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Subject: Re: USA trip health precautions Posted on: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 11:54:18 -0800

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Caveat wrote in article
:

>Don Kirkman wrote:

>>It's a matter of intelligently weighing risks and benefits.

>True, but that's where the difference between ignorance and stupidity
>enters the picture. The former applies if one is ignorant of the fact
>that more than 76 million people in the US are sickened by foodborne
>illness, 325 are hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans die. Stupidity is
>in learning these facts, and then continuing to be careless about
>consuming foods that carry a higher possibility of containing the
>pathogens that cause those diseases.

>Not true. Despite your false assertion, my original position was:

What's not true? All I wrote that you quoted was "It's a matter of
intelligently weighing risks and benefits." I'll stand by that.

[...]

>(The second point I made, in a separate paragraph, is that many
>*foreign travelers* "would hesitate to consume typical street vendor
>fare like hot dogs that carry a higher risk of containing bits of
>brain or spinal cord tissue -- thus increasing their risk of
>contracting mad-cow disease.")

>These are two separate points, not mutually exclusive, and both true.

But the one about mad cow disease is the one I addressed in my initial
response. When I offered contrary evidence you moved back to talking
about sanitary conditions. Do you still believe that mad cow disease is
a serious risk for travelers in the US?

>>>But by comparison, take hot dog vendors at, say, ball games. They have
>>>no refrigeration or cooking facilities, they routinely handle food
>>>after handling money (which doesn't happen in restaurants), and the
>>>hand-cleaning facilities in bathrooms at stadiums don't inspire much
>>>confidence. Just think of the hot dog that he may have handled in
>>>there, before handling yours. And if he pooped in there, well... "Care
>>>for some dark mustard on your hot dog, buddy?"

>>Same answer, in spite of the ridiculous supposition. Bacterial, not mad
>>cow.

>AGAIN, read my first quote above. And then consider that stadium
>vendors probably have better access to bathroom facilities than do
>other types of street vendors. And they all go to the bathroom.

Again, read my initial response, which was solely about your assertion
that mad cow disease might be a problem with food from street vendors.

>Inconvenient things: facts.

Indeed.
--
Don
donkirk@covad.net