Animal Testing

DownAnd0ut wrote:I've heard of some scientists that consider viruses living. Although I know most don't, since they only have RNA and lack DNA and the ability to reproduce on their own

They're kinda freakish, pesky little buggers, aren't they?

Viruses? - Yeh, they're pesky alright and, actually, they can have either DNA or RNA (HIV is one that happens to have RNA). You're right too in that they cannot reproduce on their own - That's what disqualifies them from the living. They also don't feed on anything or require energy.

A Bacterial cell is on average 1,000 times smaller than a human cell; viruses then are roughly 1,000 times smaller than Bacterial cells! Some viruses even attack Bacteria themselves!

Also - another interesting fact - antibiotics are not effective against viruses at all.

hepatitus b and c shots DO give you an immunity against these viruses or diseases.

Yeh, but they are vaccines, not antibiotics. An antibiotic is a substance produced by one organism that has an effect on another. They are, in fact, produced by fungi of the Penicillium genus. This is why fungi grow so well in most places: They produce antibiotics naturally which kill the bacteria surrounding them, thus clearing the way for them to grow bigger and bigger.

Vaccines are populations of live & weakened (or dead) cells or viral particles. In the live & weakened case, they are weakened so much that they cannot cause harm to the person receiving the vaccine. However, it gives the person a chance to develop immunity against the virus for when theyever geta full-blown infection.

Kevin.


PS - Antibiotics will not be effective forever because bacteria develop resistence to them. Thus, antibiotics have to be continually modified in laboratory environments to stay one step ahead of the bacteria. This is what MRSA is all about: It's an acronym for Methicillin-Resistent Staphylococcus aureus - i.e. this strain is resistent to the 'Methicillin' antibiotic.

I have mushrooms growing in my backyard. They look like morels. The last time I had mushrooms growing around the same area but they looked like chanterelles. I asked on an biology forum and they told me not to eat them, I did taste a tiny bite but it was nothing that could seriously injure me.

The mushrooms growing now are growing in the corner of the garden behind a stump so there is noone that can mow them down unless you look for them. If I was too go to my local grocery store I supppose one person might be a good identifier of mushrooms. I want to get these identified. I could go back to my culinary programme, a French chef is an expert on identifying mushrooms, but the problem is I need a whole day to go because it is on Vancouver Island and I need to cross by ferry and bring him back or I guess I could take them all back to see, yeah that's it.

update on the mushroom fiasco

they are gone, I did some weeding and thought it would be good idea to throw them on top of the mushrooms. Now they are gone completely but there are random mushrooms growing in my backyard white colored. hmmm.

There should be a lot of information about mushrooms on the Internet and in other sources such as books. It was also today, in fact, that I saw a complete encyclopedia on mushrooms in a bookshop in Dublin.

I have feeling for things other than I,. I feel for all life forms that suffer.

I know what pain is, and had horrible physical pain in my life. Imagine feeling like someone is twisting a red hot poker in your gut for hours.And they won't give you any pain killers worth a hoot, even after all the tests are done,

True, there are people that I wish would suffer as much as me when they do me wrong.

However, most people and animals that suffer breaks my heart.

But animals sometimes have it made, such as a pet that is put to sleep when they are suffering. Humans don't have that right, except maybe in a certain state.

Some people will argue that there are pain medications that will get rid of the pain, however, I have heard that people suffer excruciating pain and no drugs can alleviate it. These people I feel really bad for.

So, I hope that when I am in a situation as I described, I will have the courage and the strength to do it myself.

But in any case, I do not believe in inflicting pain on man or beast, or allow them to suffer.

If you are going to kill something, make it quick and painless as possible, don't make the poor thing suffer.

And, if there is Karma, and reincarnation, those that inflict pain on animals may come back as an animal.

well said.

They're actually not mushrooms, they're toadstools, caused by the rotting roots of the stump you mentioned. You can't kill them, you just have to wait for the wood to decompose and the toadstools will stop growing, you can cut them out or mow them or anything, but they will return as long as the wood underneath is rotting. But despite not being mushrooms, they are still not suitable for ingestion

I work in a plant pharmacy and have had to learn much about this kind of thing since we get questions about it all the time, that's the only reason I know

good information, thank-you very much. I'm pretty sure one of my Chef's said something to us about that once or twice. Or I heard it before. Toadstools. hah.