Would you eat a CWD-positive animal?

[jryoung]

I agree that the car crashes are apples to oranges comparison. And even the comparison of the risk of eating wings with salmonella is not pertinent because OPs question was about knowingly positive meat. We all wouldn't eat meat knowingly that contained salmonella.

However, we do know that eating artifical sweeteners, artifical colors, blue light from screens, seed oils etc (edit: tobacco in any form I bet is another one many use daily but wont quit) are scientifically proven to causes health issues some severe.

My question to everyone saying I won't eat it bc there might be a risk or I feed my family that meat; you are making sure to take all those other scientifically known poisons out of your diet and families diets right?

Ultimately you do you and who cares what someone else thinks. But to the people who use those excuses you better be living a 100% clean lifestyle.

Strange that you acknowledge the apples to oranges comparison for car crashes, but then lists out several more apples to oranges comparisons. Harmful items for sure, but all effects are reversible and only fatal with continued, prolonged use. As opposed to remotes, but unknown risk that is 100% fatal.

 

[seeth07]

So what's your point?

That if people didn't eat cwd positive deer, a very large significant portion of the annual harvest in the state would be bound for the dumpster. So are we going to support killing deer just for the fun of it then?

 

[WIbiggame]

Harmful items for sure, but all effects are reversible and only fatal with continued, prolonged use.

So you are stopping using them because we know if you keep consuming them you are probably going to develope some negative affects?

 

[WIbiggame]

Let's do a hypothetical: And say the money dries up and they stop testing for CWD. Is everyone going to stop eating deer/elk because they might be positive or are you going to just go about life like everyone did before the internet and testing?

 

[Hem]

I'm getting my deer tested from this year .
First time, but only because there have been cases in the area.
The above is a valid question.

 

[Archer86]

Hell no. I'll wait for more data and evidence to support that it can't transfer to humans. Although I have to admit that when someone has a pile of summer sausage I can't be 100 percent sure what's all in it but still eat it. But I'll ask if animal was shot in CWD area. Bottom line is I at least won't eat what is know to be sick animal

Unfortunately this data will probably never be presented to show it doesn't present a risk to human transmission. I had herd a podcast where someone asked if you know it presented no risk to humans would you still care as much and I belive that is the reason we will never have that data because for a majority of hunters it wouldn't matter as much if there was a way to prove there is no risk...

In high positive areas I tend to test just for piece of mind and wouldn't eat a known positive deer either. I think most over look the fact that alot of people take there deer into the processor and with how many deer come through with unknown result until they are done alot of hunters probabaly had there cwd free meat tainted with some positive meat during processing...

 

[schmalts]

That if people didn't eat cwd positive deer, a very large significant portion of the annual harvest in the state would be bound for the dumpster. So are we going to support killing deer just for the fun of it then

That if people didn't eat cwd positive deer, a very large significant portion of the annual harvest in the state would be bound for the dumpster. So are we going to support killing deer just for the fun of it then?

I'd donate it to someone on here or the likes of them that said they would eat it. There's also places like the big cat rescue that can't get enough. Lions and tigers don't care. My buddy in a bad county takes a few there every year

 

[seeth07]

meat tainted with some positive meat

Let's be clear about one thing: the meat isn't the issue.

Just like mad cow turning into vCJD, the transmission occurs when spinal fluid or cord or brain tissue is consumed. Of the 4 cases in the US total, 2 were from people that visited a country where they had a meal in which they willingly consumed brain.

 

[Birdbander]

I quit deer hunting in early 2000s for various reasons. This thread made me a bit curious as my area of Michigan was doing mandatory CWD testing until Covid, now it's voluntary. I live in the center of the most dense red dot area.
My veterinarian no longer hunts his nearby property.

 

[ImBillT]

Yes, absolutely would eat it. Wasted meat otherwise. CWD has never spread to humans and can't. It also has zero impact on the muscle tissue you are consuming.

First bolded portion is absolutely not proven. Mad cow was treated this way in Europe, until it spread to humans.

Second bonded portion is just inaccurate. The prions are in muscle tissue, just at much lower levels than in lymph nodes, nerve tissue and eyeballs.

 

[ImBillT]

True nobody can say it'll never happen. How about hasn't been proven capable of spreading to humans especially through normal consumption. I would think handling the deer during processing (which happens before testing) would be more dangerous then consuming cooked flesh.

Why? Cooking doesn’t damage the prions.

 

[ImBillT]

It's the opposite. Casual contact doesn't spread prion diseases (mad cow for example, which is also a prion disease).

Consumption of brain or spinal cord matter is the mechanism of transmission. And cooking has no effect. Prions can survive temperatures of over 600°C/1100°F.

Thankfully so far even eating tainted venison hasn't caused a single known case.

Casual contact doesn’t seem to spread mad cow or cjd, but it does transmit scrapie and cwd to deer an sheep. I guess time may tell on how CWD spreads to other species and how it behaves in those species.

 

[ImBillT]

If you have used a processor in an area where CWD is present, you have more than likely consumed prions.

This seems likely.

A) That’s one of the reasons that I process my own.

B) If I ever need to use a processor, I will do so on the assumption that I will consume far fewer prions that came into contact my CWD negative meat than if I ate 60-250lbs of CWD positive deer or elk.

 

[Nick87]

If you have used a processor in an area where CWD is present, you have more than likely consumed prions.

While freezing my ass off duck hunting today I was thinking about this some more. The two biggest deer processors in my area also kill and process hundreds if not thousands of livestock every year besides there own store front for domestic meat. So all that domestic meat has gone through the same slicer, grinder, stuffer. So tens of thousands of people who don't even hunt in my area have more than likely consumed the prions.

 

[Southern Elk]

While freezing my ass off duck hunting today I was thinking about this some more. The two biggest deer processors in my area also kill and process hundreds if not thousands of livestock every year besides there own store front for domestic meat. So all that domestic meat has gone through the same slicer, grinder, stuffer. So tens of thousands of people who don't even hunt in my area have more than likely consumed the prions.

Same here. A lot of people are being exposed to prions. Hopefully it never affects humans.

 

[ImBillT]

1000s upon 1000s of cwd positive deer have been eaten and zero impact to the human race. Yet look at how many people get salmonella but they continue to eat chicken.

Your odds of getting cwd and getting infected are likely 100 fold more than when you decide to get wings at your local bar and getting infected with a serious case of food poisoning.

Guess all you cautious Karen's not eating cwd meat should just become vegans

That number is probably getting pretty large, but probably not as large as some might think. While CWD was first identified in 1967, it wasn’t found in the wild until 1981 in CO, and 1985 in WY. Because it increases in prevalence so slowly, I’m not sure people were eating thousands per year until quite recently. Most states don’t have thousands of positive deer per year, and I would bet that most deer that year positive don’t get eaten. If you compound that with the fact that estimates for incubation periods in humans would be ten years or more(no idea how they come to that conclusion or how accurate it is, but it’s based on something I’m sure), and I would say that’s it’s too early to say that eating CWD infected meat will have zero impact, although I suppose that I cannot argue that it “has had” zero proven or documented impact. Those caveats aren’t exactly present in your statement.

Comparing to salmonella seems a bit silly to me. We literally have cooking, handling, serving and refrigerating guidelines to protect us from salmonella that the vast majority of us follow and that commercial restaurants are held to. Beyond that, if you do get it, your immune system can handle it to a large degree and we have antibiotic treatment for it. Your immune system can’t do anything about prion diseases, and we have no treatments for them. We do however have a safety guideline that can spare you from CWD. If your deer tests positive, you just don’t eat it. Seems pretty simple. I don’t see you advocating that people eat raw chicken because cooking is for Karens. I do eat raw eggs because if I get salmonella, I will most likely be okay. I hunt and eat deer that test negative for CWD. If I ever get one that tests positive, I most likely will not consume an of it. I have plenty of other meat it to eat. I don’t see it as being that crazy to avoid eating deer that actually test positive.

 

[ImBillT]

This is the big one for me. If I knew I wouldn't eat a cwd positive animal I simply wouldn't hunt in any high prevalence area. Which sounds like half or more of the country.

A lot of the country has produced a few positive tests, but very few areas are over 5% prevalence. There are some places that I would not want to drive to, pay a non-resident fee, hunt hard, and know that there’s a really good chance my deer will test positive. But 5%, 2%, 1%, <1%. Meh. Sign me up.

 

[ImBillT]

That if people didn't eat cwd positive deer, a very large significant portion of the annual harvest in the state would be bound for the dumpster. So are we going to support killing deer just for the fun of it then?

I don’t know the highest state prevalence. Some areas are quite high. My guess is that the state with the most CWD positives in a year is still at a fairly low percent of the state’s entire harvest. You do seem to be assuming that it’s a very high percentage. Do you have that percentage? I may be wrong.

Also, it seems like if a deer with CWD dies if something else, it was done a favor, so I’m not sure I buy the argument that eating meet from a sick animal is necessary to avoid the sin of killing deer just for fun.

 

[Irrelevant]

What evidence would be required for those who are not eating to eat it? Can you ever prove a negative with absolute certainty?