On Mon, 24 Feb 1997, Roy P D'Souza wrote: > Hi Michael, > I read a claim somewhere (Instincto literature, I think) that the pollutants > that accumulate in the fatty tissue pass through one's body without dissipation, > if the fish/meat is raw. If it is cooked, they are released into the body. I > don't remember where I read it, though. I'll try to track it down. It would be pretty interesting if they could show actual evidence of this. > I remember reading about the parasites claim as well. (They feed on dead tissue, > are harmless to faw fooders, etc.) But I also remember Kirt mentioning that a > few Instinctos somewhere fell ill with Malaria, which should not have happened > according to Anopsology proponents. If the virus claim was wrong, perhaps the > parasite claim is suspect? Not sure what your saying here. Malaria is caused by a parasite - not a virus - though the symptoms are viruslike. According to my dictionary malaria is "any of a group of diseases characterized by attacks of chills, fever, and sweating: caused by parasitic protozoans that are transferred to the human bloodstream by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles and that occupy and destroy the red blood corpuscles". So if instinctos came down with malaria they were suffering from a parasitic infection - and one that wasn't just attacking dead tissue. But on the other hand they probably didn't get it from eating RAF. And plenty of non-instinctos come down with malaria. Similarly with that foot long worm that grows under the skin that Pat mentioned. People get it from drinking water with the worm larvae/egg in it. I don't know if it even lives in fish. If I remember correctly its whole life cycle is either in the water or infecting people. When an infected person goes to get water the worm - which has broken through the skin - lays more of its eggs in the water. This parasite occurs in places like Africa and India. Anyway, like malaria, this parasite is transferred by means other than eating RAF. Unlike malaria its relatively easy to avoid and treat. Parasites have been around for millions of years and they've been infecting animals eating only natural raw foods and living in the wild for the great majority of that time. I don't see why humans should have some special imunity. On the other hand animals have survived and done pretty well during that time (until recently anyway) in spite of the parasites. In fact, a parasite that was too harmful to its host probably wouldn't survive as its source of food would die. So in my opinion its possible that instinctos may become infected with parasites but most of them aren't that harmful and the benefits of RAF outway the harm of the parasites. Though raw pork - with the possibility of contracting trichinosis - probably isn't a good idea. So what do all you RAFers have to say? How do you deal with the parasite issue? Do you just try not to think about it? Do you take the instincto line that its not a problem on faith or is there any real evidence to back it up? Since I sometimes eat raw eggs I'll share my feelings about salmonella. Basically I only eat eggs that are from organically fed free-running chickens and are pretty fresh. So I figure the chances of them being infected with salmonella are pretty small. If there is some infection I don't expect it to be a strong infection. My system would be able to handle it without much trouble. I limit my intake to 2 at a time. On top of all that I usually have them with cultured vegetables - the beneficial bacteria in the culture would tend to work against any harmful bacteria that might potentially be in the eggs. So I guess I'm pretty cautious about it. Michael