Some US Slaughter Houses Specialize In Downer Cattle

[Guest guest]

 

KD Weber <wvadreamin

 

Saturday, 27 December 2003 10:18

Some US Slaughter Houses Specialize In Downer Cattle

 

 

Some US Slaughter Houses Specialize In Downer Cattle!

From Patricia Doyle, PhD

dr_p_doyle

http://www.rense.com/general46/spec.html

12-26-03

 

 

 

It is not widely known but there are a number of slaughter houses in

the US which *specialize* in butchering downer cattle...one assumes there is

a price discount for retailers who can CHOOSE to purchase the flesh of

downer cattle. Or, they can opt to purchase only meat from 'regular'

cattle...or they can 'mix and match' and buy both.

 

This largely unknown practice is made even more important by the

information in the ProMed statements by the veterinarian and other sources

below. -ed

 

 

Hello, Jeff - I had to reread the following post from a veterinarin

on the Promed site as I could not believe Promed, the MAINSTREAM SCIENCE

site, would post it...

 

Exerpt: " It makes me more than a little nervous to find out that

obviously sick animals are still sent for slaughter to enter the human food

chain. I believed (apparently in error) that sick animals were withheld from

human consumption, for protection from more than just BSE exposure. I am

also not completely satisfied that BSE cannot be passed in cuts of beef,

since muscle tissue may contain small amounts of nerve and lymphatic tissue.

 

Raymond Weinstein, MD George Mason University Manassas, Va.

 

____

 

 

Jeff - Why are downer cows entering the food chain AT ALL? A cow

that cannot walk on its own should NEVER HAVE BEEN USED FOR FOOD CONSUMPTION

OF ANY KIND, ANIMAL OR HUMAN FOOD!

 

The cow was OBVIOUSLY INFECTED WITH BSE and the farmer wanted the

money before prudence.

 

Patricia Doyle _____

 

BSE, BOVINE - USA (WASHINGTON STATE)

 

A ProMED-mail post http://www.promedmail.org ProMED-mail, a program

of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org

 

[1] 25 Dec 2003 ProMED-mail <promed

Source: USDA <http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2003/12/0442.htm>

 

USDA BSE Update

 

The test samples were received at the laboratory in Waybridge,

England early Christmas morning. The UK veterinary pathologists concur with

our interpretation of the Dec. 22 positive test conducted by USDA

pathologists at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames

Iowa. USDA Chief Veterinarian Ron. DeHaven considers this concurrence to be

confirmatory of our finding of a positive BSE case. The Waybridge lab will

conduct a series of additional confirmatory tests and we fully anticipate

they will be consistent with the earlier finding from similar tests

conducted at NVSL. -- ProMED-mail <promed

 

[2] 25 Dec 2003 Raymond Weinstein, MD

<AlaskaRay Re: PRO/AH/EDR> BSE, bovine - USA (WA) (03)

 

[Promed writes: The disease was found in a Holstein cow, which could

not move on its own, from a farm in Mabton, Wash., about 40 miles southeast

of Yakima in the State of Washington. It tested preliminarily positive on

Dec. 9. Parts of the cow that would be infected -- the brain, the spinal

cord and the lower part of the small intestine -- were removed before the

animal went to a meat processing plant.]

 

It makes me more than a little nervous to find out that obviously

sick animals are still sent for slaughter to enter the human food chain. I

believed (apparently in error) that sick animals were withheld from human

consumption, for protection from more than just BSE exposure. I am also not

completely satisfied that BSE cannot be passed in cuts of beef, since muscle

tissue may contain small amounts of nerve and lymphatic tissue. -- Raymond

Weinstein, MD <AlaskaRay George Mason University Manassas, Va.

 

[There are a number of papers out regarding the issue of prions

being found in muscle. Some of those references are listed below. Indeed,

since prions are believed to be associated with neural tissue, then it

stands to reason prions can travel along any nerve path. However, higher

concentrations are in the brain and spinal cord.

 

One needs to understand the fundamentals of US Slaughter facilities

to comprehend the situation.

 

Cattle are humanely stunned with a captive bolt stunner that

penetrates or piths the brain rendering the animal unable to feel pain.

However, the animal is not dead. Depending upon the speed of the slaughter

plant the animal remains alive, but unable to comprehend or feel pain, for

an average of 2 to 7 minutes before the throat is cut, exsanguinating the

animal.

 

(Note - I suggest anyone who actually believes this read the book

'Slaughterhouse' by Gail Eisnitz. - ed)

 

During that 2 to 7 minutes the neurological tissue that captive bolt

compressed into the brain and into the blood stream can circulate throughout

the body, as long as the heart beats. The prion is smaller than a red blood

cell. Therefore, it would appear that the prion agent can be in muscle

tissue. (The Lancet, Sep 14, 1996, Letter to the Editor).

 

Additional Referencens: Brazier MW, Cappai R, Collins SJ; Prions in

skeletal muscle. Aust Vet J. 2002 Aug;80(8):484-5.

 

Bosque PJ, Ryou C, Telling G, Peretz D, Legname G, DeArmond SJ,

Prusiner SB.; Prions in skeletal muscle. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar

19;99(6):3812-7.

 

Caughey B, Chesebro B.; Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

and prion protein interconversions. Adv Virus Res. 2001;56:277-311.

 

_____

 

ProMED-mail <promed

 

 

Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my " Emerging Diseases " message

board at:

http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat= & Board=emergingdiseas

es Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health