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Gone Fission
Eddie writes "Just when you thought it was safe to go back into that snakehead fishpond behind the shopping center in Crofton, Md., now comes word of a new threat slithering into our environment - "nuclear worms" from Vietnam carrying cholera and other deadly diseases." There are a bunch of blurbs here and there about these worms - apparently this Washington Post story was the origin of most of them.
The article seems to be presenting this as a good thing. Any imported animals are likely to cary disease, and they're a new import so it just needs to be found out what safeguards and restrictions should apply, just like fruit. /bigger/. And this one seems to have come about naturally, no mention of any genetic engineering, and for everybody who doesnt bother to read the article: "Nuclear" Worms is just a name. Come up with to market the things. These are just animals being brought from one region to another. Like horses. But getting chopped into bits after the sale.
Just another developement in the modern way of making everything
Any "Threat" is more likely going to be based on survival-of-the-fittest, not some non-obscure diseases which happen to be in some worms which have been imported for years with no related cases of illness.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
From the WP article...
:)
> Early imports were packed in material found to
> contain the pathogen that causes cholera,
> though no cases resulted.
It was the packaging, not the worms, that were the problem. I just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who didn't read the full WP article.
When I first saw this I thought "yeah, ok", but after some googling it appears that they are actually real and not some washington post made up crap. This link
Maryland Marine Notes which discusses concerns for Chesapeake bay mentions how the Department of Natural Resources classifies the "nuclear worm" on their list of no known problems but potentially dangerous creatures.This one is by the US Wildlife field service:
more info I've been trying to find a photo but everyone has the same info... basically wildlife angencies are trying to figure out what the hell it is and how dangerous it is... fisherman use it as bait, and the press hypes up the "nuclear" part of it by saying it was created by agent orange and napalm. The actual name nuclear worm was made up by a bait salesman on chesapeake bay because it sounded good. *rolls eyes*
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
i'm finding mention of these worms from as far back as '98 in fishing sources.
e x/ stories/tidwell08301998.htm
4 1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/ind
and I think i found the reporter's tracks, too:
http://www.atbeach.com/fishtalk/messages/29
this being so, does it really have relevance or is it a reporter making hype? if it weren't hot pink, would anyone care?
secondly, does anyone have a picture? I can't find anything through google. i'm certainly curious. also, can anyone link pics of the chernobyl worms a friend of mine just told me about? how strange the world is...
It's from The Simpsons, it's the name of Mr. Burns' company's boat.
Are Indians no humans?
Sure they're humans, but they're not native to the Americas either. They just happened to settle the continent earlier than the Europeans who followed them by crossing over the land bridge connecting Asia and Alaska. That's why I get pissed when they're supposedly "native americans". There WERE NO HUMANS HERE. They're immigrants just like everyone else. It's easy to check, just look for the earliest human remains. Everyone sprung into life around Africa and the middle east.
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