|  All meat eating is risky because of the  diseases that  meat carries and the reaction it causes in the human  body  which is intended to be vegetarian.
Even more unnatural is for meat-eating humans  to consume carnivores because of their greater disease load , smell and the  extra allergy of our bodies to theirs. To cite one example of the increased  risk of consuming meat-eating animals: those who eat  cows and sheep that  have been force fed meat  run the terrible risk of getting CJS or “ Mad Cow   Disease” a fatal condition where the brain melts down.  Alzheimers is  another condition that scientists have traced to the same source. However in a couple of Asian  countries including India’s  northeast states, dogs and cats are eaten. This is not for nutrition but for  the most bizarre reasons including the foolish belief that dog meat  enhances sexual potency. Sometimes it is  eaten out of  superstition or even as a cure for tuberculosis! But even i
          
          n  Korea  , China and the Philippines  where dog eating is most prevalent, dogs are not listed as an animal husbandry  produce showing that it is a deviant practice rather than a mainstream food  habit. The trade is conducted out of public sight with no official records  maintained by agencies that normally track commerce because this would be an  admission of a traffic of which many citizens disapprove.  As petkeeping  gains in popularity, petkeepers could soon lobby to finally end this  perversion. In India, dogs are  eaten openly only in Nagaland and to a smaller extent in Mizoram. Unfortunately  the traffic of dogs into Nagaland is draining the dogs from all the other  states nearby like Assam , Manipur, Sikkim,  Meghalaya , Arunachal Pradesh even West Bengal and Burma. Cats are not openly eaten  anywhere but secretly by gypsies like the Narikauravas of South India  and one ethnic sect in Kerala. However dhabas and roadside restaurateurs  routinely pass off cat and dog meat as chicken or other meat. Not  only is this illegal but downright dangerous.  In the Philippines where dog meat is now  banned , there are health warnings about the deadly diseases including rabies  that it can cause. Dr. Roberto Umali, regional director of the National Meat  Inspection Commission, explains these hazards,  "Eating dog meat may  cause anthrax, hepatitis, leptospirosis, internal parasites and brucellosis, a  virus that causes abortion in both humans and animals. However, the most  dangerous are the E. Coli 107 and salmonella virus, most common in contaminated  meat. Dogs are not food animals and we appeal to the public to refrain from  eating them".
 On  February 1, 2006 the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a 4 year old girl, who was given dog meat  by her neighbours, died of rabies and encephalitis. Her father said she had  developed high fever and  symptoms of rabies shortly after eating the  meat. She was rushed to hospital but died within a few hours.  Doctors say  the rabies virus may have entered the girl's system through a tooth cavity.  When chewing the meat of a dog infected with rabies, the virus enters the nerve  endings through a cavity,  loose tooth or a cut in the gums, passes  through the lymph nodes and multiplies in the brain, resulting in the victim's  death. The incubation period for rabies can be as short as 4 to 6 weeks or as  long as 1 to 5 years. People handling dog meat could also be infected by their  hands touching their eyes or lips.
 Nor  is it just the meat of a rabid dog that is fatal, a normal healthy dog’s meat  is equally hazardous. Dogs eat raw meat, rats, vermin and garbage.  All of  this is passed onto the consumer. In the Northeast, death from such cases is  simply documented as routine food poisoning.  But in Namibia after 68 villagers were hospitalized  after eating a dog,  Namibia’s  Director of Health has  forbidden dog meat .
 Recently in Azerbaijan,  12 people were taken to hospital with  trichinellosis .  They had unknowingly eaten dog meat  disguised as  keema (mince) and put into sausages and shish kebab. Trichinellosis is a  parasitic disease caused by eating carnivorous animals  infected with the roundworm Trichinella spiralis.  Within 1-2 days of  infection, it is manifested as nausea, heartburn , dyspepsia and diarrhea. As  the worms travel to different parts of the body, other symptoms  may occur  such as headache, fever, chills, cough, eyeswelling, joint pains and itching.  Most dangerous is when worms enter the central nervous system causing serious  neurological  problems such as  
          
           respiratory paralysis and  even death.  Infestation of the heart can also lead to death. Symptoms occur within  1-2 days with further symptoms  following 2-8 weeks after eating contaminated meat. Mild cases of  trichinellosis are seldom specifically diagnosed and are assumed to be the flu  or other common illnesses. It has been suggested that  trichinellosis may be one of several factors that led to religious prohibitions  as in Islam and Judaism against eating dog or pork meat.
 After tightening meat checks,  the  incidence of trichinellosis is falling in Russia  but increasing  in neighbouring countries like Poland  and Turkey  where clandestine sale of dog meat is on the rise. In China too dog  meat has become an increasing source of the disease.  Since its first  documented outbreak of human trichinellosis resulting from the consumption of  dog meat  in 1974, such cases  have multiplied alarmingly.
 Are you at risk for  trichinellosis? Certainly, if you  order meat at  dhabas, or eat  bear,  pig, cat, fox, dog and wolf meat. Curing (salting), drying, smoking, freezing  or microwaving meat does not kill the worms.
 Here  are other zoonotic diseases that dog meat can transmit:
 Cryptosporidosis:  A parasitic disease that causes a mild to severe infection of the  gastrointestinal system manifesting in watery diarrhea, fever, abdominal  cramps, nausea, and vomiting.
 Giardia: Giardiasis is the most  frequent cause of nonbacterial diarrhea in North America  and the most commonly diagnosed intestinal parasite in humans.
 Leptospirosis: A bacterial disease  spread through the urine of infected animals. In people, the symptoms are often  flu-like. The risk of leptospirosis through common contact with a dog is  negligible, the primary mode of transmission is through contact with  contaminated animal tissues, organs, or urine.
 Roundworm: Toxocara is a parasitic  infection caused by roundworms commonly found in the intestines of dogs and  puppies and shed through their stool. Toxocara infections can cause eye disease  leading to blindness, or swelling of the body's organs and central nervous  system.
 Check  the food you eat. Eating dogs is neither friendly nor healthful.  To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in  comments... I have been reading your articles on BiharTimes.com for last few months. My   comments below are on the last topic that appeared on the website   today.This article focuses on the diseases being communicated by animals   to meat eaters. It has no dimension of ethics involved in killing and consuming   animals. Deliberately or undeliberately, the article suggests that if I kept   animals clean, healthy, properly vaccinated (as I keep my daughter properly   vaccinated), thoroughly fed and if I execute them hygienically,  I am absolved   of any danger or guilt. This is certainly not the case. There is ethics involved   in any killing or execution, which can never be humane. There is absolutely no   humane way of killing any living being. Disease or no disease, it is wrong to   kill any living creature - humans or animals.
 
 Few years back, I attended   a talk at Rice University, Houston on the topic of "Puppies, Pigs, and   People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases". It brings out the "ethics"   of the topic very well. A PDF copy of the talk/article is attached above. It may   be copyright protected, but it appears on the Rice University website and it is   open to all. You can also watch the video of the talk at http://webcast.rice.edu/index.php?action=details&event=513 in Window Media Player or Real Player.
 
 Incidentally, few months back I   saw man wearing a black T-shirt with words PETA written on it. When i walked   close to him, I was shocked to read "People Eating Tasty Animals".
 Pradeep Rai
 pkr5ul@gmail.com   previous 
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