Subject: Fw: Franklin Carter Article FYI there is another part of this just printed
>
> Chronic Wasting Disease: Infectious, Transmissible or Contagious? There is
a
> big difference!
>
> by Franklin Carter, President, Santa Fe Research, Fort Collins, Colorado
>
> "The truth about how little is known has been covered up by theories
> presented to the public as facts, and in fact, so little is known for
certain
> after all this time is precisely because the popular theories have been
taken
> for truth by the politicians and rule-makers within the European Union."
> --Dr. David Brown, Cambridge University, England, in an interview in
February
> 2000 about BSE ("madcow disease").
>
> This perfectly describes where we are today with Chronic Wasting Disease
> (CWD) in deer and elk in the United States, and most especially, Colorado.
> Why this has happened is beyond me. Is it fear, greed, ignorance, rivalry
> among professionals, laziness on the part of the media? How can science be
so
> overlooked in such a scientific problem?
>
> I believe a great part of the public fear has been brought about by the
> complete ignoring and mis-understanding of the simple difference in the
> definition of the words infection, transmissible, and contagious. They are
> not synonyms. I repeat, they do not mean the same thing. They describe
> separate processes.
>
> Stedman's Medical Dictionary states: "Infection: Endoparasitism,
> multiplication of microorganisms in the body proper. Transmissible:
Capable
> of being transmitted (carried across) from one person to another, as a
> t.disease, an infectious or contagious disease. Contagious: Commumicable:
> relating to contagion, transmissible by contact." These difference, while
> looking almost the same to you and me, when applied to biological science,
> are tremendous. Let's look at the scientific research on these differences
as
> it relates to CWD. I think by now almost everyone knows CWD is caused by
> prions. Prions are pieces of protein. They are made by the body as a
normal
> process. They are not infectious microorganisms.
>
> The prions causing CWD are abnormal, and because they are abnormal, they
> cannot be broken down by the body as are normal prions. Normal prions
exist
> in the body for less than one hour. These abnormal prions are not broken
down
> at all and accumulate in the brain, causing the "madcow" symptoms.
>
> Yes, CWD is transmissible from one deer to another or one elk to another.
At
> the present time the only scientifically proven way to transmit CWD is by
> injecting infected brain material from one animal to another or by feeding
> infected brain matter. There are no scientific studies published that
> absolutely show transmission by contact of one deer to another, much less
> from deer to elk, cattle, horses or people. The same is true for elk. It
has
> not happened in over thirty years of research. We know that CWD has been
> studied at least forty years here in Colorado by people at Colorado State
> University Veterinary School. The reason for so little success is
precisely
> because it was so hard to transmit. They tried for years to transmit the
> disease by putting a CWD deer or elk in a pen of healthy animals. If it
was
> contagious, they would have had a pen full of CWD animals. It did not
happen.
> Research finally showed you must feed or inject infected material. If it
was
> infectious or contagious, it would have been very easy to transmit from
one
> deer to another. These are sound, scientifically provable facts. Yes, we
need
> to eliminate the CWD animals, but the killing of perfectly healthy deer
and
> elk has to stop!!! It is the program of stupidity. Anyone of average
> intelligence should have been able to look at the published scientific
facts
> and realized there was no need to go on a slaughter rampage. If this is
the
> best thinking our money can buy, it is time to try some new people.
>
> Let's stop scaring each other. Let's stop scaring the ranchers that they
will
> lose all their cattle if there is a deer or elk with CWD on their land.
They
> have been there for at least thirty or forty years, and the number of CWD
> animals still remains at about three to five percent of the wild deer or
elk
> population. If CWD was infectious or contagious, we would have had
tremendous
> numbers of CWD animals. We have had no known cases of BSE in Colorado or
any
> other state with deer and elk populations. All of this fear should not
have
> happened and must be stopped.
>
> There is a proven scientific fact called the species barrier. This barrier
is
> nature's way of preventing everything from dying from one disease. This
> barrier (I will call it a law) is why you do not get sick when your pet
gets
> sick. This is why people raising chickens do not get Avian Influenza,
> Newcastle disease, or any one of several other contagious diseases. This
is
> why cattle people do not normally come down with cattle diseases. Diseases
> are normally host or species specific. There are very few exceptions. This
> barrier adds additional protection from "madcow" disease caused by deer
and
> elk.
>
> People do have a disease that is similar to "madcow" disease, but it has
not
> been proven absolutely that it is transmitted from cattle to people. The
> diseases are similar in that they are caused by abnormal prions
accumulating
> in the brain. It has not been proven that the prions originated in an
animal
> and were transmitted to a person. That is a fact.
>
> There are plenty of sound, published, scientific facts pointing to CWD and
> other prion diseases being caused by a nutritional mineral imbalance. This
> imbalance causes the prions to become abnormal when they are formed. Dr.
> David Brown has taken preliminary field observations from a dairy farmer
and
> produced good, sound research. The research proves the lack of copper and
an
> excess of manganese when the prion is formed in the body cause the prion
to
> become malformed or abnormal. There are a number of qualified scientists
in
> this country who believe this theory is sound and has merit. Their
research
> is solid and it is published. I talked with Dr. Brown this past week, and
he
> states his current research is confirming his early work. He is on solid,
> scientific ground.
>
> I talked with Dr. Larry Berger, a respected animal nutritionist, at the
> University of Illinois. He pointed out there is plenty of precedence for a
> mineral imbalance to cause what at first was thought to be an infectious
> disease. It started in humans with scurvy being caused by a vitamin C
> deficiency and beriberi caused by thiamin deficiency. Cattle grow poorly
and
> have fertility problems in the presence of cobalt deficiency. Hogs have
iron
> deficiency diseases. Chickens have thin egg shells and rickets from
calcium
> deficiency, and we could go on and on. There are dozens of examples in
every
> animal species.
>
> I talked with Dr. Mike McDonnell, a respected animal and wildlife
> nutritionist. He says that deer have a copper requirement that is 400
percent
> higher than the requirement for cows. He has seen first hand when
> CWD-positive elk were supplemented with copper sulfate in their diet, the
> positive rate dropped from 25-50% to 5-7.5%. If supplemented with a
special,
> highly absorbed form of copper, the rate dropped to 0%. This work needs to
be
> followed up with additional research. I cannot, for the life of me,
> understand why trained professionals, especially veterinarians, will just
> ignore this kind of work and pursue a program designed for a highly
> contagious disease situation. There is plenty of solid research to
indicate
> CWD is not contagious, and little, even circumstantial, work to indicate
that
> it is contagious. We deserve better than we are getting, and it is time
for
> us-the ordinary citizen, who is paying the bill-to stand up and demand a
> change in direction, programs, and if necessary, a change in personnel.
>
> We have started some preliminary research in this area, and it is
startling.
> We will continue to keep you posted. Demand the best of your money. Demand
> that the unnecessary slaughter stop!
>
> � 2002 Franklin Carter
>
> Santa Fe Research is a Fort Collins, CO consulting company specializing in
> research data analysis and monitors poultry research for compliance with
FDA
> regulations.
>
> Franklin has forty-plus years in the poultry research and nutrition field.
> Most recently, he spent eleven years as executive vice-president and
> part-owner of the largest poultry research firm in the world.
>
> Franklin can be reached at (970) 223-9204.
>
> This article was published in the June 2002 issue of The Coffee Cup
Companion.
Title: FW: Franklin Carter Article FYI there is another part of this just printed
