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PETA requests CDC ban importation of non-human primates

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  • PETA requests CDC ban importation of non-human primates

    Note: I've edited this post to generalize the topic. I'm under the impression we're going to be hearing a lot from PETA.


    Humans? Closest Relatives Are Among the Most Dangerous Carriers of Avian Flu, Other Deadly Diseases

    Atlanta ? In an attempt to stanch the spread of bird flu, which has already traveled from Asia to the Middle East and Europe, PETA has fired off a letter to Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, urging her to ban the importation of nonhuman primates from countries with confirmed bird flu outbreaks.

    PETA cites laboratory tests that show that nonhuman primates contract bird flu similarly to humans and points out that primates bought and sold in unregulated Asian animal markets are likely to be kept in close contact with infected birds. Last year, more than 20,000 of these primates entered the U.S. from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia?countries that have suffered 97 human deaths from bird flu.

    PETA?s request has precedent, as the CDC banned primate imports after contract-testing giant Covance Inc. was discovered to be importing hundreds of Ebola-infected primates from Asia. Given the severe threat posed by bird flu, PETA thinks that similar action by the CDC is appropriate.

    PETA also points out that the intense stress caused by capture, confinement, and transport?which can be compounded by prolonged exposure to heat, cold, hunger, and thirst?suppresses primates? immune systems, making them highly susceptible to infectious diseases. Because the animals are usually crowded together in large shipments, the virus can easily spread and mutate.

    "Every day that nonhuman primates enter the United States brings the bird flu epidemic one step closer to our shores," says PETA Senior Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "The CDC recognizes the disease threat posed by nonhuman primates and has already banned their importation as pets. The CDC can close this potentially deadly loophole by banning the importation of all nonhuman primates from bird flu-ravaged countries."
    Last edited by hawkeye; June 14, 2006, 08:39 AM. Reason: misspellings, broaden category

  • #2
    Re: PETA requests CDC ban importation of non-human primates

    Are there any recorded cases of non-human primates being infected with H5N1?

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    • #3
      Re: PETA requests CDC ban importation of non-human primates

      Mellie, that is a great question. I would like to see the research that PETA is referencing also.

      I read somewhere that the primary viral host for Chikungunya was in non-human primates originally, and humans were just an incidental dead-end host. It would appear to possibly have changed now that Chik is spreading in areas with low numbers of non-human primates.

      I never thought I would say this about PETA but they may be on to something if they can provide a creditable link to the research they are referencing....???
      "Predictable is Preventable" by Safety Expert Dr. Gordon Graham.

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      • #4
        Re: PETA requests CDC ban importation of non-human primates

        I don't think they're referencing research. So far as I know there have been no non-human primate birdflu infections.

        wild stone marten in Germany


        tiger to tiger (zoo)


        cats


        mice & ferrets
        The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses across Asia in 2003 and 2004 devastated domestic poultry populations and resulted in the largest and most lethal H5N1 virus outbreak in humans to date. To better understand the potential of H5N1 viruses isolated during this epizootic event …


        http://id_center.apic.org/apic/influ...flu_human.html
        Certain mammals also are susceptible to influenza. Influenza A viruses have traditionally been known to cause disease in horses, pigs, whales, and seals; however, the range of several influenza A subtypes is expanding to further mammalian species. H5N1 influenza A recently has been shown to infect cats, leopards, tigers, and civets (see References: Keawcharoen 2004, Kuiken 2004, Webster 2006). An H3N8 strain, genetically and antigenically similar to equine influenza viruses, recently was identified in racing greyhounds in Iowa and elsewhere (see References: Crawford 2005, Yoon 2005).

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        • #5
          PETA: Wisconsin

          I don't think PETA is doing anyone a service by adding to the already over-saturated media outlets. PETA does a very good job of overloading people to the point of just shutting down.

          PETA Tries to Capitalize on Bird Flu Scare
          USAgNet - 06/14/2006

          The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will launch an anti-chicken campaign in Arkansas, headquarters of Tyson Foods, the week of June 5. A key element of the campaign is a billboard that states, "Payback Time! Bird Flu Kills. Go Vegetarian."

          Spokespersons for PETA are spouting their typical rhetoric in the press as part of the campaign, lambasting the treatment of farm-raised chickens and turkeys.

          Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council has been quoted in at least one press article explaining that in Thailand, free-roaming chickens in villages, rather than farm-raised birds, have been infected with the virus.

          Another activist group, United Poultry Concerns, is also planning an anti-chicken campaign, using a billboard that proclaims, "Bird Flu: Fowl Play?"

          In other related news, it appears that a judge is keeping PETA animal killers on a short leash. The Center for Consumer Freedom reports that in a North Carolina courtroom May 31, defense lawyers for two animal-cruelty defendants asked a judge to dismiss dozens of criminal charges. The judge was unimpressed.

          The defendants, former -- or perhaps still -- employees of PETA stand accused of killing adoptable dogs and cats in the back of a van in 2005 and discarding their bodies in a trash dumpster. While the saga continues to drag on without a firm trial date, it's now settled that defendants Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook will indeed face felony charges that carry lengthy jail sentences.

          In Greenville, WNCT-TV's Laila Muhammad reported that the detective who arrested Hinkle and Cook testified that in addition to dead animals, a search of the PETA van turned up "a digital camera with pictures of living and dead animals and vials of substances later determined to be drugs used to euthanize animals."

          In addition to felony-level cruelty to animals charges, these two "people for the ethical treatment of animals" are charged with obtaining property by false pretenses. According to an employee of a North Carolina veterinarian, Hinkle and Cook promised to find suitable homes for three kittens, but killed them just hours later without even bringing them back to PETA's Virginia headquarters.

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