Difference between revisions of "Mad cow disease"

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== Mad cow in Europe ==
 
== Mad cow in Europe ==
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The Leeds-based scientist Richard Lacey first proposed that Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, entering into the food chain, caused Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD). Lacey was reported as saying that virtually a whole generation of people might die (Nature (1990) 345:648). On the basis of Lacey’s estimates OneWorld reported: ‘Recently, it was estimated that 34 million people could be infected by 1997.’[http://web.archive.org/web/19981202145544/http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/apr96_bse3.html 1] In the event, annual deaths from CJD were negligible, lower than those caused turning off a radio alarm clock (20) or falling out of bed (20).
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The Leeds-based scientist Richard Lacey first proposed that Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, entering into the food chain, caused Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD). Lacey was reported as saying that virtually a whole generation of people might die (Nature (1990) 345:648). On the basis of Lacey’s findings OneWorld reported: ‘Recently, it was estimated that 34 million people could be infected by 1997.’ [http://web.archive.org/web/19981202145544/http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/apr96_bse3.html]In the event, annual deaths from CJD were negligible, lower than those caused turning off a radio alarm clock (20) or falling out of bed (20).
  
 
"First identified in Britain in 1985, '''mad cow disease''' developed over the years into a frightening crisis. Several million animals were slaughtered to check the spread of the disorder, and some 122 Britons lost their lives.  
 
"First identified in Britain in 1985, '''mad cow disease''' developed over the years into a frightening crisis. Several million animals were slaughtered to check the spread of the disorder, and some 122 Britons lost their lives.  

Revision as of 15:38, 3 January 2005

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Definition

According to the Wikipedia, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- more commonly known as Mad Cow Disease -- is a "fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. BSE is believed to be caused by prions and to be bovine counterpart of human prion disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and sheep prion disease scrapie. Eating meat from cattle with BSE is thought to have caused the new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) in about 90 cases in the U.K. and many more in France. Rodents injected with brain tissue obtained from cows with BSE develop a fatal neurological disorder in one or two years. It is possible to detect the abnormal prion protein in some but not all of these animals' brain tissues. Although there is substantial evidence for transmission of the disease by prions, and various theories have developed about the absorption of prion proteins by intestinal cells, there is still no definite proof reliably showing that eating infected beef is really the cause of the new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. There is also some concern about those who work with (and therefore inhale) cattle bone meal, such as horticulturists who use it as fertilizer. The first BSE epidemic was recognized in the United Kingdom in 1986.

"BSE is thought to have arisen from cattle fed with a high-protein diet, obtained from remnants of butchered animals and modified by some new methods   developed in the early 1980s. This practice allows the accumulation of prions over many generations, and is now disallowed by modern cattle farming practices. To date (2001*) there has not been a case of BSE in the United States, nor a case of new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease except among those who have travelled to Europe."

Mad cow in Europe

The Leeds-based scientist Richard Lacey first proposed that Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, entering into the food chain, caused Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD). Lacey was reported as saying that virtually a whole generation of people might die (Nature (1990) 345:648). On the basis of Lacey’s findings OneWorld reported: ‘Recently, it was estimated that 34 million people could be infected by 1997.’ [1]In the event, annual deaths from CJD were negligible, lower than those caused turning off a radio alarm clock (20) or falling out of bed (20).

"First identified in Britain in 1985, mad cow disease developed over the years into a frightening crisis. Several million animals were slaughtered to check the spread of the disorder, and some 122 Britons lost their lives.

"The credibility of government regulators was severely damaged when a British agriculture minister claimed in 1990 that the nation's beef was completely safe and appeared on TV urging his 4-year-old daughter to eat a hamburger. A British health secretary several years later officially announced a probable link between cattle and the human form of the illness known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

"The European Commission imposed a worldwide ban on all British beef exports, but the disease spread to the continent, and much uncertainty remains. Research published this year by the Royal Society, Britain's academy of scientists, forecasts that as few as 10 additional people, or as many as 7,000, could eventually contract it."[2]

Memorable Quotes

  • "There is no evidence that mad cow disease has entered the Canadian food supply and therefore we can reassure the Canadian public the person did not acquire the disease in Canada." -- Dr. Antonio Giulivi of Health Canada at August 9, 2002, news conference on death of a man at Saskatoon hospital.
  • "I want to stress the cow did not go into the food chain. I want to stress from the beginning this is one cow." -- Lyle VanClief, agriculture minister in Canada, where mad cow disease was diagnosed in a cow from an Alberta ranch. Reported in (The New York Times), May 21, 2003.

External Links

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