Guest guest Posted May 7, 2000 Report Share Posted May 7, 2000 http://www.suntimes.com/output/letters/vox07a.html Just a load of guano The latest attempt to make Canada geese a public health threat is a joke [ " DuPage case study links illness to geese, " news story, April 18]. The latest ploy attempts to link the birds to hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Among the many listed names and causes are: * Farmers lung--dust from crops and pesticides. * Bird fanciers lung--pigeons, budgies, hens, turkey droppings. * Humidifier/air-conditioner pneumonitis--mold. * Maple bark disease--bark from maple trees. * Furriers lung--including cats and dogs. Clearly, this is nothing new, nor does it happen very often. It certainly is not " potentially a very significant health risk for the community. " This is especially true if only a case or two were reported in a city of 60,000, considering all the potential causes. What it really is, is people who are sensitive to certain things are probably reactive to many of them--not just one. It is telling that after all these years--without any sign that geese are impacting public health--there still are a few desperate individuals searching for any scraps of information they can exploit to create an unfounded health scare. Their sole purpose is to justify the extremism associated with goose extermination. Neither reality nor good science supports the notion geese are a significant health problem. If individuals hell-bent on proving otherwise truly were concerned with public health and not promoting the killing of geese, their attention would be directed elsewhere. Chuck Wills, Lisle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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