plains desert? It took almost 40 years to get decent production. They called it====IDAHO POTATOES… I WONT EVEN mention what it took to get crops in Australia..

    PS. 1 good batch of beer, takes at LEAST 1 month to ferment. And Beer can have an alcohol content UPTO about 18%,,NOT counting STATE/FED regulations. BUt it would be weird if you made HIGH alcohol beer, and THEN had to add water to bring it to LEGAL regulations.


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