Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pork Anyone?


In the Untied States, three of the six most common food-borne parasitic diseases of humans are associated with pork consumption. These include toxoplasmosis, taeniasis or cysticercosis (caused by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium) and trichinellosis.

Swine are also good incubators of toxic parasites and viruses—although the animal doesn’t usually appear to be ill while carrying the diseases. A scientist at the University of Giessen’s Institute for Virology in Germany showed the study of worldwide influenza epidemics that pigs are the one animal that can serve as a mixing vessel for new influenza viruses that may seriously threaten world health.

If a pig is exposed to a human’s DNA virus and then a bird’s virus, the pig mixes the two viruses—developing a new DNA virus that is often very lethal for humans. These viruses have already caused worldwide epidemics and destruction. Virologists have concluded that if we do not find a way to separate humans from pigs, the whole earth’s population may be at risk.

The 1942 Yearbook of Agriculture reported that 50 diseases were found in pigs, and many of these diseases were passed onto humans by eating the pig’s flesh.

Additionally, just handling swine has an element of risk. A large hog-raising facility in the area where I live wisely requires its employees to wear gloves, masks, and protective clothing while working in the pig barns. The workers are required to shower each day before going home.

Little wonder that God would inspire His prophet to include eating pork among the disobedient acts of stubborn people, who in addition to idolatry and conjuring spirits of the dead,
“continually provoke me to my very face,…who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat” (Isaiah 65: 3 & 4).

~Taken From: What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, by: Rex Russell, M.D.


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