posted
I'm not sure if this belongs in Religion or here in Critter Country, but since it centers around a question about pigs, I placed it here. I apologize if it's in the wrong spot.
The subject of religion came up at work today, and one of my coworkers who is muslim began extolling the virtues of muslim, and singing about how it's better than every other religion out there because "muslims don't eat the flesh of filthy hogs". One of my other coworkers asked him why, and he replied with "Because hogs sweat pus and infection."
Having lived on a farm, and never noticed any phenomenon of this sort, I was understandably rather skeptical, and he couldn't provide any sort of cite or data to back up this claim, only stubbornly repeating "They do. Everyone knows they do".
Since I'm pretty sure they don't, I went googling. I found this:
which explains how toxins build up in the body of a pig, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt, as it seems a little "off" to me. And it's still a far cry from a healthy, live hog exuding pus from pores in its skin.
Anything else on google seems to turn up more religion based factoids like the one above, and no actual hard data. Does anyone else have any input?
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"The digestive system of the pig has the ability to convert vegetable and animal materials into highly digestible nutrients. Its anatomy and physiology are similar to that of humans."
Emphasis mine.
"Water soluble poisons are excreted by the kidney in the urine. Other poisons are first detoxified in the liver into water soluble compounds and then excreted in the urine. Some poisons are detoxified in to non-water soluble substances which may then be combined with other substances to neutralise them further. Fat soluble poisons are likely to accumulate in the liver. Poisons may also be excreted through the skin or through the milk with possible adverse effects on sucking piglets. Some may be absorbed across the placenta of the pregnant sow and affect the foetus. Tissues used for testing include liver, kidney, blood and stomach contents."
posted
Yes it does, thank you. I won't try to change his mind about it because it's not worth the battle it would cause (and I've already had severe enough problems with him work-wise that the supervisor has had to intervene) but it's nice to know that I'm justified in not believing him.
-------------------- Katesune: We still can't find the way to albuquerque, and glisp won't stop to ask for directions. Glisp42: Of course not. I know where I'm going, I just don't know where I am right now
posted
Off topic, but my sister-in-law used to work in the local college cafeteria. More than one Muslim student got irate because a dish had pork in it, and they didn't know it until they put it in their mouth. They would spit it on the floor. Question: How did they know it was pork if they don't eat pork? It seems that they would have no way of knowing what pork tasted like - ham, chops or whatever. After this happened a few times, signs were put in front of pork-containing dishes. The Muslims acted like it was done on purpose to disrespect them, but I'm pretty sure it was just an oversight. My sister-in-law is not the type person to do something like that.
-------------------- "This air we're breathing. Oxygen, isn't it?"~I’mNotDedalus, impersonating Vincent D’Onofrio.|"Sometimes trying to communicate can be like walking through a minefield."~wanderwoman "Give people a break. It's not easy doing a life."~Joshua Halberstam Posts: 4020 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
LL, my grandparents raised pigs until they retired. We learned early on about the pigs don't have sweat glands fact. I get a kick out of the phrase "sweating like a pig." Wish I could sweat like a pig! I sweat more like... a horse. A horse in a sauna.
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posted
We raised pigs on our farm in Canada. BTW they are some of the cleanest barnyard animals. "dirty as a pig" only counts when they have been in the mud to cool off. AND the will not sh** near their food or their wallow
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posted
AFAIK, pus is dead white blood cells and bacteria, the casualties resulting from a microbial battle - i.e., from infection. I don't see how any living creature could possibly excrete white blood cells from their sweat glands.
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