Waiheke Island BSE Attack/Hoax???

[StoneChucker]

Seems some nutter has claimed to have released Foot & Mouth disease on Waiheke Island. Demanded a lump sum payout and change to the tax policies. Goes on to say that if the demands are not met, more will be released at another location in NZ.

Hopefully it's some delusional nutter and a hoax, because the alternative is going to be rather costly for NZ farming and trade.

[saiko]

Sounds like a hoax, but that won't save his arse when he's caught.

[pyrocam]

oh fuck. thats really quite a big one. NZ would shrivel up and die without our 'clean green' image.
(mostly clean green that is (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=11689&highlight=stinks))

thats a really nasty thing to do.

in fact. I was wondering what that feeling is. I feel ive just been kicked in the nuts. :kick:

[N4CR]

Is he going to open up the big orange box labeled 'MAD CoW DIESeaSSE' and tip it out onto Waiheke? Lol... well my brother lives there and I did'nt think he is that much of a nutcase. Probably a disgruntled DOC worker wanting $16 an hour :msn-wink: . (DOC workers are very cool people when you get to meet them though :niceone: )

[Waylander]

Lol when I first heard about this story I thought they were talking about some government official putting his foot in his mouth and others folowing suit. Probably would have been more interesting if it had been.

[Mencius]

Hopefully it's some delusional nutter and a hoax, because the alternative is going to be rather costly for NZ farming and trade.

Not only that but merely putting the measures in place to stop the spread of the outbreak and tracing where it may have spread to is a MAJOR thing and very, very expensive. Not to mention very stressful.

This is the kind of shite that could bring our country to its knees.

Fingers crossed for a hoax myself.

Ang

[MrMelon]

It was Foot and Mouth that they said they'd released and were threatening to release more aparrently. But probably just a hoax.

Someone's going to get a beating out the back of the police station! :D

[justsomeguy]

not to mention the problems with international travel and the problems our dollar is going to have....................:no:

The chap should be seriously punished, not given the usual life in jail with parole available in 10 minutes and a $1.95 bail amount.

[Odin]

It was Foot and Mouth that they said they'd released and were threatening to release more aparrently. But probably just a hoax.

Someone's going to get a beating out the back of the police station! :D

Send him by my house and i'll beat the prick too.... Hoax or not scary thing. Lets hope its a hoax and the person resposible gets put in irons in a very poblic place so we can all get a kick in.

[StoneChucker]

It was Foot and Mouth that they said they'd released
Oops :niceone: Quite right... My memory is not quite what it, err....

[Holy Roller]

Certainly hope it is a hoax.
We were in England when they were burning hundreds of cattle. Disinfectant mats were at all the boarders to drive over and through. Not a good sight at all and such misery for the farmers. Though apparently it is easy enough to bring in such bio terrorism to NZ.

[John]

"Oh gnoes the iraqies that we didnt deport are attacking ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! damn youz saddam dam youz all to hell..."

(p/t)

[Biff]

Has anyone heard from Mikey today?

[thehollowmen]

BSE ain't foot and mouth... where did you get that idea?

[Krusti]

Let me at him...now I'll have to give all 320 of my cows councilling...that will take up most of the day...the guy needs to be locked up. Funny thing is, her that knows all is a meat inspector and no body has said any thing to them...I just HATE people who try to screw with my livelyhood.

Obviously they have never had a large mortgage and OD and walked that tight rope we call Self Employment.

Again.....Let me at em..:mad:

[James Deuce]

Let me at him...now I'll have to give all 320 of my cows councilling...that will take up most of the day...the guy needs to be locked up. Funny thing is, her that knows all is a meat inspector and no body has said any thing to them...I just HATE people who try to screw with my livelyhood.

Obviously they have never had a large mortgage and OD and walked that tight rope we call Self Employment.

Again.....Let me at em..:mad:

Locking up is too good. Death penalty for this I think.

[Motu]

Fat lot of harm foot & mouth will do on Waiheke Is,no one has been able to farm stock over there for atleast 30 yrs,transportation costs killed that....that's one reason for all the vineyards and ''lifestyle'' blocks.When I was over there we used to ride on basicaly abandoned farms,they were just gorse and tabacco weed with some dry stock wandering around at will.

[Riff Raff]

I can't believe that someone would even contemplate such a thing - proof that we're dealing with an idiot. The repercussions even as a hoax are huge for this country and even if it only lasts a few days there will be big losses of income. I think the chances of someone obtaining this disease and releasing it are slim. The letter was sent from the Manawatu - wonder whether some drunk uni students did it as a prank? I think this person is stupid enough to be caught quickly and deserves everything they've got coming.

[Hitcher]

Seems some nutter has claimed to have released Foot & Mouth disease on Waiheke Island. Demanded a lump sum payout and change to the tax policies. Goes on to say that if the demands are not met, more will be released at another location in NZ.

Hopefully it's some delusional nutter and a hoax, because the alternative is going to be rather costly for NZ farming and trade.
Hopefully it's a hoax. Then I can go home to bed...

[Biff]

Hopefully it's a hoax. Then I can go home to bed...

How are you caught up with this H?

[Pwalo]

I agree. It's hard to believe anyone would be prepared to put so many people's livelihoods at risk, especially in a country that relies so much on agriculture.

Pity the poor bloke/women if they are found.

[Hitcher]

How are you caught up with this H?
My employer is the lead agency on the response management. Nuff said. Figure the rest out from my profile...

[Waylander]

I agree. It's hard to believe anyone would be prepared to put so many people's livelihoods at risk, especially in a country that relies so much on agriculture.

Pity the poor bloke/women if they are found.
Exactly what do you think it is that terrorists do? The whole point of thier exhistance is to put as many people as posible at risk. Hoax or not if thye find this guy they should line up all the farmers in the country and have him walk down the line being beaten wth a cane by each farmer he passes.

[Krusti]

Exactly what do you think it is that terrorists do? The whole point of thier exhistance is to put as many people as posible at risk. Hoax or not if thye find this guy they should line up all the farmers in the country and have him walk down the line being beaten wth a cane by each farmer he passes.

I am absolutely pissed with who ever it is....this is the sort of news Europe and USA have been wanting to hear...lets just cock up years of trade talks..

I for one would keep running down the line having my turn again and again and again...:kick: :Pokey: :bash:

Can ya tell I'm MAD?

I really need to go out one morning and shoot 450 animals...oh joy joy

:done:

By the way I'm forming a possie any one want to come? bring motorcycle and biggest gun ya can get, cattle proders allowed also:msn-wink:

[Ramius]

Its probably the American Government doing this, or someone who wants better prices for exports. With the NZ dollar being so high against the American Dollar, in a mass effort to reduce that amount, because raising interest didn't work, they have unleashed a plague of unimaginable proportions upon this country.:bash:

The other thought, it is some disgruntled wife who wants to get rid of the object of her husbands desires. I mean think about it, no cattle/no sheep, the sex lives for most people go out the window. :Pokey:

[Krusti]

Its probably the American Government doing this, or someone who wants better prices for exports. With the NZ dollar being so high against the American Dollar, in a mass effort to reduce that amount, because raising interest didn't work, they have unleashed a plague of unimaginable proportions upon this country.:bash:

The other thought, it is some disgruntled wife who wants to get rid of the object of her husbands desires. I mean think about it, no cattle/no sheep, the sex lives for most people go out the window. :Pokey:

How dare you infer my cows are sluts....they don't just sleep with any one ya know:D

[Biff]

My employer is the lead agency on the response management. Nuff said. Figure the rest out from my profile...

Figured.

So when someone asks you to sit and spin - you take this to mean knuckle down and do some work I guess!

Latest news is that it is generally accepted that this is indeed a sick hoax: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3276913a10,00.html

Here's praying it is. Having lived in a rural part of the UK and witnessing first hand the horrific sights and economic devastation caused by this disease, it would be an enourmous blow to the Kiwi psyche if it ever took hold here.

[Coldkiwi]

Apparently its Massey Uni's Capping week and the letter was sent via the manawatu sorting office which takes in Wgtn (or parts of?) so there's a suspicion it could be a VERY ill advised capping stunt.
The cops are at least rattling some very large sabers about what the punishment would be for the person foolish enough to do such a hoax.

[Hitcher]

As somebody who has been intimately involved in this non-stop for 36 hours now, "sabre-rattling" is the least the Police should be doing.

We drill these things from time to time, but can never simulate the information feeding frenzy that happens at times like this, and the effects that this has on the stress levels of our frontline people. Thanks to the Police 111 report, I may get a chance to get some shut-eye tonight, unless overseas media and trading partners get interested again...

[idb]

I can't believe that someone would even contemplate such a thing - proof that we're dealing with an idiot. The repercussions even as a hoax are huge for this country and even if it only lasts a few days there will be big losses of income. I think the chances of someone obtaining this disease and releasing it are slim. The letter was sent from the Manawatu - wonder whether some drunk uni students did it as a prank? I think this person is stupid enough to be caught quickly and deserves everything they've got coming.
Could be like someone suggesting they've got a bomb while in an airport departure area, or sending white powder in the mail.
Haven't contemplated/realised the implications.

[soundbeltfarm]

the gloves that we wear when we insem a cow i have a spare with the fuckwits name obasis.n it.
i will have pleasure sticking it over some barbwire and stick the glove up their ass.
already mexico has said our exports there are now restricted ona per load

[Phurrball]

It was Foot and Mouth that they said they'd released and were threatening to release more aparrently. But probably just a hoax.

Aye - quite a difference - Foot and Mouth is a virus (apthavirus I think) and BSE/Mad Cow Disease is caused by a prion (a sort of 'infectious' protein)

My geeky, pedantic $0.02 worth :tugger: - both would be horrid for NZ (Though not too threatening to human health)

Not nice whichever way you look at it...

[Biff]

My geeky, pedantic $0.02 worth :tugger: - both would be horrid for NZ (Though not too threatening to human health)

Not nice whichever way you look at it...

BSE is very bad for people’s health. It's a degenerative disease of the brain that eventually leaves people in a vegetative state, before a long drawn out death.

It's cause by eating infected meat produce.

[thehollowmen]

BSE is very bad for people’s health. It's a degenerative disease of the brain that eventually leaves people in a vegetative state, before a long drawn out death.

It's cause by eating infected meat produce.

Yes, and as I pointed out before... what makes this very suspect in my eyes is the news seems to be using these two different diseases interchangably.

BSE is believed (but is so rare and drawn out when I was studying it they still didn't have it confirmed) to cause a varient of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. CJD is an amaloidosis of the brain caused by the binding of beta sheets in the modified PNP protein. This modified PNP protein can spontaneously fold that way ('clasical' CJD) or be converted by an exogenous protein. The modified PNP protein also folds normal PNP proteins into the modified protein. This is known as a prion disease. There isn't a vaccine because this is a protein we normally have, just folded wrong. If we successfully vaccinated ourselves against it we'd get very sick.

BSE is specific to cattle, scrapie is specific to sheep. CJD, and Kuru are two prion diseases specific to humans.

Foot and mouth disease on the other hand is caused by a pretty little Aphthovirus. Not much to say appart from it spreads easily and does a lot of damage to cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. From memory people don't easily contract this virus, and when they do it is mild. There is a vaccine available.

Any other questions?

[Phurrball]

Yes, and as I pointed out before... what makes this very suspect in my eyes is the news seems to be using these two different diseases interchangably.

BSE is believed (but is so rare and drawn out when I was studying it they still didn't have it confirmed) to cause a varient of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. CJD is an amaloidosis of the brain caused by the binding of beta sheets in the modified PNP protein. This modified PNP protein can spontaneously fold that way ('clasical' CJD) or be converted by an exogenous protein. The modified PNP protein also folds normal PNP proteins into the modified protein. This is known as a prion disease. There isn't a vaccine because this is a protein we normally have, just folded wrong. If we successfully vaccinated ourselves against it we'd get very sick.

BSE is specific to cattle, scrapie is specific to sheep. CJD, and Kuru are two prion diseases specific to humans.

Foot and mouth disease on the other hand is caused by a pretty little Aphthovirus. Not much to say appart from it spreads easily and does a lot of damage to cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. From memory people don't easily contract this virus, and when they do it is mild. There is a vaccine available.

Any other questions?

Ooh - a Dunnos person with knowledge of virology/biochem :Punk: - you wouldn't perchance belong to the UoO Biochem or Micro dept would you? Please excuse my spelling of Apthovirus - it's been a yearr or two since I graced those halls...


BSE is very bad for people’s health. It's a degenerative disease of the brain that eventually leaves people in a vegetative state, before a long drawn out death.

It's cause by eating infected meat produce.

This is true - hurrah for vegetarianism! :msn-wink:

[thehollowmen]

Ooh - a Dunnos person with knowledge of virology/biochem :Punk: - you wouldn't perchance belong to the UoO Biochem or Micro dept would you? Please excuse my spelling of Apthovirus - it's been a yearr or two since I graced those halls...


Used to be, MELS person now :-P
How long ago were you there?

[Biff]

Any other questions?

Yes - where do you learn this shite? :niceone:


This is true - hurrah for vegetarianism! :msn-wink:

You're a veggie eh? Good on you!
I've just cooked dinner for a Vegan (no Star Treck jokes here).
As my dyslexic vegan brother would say - repesct.

[Phurrball]

Used to be, MELS person now :-P
How long ago were you there?

I was in micro in Vernon Ward's lab - was last hanging around there regularly in 2002 - drifted from an MSc to a law degree...

Aah - science - I feel deprived sometimes... :bye:

Phurrball/Ross

[thehollowmen]

I was in micro in Vernon Ward's lab - was last hanging around there regularly in 2002 - drifted from an MSc to a law degree...

Aah - science - I feel deprived sometimes... :bye:

Phurrball/Ross

oh gawd you didn't do any demonstrating did you?

[Phurrball]

oh gawd you didn't do any demonstrating did you?

Yeah, yeah - that'd be me...201/202 and biol115...

Goodtimes... :Punk:

Tis a small country and a smaller forum...

:D

[Hitcher]

Yes, and as I pointed out before... what makes this very suspect in my eyes is the news seems to be using these two different diseases interchangably.
No news coverage around this latest FMD "hoax" has mentioned BSE or "mad cow disease". Media coverage has, to date, been amazingly balanced and thorough. Here's hoping that it is indeed a hoax.

[thehollowmen]

No news coverage around this latest FMD "hoax" has mentioned BSE or "mad cow disease". Media coverage has, to date, been amazingly balanced and thorough. Here's hoping that it is indeed a hoax.

Stuff.co.nz and an ODT article used BSE and foot and mouth very closely.. I had to re-read them to work out what they were saying. They were trying to correlate the foot and mouth scare with the mad cow disease scare the UK had.

But I had a few people at work pointing at the article thinking they were the same thing, but I've set them straight.

But yeah, a few news articles have lead to a few comments like this:
[QUOTE=tristank]Is he going to open up the big orange box labeled 'MAD CoW DIESeaSSE' and tip it out onto Waiheke?QUOTE]

[thehollowmen]

Yes - where do you learn this shite? :niceone:



Yeah, yeah - that'd be me...201/202 and biol115...

Right now I've got a bad feeling that Phurrball taught it to me.

*cough*

that and I work in a medical lab

[James Deuce]

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

[James Deuce]

No news coverage around this latest FMD "hoax" has mentioned BSE or "mad cow disease". Media coverage has, to date, been amazingly balanced and thorough. Here's hoping that it is indeed a hoax.
There's been some bollocks that I heard Sean Plunket pull someone up on on Tuesday morning.

[Phurrball]

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone 'broke' and revealed the full form of that acronym! :niceone: Hurrah!


There's been some bollocks that I heard Sean Plunket pull someone up on on Tuesday morning.

Indeed, the media make me cringe sometimes WRT reporting anything with scientific content - to get an idea read this (scroll down a bit fir FMD stuff - Cheers Russel Brown!): http://publicaddress.net/default,2124.sm

Media *love* look for something alarming, bugger the scientific accuracy!


Right now I've got a bad feeling that Phurrball taught it to me.

*cough*

that and I work in a medical lab

Unlikely I had anything to do with it -
(Insert aged voice here, while leaning on walking stick)
Back in my day, Apthovirus possibly mentioned in 300/400 level micro, little/nothing on prions until at a postgrad level (Remember someone presenting a prion paper in lab meeting once...)

I blame the MELSness for thehollowmen's knowledge of such matters!

Nothing quite like a knowledge vomit... :puke: Hehe! :msn-wink:

[Skyryder]

Seem to remember some farmers down south taking the law into their own hands. Took it upon themselves and released the Calicivirus regardlessof the consquences. If this ever mutates watch out homo sapien. These guys got a lot of support from the farming community in general. To make matters worse no one was ever charged. I'm not condoing bio blackmail by any means but after that illegal release the farming commuinty lost my sympathy forever.

Skyryder

[Hitcher]

You've got to (sometimes) love Russell Brown. We copped a bit of a backlash from some farmers and other industry stakeholders when they thought they should have heard about this latest gig before we released it to the media. We had no choice, or the financial markets would have got wind of "rumours" in the absence of official comment and goodness knows what effect that may have had on financial markets. If the exchange rate since midday Tuesday is an indicator of the effectiveness of our messages and messaging, then so far, so good!

Another concern is that television love using file footage of burning pyres of dead cows and sheep without relevant captions to prevent confusion: UK, 2001; not New Zealand 2005.

[Phurrball]

Seem to remember some farmers down south taking the law into their own hands. Took it upon themselves and released the Calicivirus regardlessof the consquences. If this ever mutates watch out homo sapien. These guys got a lot of support from the farming community in general. To make matters worse no one was ever charged. I'm not condoing bio blackmail by any means but after that illegal release the farming commuinty lost my sympathy forever.

Skyryder

Indeed, the 'rabbit liver smoothies' did make me wonder how the farmers would have reacted if the boot was on the other foot...anyway, an uncontrolled release ends up being patchy compared to a managed deployment. At least it does provide employment for scientists, and the odd PhD project (I know of one...)

[Bitter irony being that science funding in NZ often requires some sort of 'bad' thing to happen...ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff. Sadly, the mainstream media aren't very interested in real threats, for example, Arboviruses following in the wingbeats of their biting-insect vectors, as the vectors' ranges increase in NZ due to climate change... :angry: ]

I doubt that RHDV will infect humans - most viruses are pretty species specific...