“Milbrath, Swenson and other researchers used their bare fingers to apply virus-laden solutions to plant leaves to give them ring-spot disease in experiments”
See:
See:
AND
AND
AND
AND
Bizarre.
I use cotton swabs.
“In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body. Eventually, the disease can cause the nerves themselves to deteriorate or become permanently damaged.”
From the links presented earlier:
“Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a widespread plant pathogen, is found in tobacco (including cigarettes and smokeless tobacco) as well as in many other plants. Plant viruses do not replicate or cause infection in humans or other mammals. This study was done to determine whether exposure to tobacco products induces an immune response to TMV in humans.”
I confess to doing all my pollination using my finger. Considering how many people in this world work with pollen I am sceptical that these two fellows died of PNRV. I wonder what the carrier in the “virus laden solution” was? Don’t stop eating your veg folks.
All the best
Mike
I also wonder what other shared risk factors the subjects were exposed to.
“Tobacco smoking has been shown to cause cancers [6], heart disease [7], and chronic obstructive lung disease [8]. It also increases the risk for development of multiple autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis [9] and multiple sclerosis [10], [11], [12]_”
H.Kuska comment: please note “and multiple scierosis”.
The above is from the article cited earlier discussing TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS:
From 1987 to 1997, I did a fair amount of pollinating, all with my finger. I’'ll be starting again this spring. To date, I am as healthy as wichuriana.
mnemko, roses have a temperature dependent immune system for many common rose viruses. Here are the monthly temperatures for Oakland.
The probability of you having health problems due to getting an autoimmune disease from infected rose pollen is probably much lower than it would be in a cool climate since the virus will be mainly in the roots during much of the flowering season.
Even in a cool climate one is talking probability - for example, not everyone who was/is exposed to tobacco mosaic virus will get multiple sclerosis. What is being considered here is the possible application of the precautionary principle.
“precautionary principle
noun
1.
the precept that an action should not be taken if the consequences are uncertain and potentially dangerous”