"In
1907, Dr. Alzheimer published a treatise about a disease
that would one day carry his name. He had two young colleagues
who worked with him, Dr. Creutzfeldt and Dr. Jakob, and
they too identified a similiar brain-wasting disease that
now has Europe in a panic. The
brains of cows turn into a sponge-like mass and their behavior
is called "mad." The human variant of Mad Cow
Disease has been named Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, or CJD.
The protein causing CJD has no DNA, and has been described
as more like a crystal than cellular material. In
labs, 1000 degree Fahrenheit heat does not destroy this
protein particle. Some scientists say that once
infected, the incubation period can last anywhere from
one month to thirty years. As the human brain turns into
a sponge, this spongioform encephalitic condition physically
debilitates those so infected." http://www.notmilk.com/m.html
"Mad
cow disease is a member of a family of diseases called transmissible
spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, seen in various
animal species including humans, sheep, cows, mink, deer
and cats. TSEs are known
by different names in different animals - for example, Creutzfeld-Jacob
Disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting
syndrome
in deer and elk, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy or
BSE in cows. Whatever animal is afflicted, however, the diseases
have
similar characteristics. They attack the central nervous
system, causing disintegration of the brain; they have a
long incubation
period between the time when infection first occurs and the
appearance of symptoms; they are always fatal; and they are
transmitted by
the eating of animals or animal parts, especially brains
and spinal cords." "Mad Cow Disease, Parts One and Two," Rachel's Environment
and Health Weekly, July 9 and July 16,1998 [02.06.27:01]
"The
new cases of the human form of mad cow disease are called new
variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (nvCJD)." Scott, Michael,
et al, "Compelling transgenic evidence for transmission of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy prions in humans," Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, Dec 21, 1999, pg 15137-424 [02.06.27:02]
"Meat
is a lush medium for pathogenic bacteria and germs; it can harbor
parasites, toxic chemicals, and metal contaminants. And now it
can bring death by brain-rot."
(Steve Bjerklie, Executive Editor, Meat Processing magazine) [02.06.27:03]
"The
infectious agent of mad cow disease remains infective even
after
exposure for an hour to a temperature of 680 degrees Celsius
- enough to melt lead - and can withstand antibiotics,
boiling
water, bleach,
formaldehyde, and a variety of solvents, detergents and enzymes
known to destroy most known bacteria and viruses." Rampton,
Sheldon, and Staubcr, John, "Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare
Happen Here?' PR Watch; See also Institute of Food Science and
Technology
(UK), "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE): part 1/6,
part I of a 6-part position paper, http://www.ifst.org/hottop5.htm [02.06.27:04]
[up
to index]
[Posted
01/27/04]: (01/06/04): "Mad Cow In Canada & USA
Timeline"
[Superb chronology summarizing 1992 to Jan. 6, 2004:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/timeline.html
[Posted
01/27/04]: (12/29/03): "A Crisis For
Britain"
[Great summary of BSE in Britain and Europe:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/britain.html
[Posted
01/27/04]: (12/30/03): "Mad
Cow USA: The Nightmare Begins: In March, 1996, when the
British government reversed itself after ten years of denial and
announced that young people were dying from the fatal dementia
called variant CJD - mad cow disease in humans - the United States
media dutifully echoed reassurances from government and livestock
industry officials that all necessary precautions had been take
long ago to guard against the disease. Those who did read "Mad
Cow USA" when it was published in November, 1997, however,
realized that the United States assurances of safety were based
on public relations and public deception, not science or adequate
regulatory safeguards. We revealed that the United States Department
of Agriculture knew more than a decade ago that to prevent mad
cow disease in America would require a strict ban on "animal
cannibalism," the feeding of rendered slaughterhouse waste
from cattle to cattle as protein and fat supplements, but refused
to support the ban because it would cost the meat industry money.
It was the livestock feed industry that led the effort in the early 1990s to
lobby into law the Texas food disparagement act, and when an uppity Oprah hosted
an April 1996, program featuring rancher-turned vegan activist Howard Lyman,
she and her guest became the first people sued for the crime of sullying the
good name of beef. Oprah eventually won her lawsuit, but it cost her years of
legal battling and millions of dollars. In reality, the public lost, because
mainstream media stopped covering the issue of mad cow disease. As one TV network
producer told me at the time, his orders were to keep his network from being
sued the way Oprah had been.""
[Very edited from the superb & comprehensive article at:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17466
[Download a copy of "Mad Cow USA:"
http://www.prwatch.org/books/mcusa.pdf
"More
than 167,000 British dairy cattle died from the bovine form of
this disease, popularly known as mad cow disease, between 1985
and 1995." Hansen, Michael. "The Reasons Why FDA's Feed Rule
Won't Protect Us from BSE," Genetic Engineering News, July 1997,
pg 4, See also, Al Lawrence, "FDA Proposal Would Ban Using Animal
Tissue in Feed," New York Times, Jan 3, 1997, pg A14 [02.06.27:05]
"During
this entire time, British health officials adamantly maintained
that there was nothing unsafe about eating British beef. Even
as evidence mounted to the contrary, the government held stubbornly
to this position. Then,
in 1996, a panel of government scientists told Parliament that
the "most likely explanation" for new cases
of the human form of mad cow disease was that BSE had moved
from cows to people. By that time, more than one million infected
cows
had been consumed in Britain.
In
the next few years, more than 2.5 million British dairy cattle
infected with mad cow disease were killed and incinerated at extremely
high temperatures in an attempt to eradicate the disease."
Darnton, John, "Britain Ties Deadly BrainDisease to Cow Ailment,"
New York Times. March 21, 1996, A1 [02.06.27:06]
"In
1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canadian health
authorities recommended that blood centers refuse blood donations
from people who have spent six or more cumulative months in England
during the past 17 years, because anyone who spent substantial
time in England during this period is potentially infected
with
the human form of the disease, and it can be transmitted through
blood." "Frequent travelers to UK banned from donating blood,"
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Oct 1,
1999 [02.06.27:07]
"Months
after the Oprah Show that the
FDA formally banned the practice of feeding cow meat and bone
meal back to cows: 16." [02.06.27:08]
"Practice
still remaining legal and widespread in the U.S. in 2000: Feeding
pigs and chickens the bones, brains, meat scraps, feathers and
feces of their own species." Rampton, Sheldon, and Stauber,
John, "One Hundred Percent All Beef Baloney: Lessons From the
Oprah Trial," PR Watch: http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1998Q1/oprah.html
[02.06.27:09]
[up
to index]
