New US case of mad cow disease feared

Taipei Times ^ | Nov 20, 2004

[foolscap]

If my memory serves me, I think those elk cases were on an elk preserve, where they were feeding them animal by-product

You are correct in part however I am thinking world wide where there are large outbreaks that can not be traced to animal by product feeding. This is happening all over the place not just here. The animal by-product feeding maybe be just a condensed form of what caused the problem originally. It is a sort of in your face explanation but it does not explain the whole. I can't get past the impression that there is something else, something we are missing, that is the real cause. The first and most obvious answer is to stop hazardous feeding practices. We must also look at the growth of naturally occuring CJD type diseases. I really think the two are linked.

[foolscap]

Any deaths among younger people with rapid onset are very suspicious, and in my opinion, probably BSE related.

You are right but at the same time there seems to be BSE infection that is more slow moving. No one knows why. Starting with the rapid onset deaths is the first place to look because if that is understood we may find a key to the slow onset varieties.

[Nathan Zachary]

All they really need to do is send in a brain sample on suspected cases, it's the only way to tell for sure.

You would think that with blood being a method of transference, that we would have a much more widespread and visible problem, don't you think?
That's where this study comes from where they think that only some people as susceptible to this disease, Those with a certain chromosome combination.
Misdiagnosis among older people is quite possible, and we do see visibly that Alzheimer's is very much on the rise.
I don't see many reported cases among younger people though, so either they are not being reported, or being kept quiet, or misdiagnosed.Or a combination of all these things.
I do recall there was preasure being put on states to start reporting suspected cases, I don't know if any progress has been made on that. Try the CDC website. It would be mentioned in their quarterly or yearly reports.

[Nathan Zachary]

The problem with the CDC though, is it is stacked with people from the cattle industry. I wonder if Bush kicked any democrats out yet?? Dashcle is probably still connected to it somehow I wouldn't doubt.

[Nathan Zachary]

Also the UK site, which has a link to the pioneer of prion study. Sorry I just can't recall his name and I don't have any links handy. (everything is on my another pc 2000 miles away)

[traumer]

Tyson, McDonald's Stock Down on Mad Cow

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2004/11/19/ap1667475.html

[Smokin' Joe]

Chronic Wasting disease

try looking here, for starters >/a

[Smokin' Joe]

Bad link. Here's the URL:

http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/hunting/whitetails/article/0,19912,344494,00.html

[traumer]

but it sure is tempting... "Monster Thickburger "

[IWONDR]

"Muscle tissue doesn't contain these prions, its found in the spine and brain, ganglea."

Are you sure about this? I know the meat industry would like us to believe this (and i would as well), but i have my doubts.

[kingsurfer]

Higher standards are needed in all countries. It is those who do not follow the highest standards that bring down the people that do.
I knew some organic dairy farmers that basically lost all their money because people refused to stop feeding cows to cows. Britain was singled out because of this scare and people like the Frnech tried to make capital out of this despite the fact that they did no even check for the disease at the time. We had to take them to the WTO (I think) to get them to allow our beeef back in their country long after it was found to be safe again. This was galling as our standards had always been higher than theirs.

Not sure about what American stnadards are like overall but whatever you do make sure your feelings are known about BSE the better.

[megatherium]

Well, I might become veggie but not before Thanksgiving.

I hope the stuff in the PETA video is an abberation if not an outright lie. I might restrict my meat consumption to organic products (sold at Wild Oats and Whole Foods), which are feed no animal byproducts, and which are more humanely treated (cage free, etc.). There's a fine book that appeared maybe 15 years ago, The Paleolithic Prescription (S. B. Eaton, M. Shostak, M. Konner). They argue that the most natural diet is the one we ate through most of our existence as a species (until agriculture was invented maybe 9 thousand years ago): fruits, nuts, veggies, tubers, game meat. No dairy, no alcohol, no refined sugars, no marbled beef. Also, lots of vigorous exercise, both aerobic and resistance.

Another (sardonic) take on PETA: http://wave.prohosting.com/antiar/peta1.html

[Fury]

It takes time for BSE to develop and the older a cow gets the more developed the disease gets, then one day they just fall down and die. It's also why it's seen more in dairy cows, because they are kept alive longer, and they are given more protein supliments to boost milk production. This supplement comes from rendering plant products. Beef producers also sometimes use suppliments as calf starters, and feedlots use it for finnishing. You'd be suprized what passes for "protein supplements". Currently there is a ban on feeding anything containing animal by-product to cattle, but some cheat. Plus there are no guaranties that cross contamination of feed product can't happen in rendering operations, as these prions can't be sanitized from multi-purpose equipment. The best thing to do obviously, is not to feed ANY to cattle. Their is no ban on feeding animal by- product to pigs turkeys and chicken. One of the reasons is that these animals are slaughtered at much younger ages so the disease doesn't have enough time to develop. Still, after doing alot of research on the subject, I try to eat organicly raised meats. It wouldn't do much good to stop eating beef or any meats, because this stuff can spread into vegitarian diets as well via fertilizers. Plus so many other products are made from animals that it would be pointless. lip stick, makeup, medical products, medicines etc. can all be contaminated with these nasty prions. Besides, it takes about 15-20 years for humans to develop the human form. It's already too late if you ate some bad stuff. Most people don't eat cow brain and the parts where these prions are concentrated anyway, and most cattle slaughtered are younger. Muscle tissue doesn't contain these prions, its found in the spine and brain, ganglea. They have a "guideline" as to how and what parts become infected as an infected cow ages. Those parts are not put into the food chain as a precaution, and mechanical stripping of meat has been banned for safety reasons as well.

I believe the ban is for bone, blood and CNS by-products being fed to cattle, etc. Currently, products such as hydrolized animal fat (e.g. Alafet) are allowed to be fed to ruminants, including cattle, sheep, goats, etc.

Additionally, there is no definitive live-animal test for BSE in cattle or scrapie in sheep/goats, etc. There is a scrapie screening test for sheep, but it requires in most cases tissue more more commonly found from the 3rd eyelid of sheep. That's not easy for one person to obtain.

One of the most promising areas for helping to reduce scrapie in sheep is to test for the presence of the AA RR alleles at coden 171. The gene in sheep that encodes the normal prion protien has polymorphisms at codons 136, 154 and 171. Indeed, in the U.S., coden 171 appears to be the major determinant of relative scrapie suspectibility.

There have been only 1-2 cases of scrapie documented in sheep that have tested AA RR at codon 171. Making herds of livestock more genetically resistant to TSE's such as scrapie, BSE, etc. is a step in the right direction - scrapie susceptibility testing can help with that goal.