usual suspect wrote:
> pearl wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>>...[F]ederal health surveillance of food-borne diseases
from
> >>>>>>>>>>1993 to 1997 found *2,751 outbreaks*. *Those outbreaks*
totaled
> >>>>>>>>>>*12,537 individual cases* involving fruits and vegetables,
> >>>>>>>>>>compared with *6,709 cases* involving meat.
>
>>>>>>>>>>http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...od-cover_x.htm
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>---restore1---
> >>>>>>>In that case, the number of individual cases of illness due to
an outbreak
> >>>>>>>involving produce, pales to insignificance compared to the
cases of illness
> >>>>>>>due to just one of the pathogens found in meat, e.g,
Campylobacter;
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>You're comparing apples and oranges,
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Fudge.
> >>>>
> >>>>Apples, oranges, and now fudge.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>suspect: Most food-borne illnesses in the US are caused by
produce.
> >>>>
> >>>>I'm correct.
> >>>
> >>>Unsupported assertion.
> >>
> >>Supported previously in the thread.
> >
> > Absolutely
>
> :-)
>
> >>>>>---restore4---
> >>>>>"Most Campylobacter infections are sporadic and not associated
with an
> >>>>>outbreak, but we know it causes up to 4 million human infections
a year,"
> >>>>>says Frederick J. Angulo, D.V.M., an epidemiologist with the
national
> >>>>>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.'
> >>>>>http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdcampy.html
> >>>>>
> >>>>>To counter that, you need to provide rather more than your
> >>>>>"*12,537 individual cases* involving fruits and vegetables".
> >>>>
> >>>>I don't need to counter your recitation of an *ESTIMATE*
> >>>
> >>>"we know it causes up to 4 million human infections a year,".
> >>
> >>It's an estimate. "Up to" isn't a concrete number. The data I
provided
> >>are concrete.
> >
> > Estimates are based upon available evidence.
>
> No, estimates are based upon conjecture.
>
> >>>>which doesn't
> >>>>discuss the transmission of Campylobacter from produce, which,
though
> >>>>admittedly rare,
> >>>
> >>>There ya go.
> >>
> >>Campylobacter isn't the only pathogen which affects humans. Most
> >>food-borne illnesses, as demonstrated in the information I kindly
> >>posted, are not even tied down to specific foods or contagions.
What IS
> >>known about food-borne illness with a great degree of certainty is
that
> >>produce is more often the cause of outbreaks because (a) produce
isn't
> >>subject to the kinds or amount of scrutiny of meat and (b) produce
is
> >>more likely to be served at temperatures consistent with potential
risk
> >>of bacterial growth.
> >
> > Produce can be and is cross-contaminated by animal-derived
products.
>
> Produce is also cross-contaminated because animals are part of
nature,
> as are we.
>
> <...>
> >>>>but so, too, is the incidence of becoming
> >>>>ill from undercooked tainted meat).
> >>>
> >>>Millions a year, is low?
> >>
> >>Yes.
> >
> > You idiot.
>
> Numbers are relative. You don't comprehend the scope of large numbers
or
> appreciate the scale involved.
>
> >>There are 300 million people in the US. Most of them average three
> >>meals per day. That's 328.5 billion meals per year. The rate of
> >>infection of Campylobacter, from your ESTIMATE, is a very tiny
fraction
> >>-- about one in every one-hundred thousand meals at the maximum
number
> >>offered of 4 million. Stop being such an alarmist.
> >
> > Stop trying to gloss over a major cause of a potentially very
serious illness.
>
> It's not a gloss. The odds of becoming infected by Campylobacter are
> about one in every 100,000 meals. Consider these odds:
> Odds of drowning in your bathtub: 1 in 685,000
> Odds of being struck by lightning this year: 1 in 240,000
> Odds that the pilot of your airliner is a convicted drunk driver: 1
in 117
> Odds that you'll be injured on the job: 1 in 24,000
> Odds of hitting a hole-in-one: 1 in 15,000
> Odds of giving birth to a genius: 1 in 250

In "pearl's" case, I got to take issue. HER odds of giving birth to a
genius are far, far lower than that. Probably less than one in a
million, given ordinary genetics.


> Odds of being audited by the IRS: 1 in 100
> Odds that your next car ride will be your last: 1 in 4 million
> http://origin.bankrate.com/brm/news/...20030609b1.asp
>
> > You disgust me,
>
> Awww, no Christmas card for you again next year.
>
> > .. and probably most others reading your hateful tripe.
>
> They deserve it, too.