Re: (WAY OT) chicken flu and other worries

[Guest guest]

> But it got me thinking of all this cloning stuff -- putting human

> genetic material into animals -- could this be the reason that

> animal viruses (like AIDS) are crossing over into the human population?

Viruses & bacteria have been crossing species barriers for much longer than

cloning has been around. Mutation happens very quickly in them because they

have such short lifespans -- that is, they go through many many generations

in a much shorter time than " higher " animals, and every reproduction is an

opportunity for mutation. Beneficial mutations survive and prosper.

In certain cases we may be speeding things up a bit, like with mad cow

disease (we introduced the virus to cows by feeding them infected sheep) but

generally speaking, IMO, it would have happened anyway.

All right, one or two of the 3 of us is going to be locked in a closet.

-Sara.

[Guest guest]

Sara,

You made a lot of sense until I got to this sentence:

> All right, one or two of the 3 of us is going to be locked in a closet.

????

Sissi