Even though cattle remains were banned from cattle feed
ten years ago, new cases of Mad Cow Disease continue to be
found.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/st...w-alberta.html

id=9184296B-D4ED-49A2-A173-AEB0DD18A6CE
"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Even though cattle remains were banned from cattle feed
> ten years ago, new cases of Mad Cow Disease continue to be
> found.
>
> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/st...w-alberta.html

And your point is?
BSE (mad cow disease) is a naturally ocurring thing. It was accelerated by
the idiotic practice of feeding animal 'remains' to cattle that normally
feed on vegetation.
There is nothing abnormal about the odd diagnosis of this condition. And
this does not, in any way, indicate a higher risk in the food chain. This
(vanishingly small risk) has always been present. The only change has been
the awareness of the disease and the vigilance to keep any suspect animals
out of the human (and any other) feed source.

Ken.

Ken Davey wrote:
>
> id=9184296B-D4ED-49A2-A173-AEB0DD18A6CE
> "Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Even though cattle remains were banned from cattle feed
> > ten years ago, new cases of Mad Cow Disease continue to be
> > found.
> >
> > http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/st...w-alberta.html
>
> And your point is?
> BSE (mad cow disease) is a naturally ocurring thing. It was accelerated
> by the idiotic practice of feeding animal 'remains' to cattle that
> normally feed on vegetation.
> There is nothing abnormal about the odd diagnosis of this condition.
> And this does not, in any way, indicate a higher risk in the food chain.
> This (vanishingly small risk) has always been present. The only change
> has been the awareness of the disease and the vigilance to keep any
> suspect animals out of the human (and any other) feed source.

What evidence do you have that it was present
in North American herds before being introduced
from Europe? It was not here before it was
introduced, but it's here now and it's spreading.
We're in the early stages of an epidemic which
will only get worse as time passes.

Quoting from the report of the USDA's own panel of experts:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues...BSE_Report.pdf

"The subcommittee recommends that
future surveillance programmes should be
targeted to the population with highest risk
of exposure to the BSE agent. At some
point in the past, targeting based on the
location of cattle imported from Europe and
other BSE risk countries, their points of
slaughter and rendering and subsequent
consumption in cattle feed was theoretically
possible. However, with the passage of time
since the importations and the amplification
of the agent within North America, this
approach is no longer appropriate."

It is not in the public interest to have
the USDA resisting the effort to test for
Mad Cow Disease:

http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/US..._program.shtml

Or to have the NIH attempting to destroy
evidence of the progress of the epidemic:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madc...verup32505.cfm

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Ken Davey wrote:
>>
>> id=9184296B-D4ED-49A2-A173-AEB0DD18A6CE
>> "Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Even though cattle remains were banned from cattle feed
>> > ten years ago, new cases of Mad Cow Disease continue to be
>> > found.
>> >
>> > http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/st...w-alberta.html
>>
>> And your point is?
>> BSE (mad cow disease) is a naturally ocurring thing. It was accelerated
>> by the idiotic practice of feeding animal 'remains' to cattle that
>> normally feed on vegetation.
>> There is nothing abnormal about the odd diagnosis of this condition.
>> And this does not, in any way, indicate a higher risk in the food chain.
>> This (vanishingly small risk) has always been present. The only change
>> has been the awareness of the disease and the vigilance to keep any
>> suspect animals out of the human (and any other) feed source.
>
> What evidence do you have that it was present
> in North American herds before being introduced
> from Europe? It was not here before it was
> introduced, but it's here now and it's spreading.
> We're in the early stages of an epidemic which
> will only get worse as time passes.
>
The problem with this approach is that there *is* no evidence as there was
no recognition of this disease prior to 1987.
Similar diseases such as scrapie in sheep were recognized centuries ago. Its
presence in humans (CJD) also has a long history.
Recognition of the problem has resulted in rather thorough testing in some
jurisdictions.
There is every reason to believe (as some research is suggesting) that it
can arise spontainiously.
Time will tell as new discoveries are made in this field .
The statement "We're in the early stages of an epidemic..." is totally
without basis in fact!

Regards.
Ken.

Ken Davey wrote:
>
> There is every reason to believe (as some research is suggesting)
> that it can arise spontainiously.
> Time will tell as new discoveries are made in this field .
> The statement "We're in the early stages of an epidemic..." is totally
> without basis in fact!

There's a much stronger basis for saying that than
to try to paint this as something that's always been
around at a low level, as you attempted to do.

For example, the first case of Mad Cow Disease
in North America was found in 1993 in Canada
in a cow imported from England. And the first
case of Mad Cow Disease in the U.S. was discovered
in a cow imported from Canada. There is a clear
timeline of the introduction and spread of this
dread disease.

As the USDA's own panel of experts said in their
1994 report:

"At some point in the past, targeting based on
the location of cattle imported from Europe
and other BSE risk countries, their points of
slaughter and rendering and subsequent
consumption in cattle feed was theoretically
possible. However, with the passage of time
since the importations and the amplification
of the agent within North America, this
approach is no longer appropriate."

You can read the whole report he
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues...BSE_Report.pdf

What that means is that the infectious agent
was introduced from a BSE-risk country, and
that the agent has spread (amplified) within
North American heards. This is a growing
problem, and we are in the early stages of it.