Originally Posted by
blksn8k
The same day I shot a buck during early archery season here in PA I took the head to one of the Game Commission's deer parts collection boxes. If you hunt in a Disease Management Area you can drop the head in one of those boxes and they will test it for CWD. There is no proof that eating the meat from an infected deer is harmful to humans but why take the chance, right? Plus you are doing your part to help identify where the disease may or may not be spreading to, right?
I got the results in the mail today from the Game Commission which stated: "Our records indicate that CWD was not detected in a deer harvested by you." Awesome.
Not so fast, they also state: "Please note this is not a food safety test. Failure to find prions in the examined tissue does not indicate the harvested animal is CWD free." Huh? In other words don't waste your time getting your deer tested. It doesn't mean a damn thing. Good grief.
What that is , is a CYA from the labs that do the testing. The CDC has said that while no one has contracted CWD to their knowledge but they will not endorse eating the meat from a positive tested deer. No one can give a 100% guarantee that you cannot contract the disease because they still don't know that much about it other than it is one of the diseases caused by prions. You should be glad the PGC is doing free testing, a disclaimer like that is not unusual. If you get vaccinated for various diseases you will not find a Dr. who will give you a guarantee you will not contract the disease. I suggest you read the information regarding CWD on the PGC website.