I don't feel things like this should be regulated, surely common sense
would prevail (eventually). letting TPTB regulate freedom of choice is
a dangerous game and a slippery slope.

I'm not familiar with the health laws and ordinances in Italy so I'm not qualified to comment beyond my own opinion concerning this. I know in the US we have laws and regulations that apply to the prevention of the spread of communicable diseases. I've never considered this to be, as you put it, a dangerous game or a slippery slope. Particularly in this age of world travel the responsible attempts to limit the spread of pathogens is something which I think we should be grateful for. Remember the p...

I don't feel things like this should be regulated, surely common sense
would prevail (eventually). letting TPTB regulate freedom of choice is
a dangerous game and a slippery slope.

I'm not familiar with the health laws and ordinances in Italy so I'm not qualified to comment beyond my own opinion concerning this. I know in the US we have laws and regulations that apply to the prevention of the spread of communicable diseases. I've never considered this to be, as you put it, a dangerous game or a slippery slope. Particularly in this age of world travel the responsible attempts to limit the spread of pathogens is something which I think we should be grateful for. Remember the peanut butter contamination of a few months ago? Recall the ecoli alerts we were subject to. I don't think we can let it be the responsibility of the food industry to police itself. Some would but it only takes one unscrupulous firm to really cause havoc in the population. Thus the need for regulation and oversight.

First of all it really isn't that dangerous, at least no more (certainly no less) than the standard flu.

As for the regulation of food and drugs the FDA is well known for letting things slip through for the right price, untested and unimpeded (as I'm sure it happens elsewhere too). I realise that within an ideal world this would not be the case but as it is the world is rife with corruption and incompetence at the highest levels.

But that aside I, to clarify, was referring to the fondling or whatever of theistic relics, which have never before been Quarantined or what ever it is you do to them, due to flu or indeed hiv or aids or any other disease.

This reaction is something new and so...

First of all it really isn't that dangerous, at least no more (certainly no less) than the standard flu.

As for the regulation of food and drugs the FDA is well known for letting things slip through for the right price, untested and unimpeded (as I'm sure it happens elsewhere too). I realise that within an ideal world this would not be the case but as it is the world is rife with corruption and incompetence at the highest levels.

But that aside I, to clarify, was referring to the fondling or whatever of theistic relics, which have never before been Quarantined or what ever it is you do to them, due to flu or indeed hiv or aids or any other disease.

This reaction is something new and so I am very wary of it as it infringes upon freedoms of individuals however misguided or just plain wrong they maybe.

OK - here's what one researcher found out:

On a less bizarre note, Dr Luigi Garlaschelli and his colleagues at the University of Pavia, Italy, have come up with a scientific explanation for the mystery of the clotted blood of saint which turns to liquid when handled by priests. In Naples, since 1389, for example, a sealed phial of the solid blood of St Januarius has turned into liquid every few months before the faithful who venerate it. Up until

1992, th...

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OK - here's what one researcher found out:

On a less bizarre note, Dr Luigi Garlaschelli and his colleagues at the University of Pavia, Italy, have come up with a scientific explanation for the mystery of the clotted blood of saint which turns to liquid when handled by priests. In Naples, since 1389, for example, a sealed phial of the solid blood of St Januarius has turned into liquid every few months before the faithful who venerate it. Up until

1992, this ‘miracle’ has remained unexplained. Reporting their discovery in Nature, the scientists explored the tendency of certain gels to turn to liquid when stirred or vibrated and to return to the solid form when allowed to stand. This is known as thixotropy, and it appears to be what occurs in the holy blood relic of the medieval saint. To reproduce the effect, Garlaschelli’s team mixed calcium car- bonate (or chalk) in a solution of hydrated iron chlo- ride and used dialysis to transfer the chemical products across a membrane into distilled water. In medieval times, parchment or animal gut would have worked equally as well. By adding a pinch of common salt, a dark brownish ‘sol’ was formed which set into a solid gel. Gently shaken, this gel turned into liquid. Then when left to stand, the liquid solidified. The researchers concluded: ‘The chemical nature of the Naples relic can be established only by opening the phial, but a complete analysis is forbidden by the Catholic Church. Our replication of the phenomenon seems to render this sacrifice unnecessary.’