> William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > A) Veneman did not appear to indicate any second > thoughts about American > > cattle eating animal byproducts.
See below. > > B) Wonder what this will do to the US blood > supply. They already exclude > > people from donating blood who've lived for more > than a certain amount of time in > > England and other places that have had cases of > mad cow disease. If there are > > any significant number of cases here, what will > they do? I expect to see something about the blood supply in the next few weeks in my digests -- will pass it on when I do. http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1112561,00.html?=rss > > "The infected cow identified yesterday was a > Holstein which was tested > because it was a "downer", unable to walk... > > Ms Veneman said that only the "muscle cuts" had been > sent for > processing for human consumption and there was no > record of the disease > being transmitted through the meat. The brain and > spinal column had > been sent to a "rendering facility" elsewhere, but > she did not specify how it had been used... > > However, her assurances that the outbreak would be > contained were > questioned by public health activist, John Stauber. > He called them > "extremely disingenuous", and pointed out Ms Veneman > was a former > lobbyist for the cattle industry. "I suggest this > cow is the tip of an invisible iceberg..." > > He said the US livestock industry, unlike its > European counterparts, > continued to practise "animal cannibalism"." In 1997 the US govt. banned cattle feeds containing CNS tissue (protein and bone meal) of cattle, sheep, & goats, but blood meal is still allowed. This article has several links; they've quarantined this cow's two most recent calves, but still haven't found where she was infected originally. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3797510/ "...�The reason for concern with these calves is that even though it is an unlikely means of spreading the disease, there is the potential that the infected cow could pass the disease onto its calves,� he said... ...DeHaven said the emphasis of the widening investigation is on finding the birth herd of the slaughtered cow, since it likely was infected several years ago from eating contaminated feed...The incubation period in cattle is four to five years, said Dr. Stephen Sundlof of the Food and Drug Administration... "...�Here�s the problem. The feed ban has been grossly violated by feed mills,� Stauber said in a telephone interview from his home in Madison, Wis. In one such case, X-Cel Feeds Inc. of Tacoma, Wash., admitted in a consent decree in July that it violated FDA regulations designed to prevent the possible spread of the disease. The Food and Drug Administration says only two companies have serious violations of the 1997 regulations..." One of the inserts states: "TSEs [Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies] are familial or inherited, which means they are passed on genetically from parents to offspring." That would mean that her calves (and any former calves she had) _could_ be infected. Other TSE's include 'kuru' which was passed on by human cannibalism (and I think it's basically extinct 'in the wild' now), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (unknown how humans aquire it, although there is a genetic component: "There is a genetic susceptibility to TSEs. For example, CJD occurs sporadically, or randomly, in about one in 1 million people. There is a gene mutation that runs in families and causes 5 percent to 10 percent of cases of CJD."), and 'scrapie' in sheep - not sure if that was only from eating sick sheep tissue, or congenitally passed. Controversy: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3801706/ "...Cattle are believed to have become infected with BSE when they were fed the rendered remains of sheep, which have their own TSE called scrapie. Rendering or processing food can destroy the prions, but only with difficulty. Just cooking will not do the trick." Yet earlier it was written that 'pets cannot become infected by eating the rendered animal's contaminated tissue because rendering destroys the prions.' (Cats can get TSEs, dogs seem to be immune thus far.) More controversy: "A recent Swiss study suggested that, in theory, muscle tissue � which would include steaks � could carry the agent." Here in Colorado and a few contiguous states there's been a problem with Chronic Wasting Disease, a TSE, in deer and elk; it was recently discovered in Wisconsin as well. Locally, hunters who kill deer or elk that appear to be ill are requested to submit the head for testing to state authorities; I think concerned hunters can have any hunted animal tested, for a nominal fee. http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/research/chronic_wasting/chronic_wasting.html I expect to have more reliable info next week, and will post it. Debbi who still eats beef, but hasn't approached the US average of 65#/yr in more than a decade __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
