Mad Cow Disease Now in U.S.

[ancient_paztriot]

Mad Cow Disease Found in Wash. State

By Randy Fabi and Richard Cowan

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least one confirmed case of the deadly mad cow disease was found in an animal in Washington state, a U.S. Agriculture Department official said on Tuesday.

 

Mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), had previously not been found in the United States, but it devastated the European cattle industry in the 1990s. Scientists believe humans can be infected with the brain-wasting disease by eating diseased meat.

 

A USDA spokeswoman said one case was being investigated, but declined further comment. A spokesman for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures trading, said the agency was told that the USDA had detected mad cow disease in Washington state.

 

One industry source, who declined to be identified, said a "downer" animal -- one that is too sick to walk -- was diagnosed with mad cow disease in Washington state.

 

The U.S. cattle industry has long feared an outbreak of mad cow disease, which could result in billions of dollars of losses.

 

On May 20, Canada confirmed that one Alberta cow, which was slaughtered in January, had mad cow disease. The disease has been widespread in Europe and has been linked to about 130 human deaths, mostly in Britain.

 

The discovery of the sick Canadian cow triggered an immediate halt of Canadian meat exports by most countries as a precaution.

 

Because of concerns over mad cow disease, the European Union in 1994 banned the use of mammalian meat and bone meal in cattle feed, but it has allowed the products to be used in feed for other animals like chickens, pigs and fish.

[Gauracandra]

Apparently about 10% of U.S. beef sales go overseas, and many if not most of these countries have now put a ban on U.S. beef. Thats good. All the fast food restaurants saw stock prices drop rather significantly.

 

Its their own fault. I mean you only get mad cow disease through cannibalism, by feeding dead cows to living cows. Thats the process that creates these rogue proteins that kill the brain.

[gHari]

I renounce cannabalism. I am quite mad enough.

 

Gary Stevenson

 

 

 

[theist]

Some industrial soul will make a flash? video out of this. Like the Meatrix. Mad cows revenge on the humanoids.

[Govindaram]

 

Hare Krishna

 

"Its their own fault. I mean you only get mad cow disease through cannibalism, by feeding dead cows to living cows. Thats the process that creates these rogue proteins that kill the brain."

 

Karma Karma Karma, Not many ppls died of mad cow's disease, damn shame. Lord Krishna is so kind, i wish ppls would realize this and Give-up beef for GOoD.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Not much compassion on this channel. Brains being eaten because ya ate cow brains?

 

Like when it was news before, Mad Cow is no different than the human disease known (unfortunately) as KURU, predominant in the fifties in places like sarawak, new guinea and remote phillipeans. Kuru is another word for zombieism, the disease humans get from eating human flesh.

 

Slaughterhouse industry has been jackin the feed by grinding up cow parts to feed the cows, so this is why they are mad.

 

It is also absurd that cow carcass is treated like a cauliflower, the brown florets tossed out. So if ya see a chunk of muscle that may be wormy or discolored, throw that part away and sell the rest.

 

Pounds on the hoof, if a cow drops (this is prevalent on dairies, if the milkers lose mobility, they are sold to slaughter), save as many pounds ($$$$$) as you can.

 

Now the cry is "We dont sell washington cows", like last year, "we dont sell canadian cows", but yall still do not throw away diseased tissue you pawn off as food.

 

The concern is about the US food supply, but the food supply is not damaged by Mad Cow disease. Hunters know whats happening, if they see a deer that looks sick, or is laying down, they may shoot it, but they wont drag it home.

 

Stupid, serves them all right, may their brains rot in hell, and may their zombie hearts be changed by the destruction of beef availability.

 

haribol, ys, mahaksadasa

[ancient_paztriot]

I'm totally grossed out!

[Kulapavana]

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and eating squirrel brains

 

Source: Lancet 350, Number 9078

Published: September 30, 1997

Author: Joseph R Berger, Erick Weisman, Beverly Weisman

 

Spongiform encephalopathies have been reported in a variety of large and small mammals.1 While conducting a study of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in south Florida, one of us (JRB) observed an affected patient who was originally a native of Kentucky and had a history of eating squirrel brains. Dietary transmission of prion diseases has been documented experimentally in animals2 and in human beings who are cannibals.3 Several case reports have suggested the possibility of transmission of CJD by consumption of brains of wild animals.4 These observations, together with recent concerns about the transmission of a unique encephalopathy in man believed to be related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy5 led us to examine the possible association of eating squirrel brains with CJD in rural Kentucky, where eating squirrel and other small game is not uncommon.

 

Culinary preparations include scrambling the brains with eggs or putting them in a meat and vegetable stew referred to as "burgoo". A history of eating squirrel brains was obtained from family members of all five patients with probable or definite CJD seen over 3,5 years in a neurocognitive clinic in western Kentucky. Two women and three men aged from 56 to 78 years (mean 68.2 years) were affected. None were related and each lived in a different town. Eating squirrel brains was reported among 12 of 42 patients with Parkinson's disease seen in the same clinic and 27 of 100 age-matched controls without neurological disease living in western Kentucky. Ataxia early in the course of the disease was seen in four of the patients with CJD and myoclonus and periodic complexes on the electroencephalogram were seen in all.

 

Death occurred within 1 year in four, whereas, survival exceeded 3 years from the onset of symptoms in one patient. Analysis of codon 129 of the prion protein gene was not done. This observation will require confirmation by studies of larger populations, and a search for a scrapie agent in the brains of squirrels, which have not heretofore been reported as having spongiform encephalopathies. In the meantime caution might be exercised in the ingestion of this arboreal rodent.