Song in my head: and strap your hands across my engines...........................Bruce Springsteen

Why Do I Blog About Mad Cow........

....because if ya think the government is going to protect its citizens you're phooling yourself. Case in point:

Fifty-seven Ground Zero workers have died and thousands of others have been sickened by exposure to a noxious mix of chemicals released when the World Trade Center was reduced to smoldering rubble, their lawyer said yesterday. NY Daily News Link

Is the government doing enough to keep our beef supply safe?

Many of these articles are from FSNet listserv, a food safety listserv, available by subscription and by my own news searches. I try and provide links to articles if they are given or if I can find them.

Federal testing for mad cow disease a failure, law review editor says

The U.S. Agriculture Department's mad cow disease-testing program is wholly inadequate and the agency's refusal to let processors do their own testing further undercuts the safety of American beef, a University of Illinois scholar writes.
Eating meat from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, can cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal human brain-wasting disorder. More than 160 deaths in Britain were attributed to eating BSE-infected beef, and the disease spread to Europe and Asia before the slaughter of cattle and better testing helped curb the outbreak.
The Bush administration's approach to safeguarding the nation's supply of beef has been to deny that there's a problem and to resist comprehensive BSE testing, Gregory L. Berlowitz, an editor at the University of Illinois Law Review, wrote. The net result is that the USDA has placed the welfare and promotional concerns of the beef industry ahead of public welfare. University of Illinois Link

House weighs proposed NAS study of BSE

The House Appropriations Committee is considering a proposal from Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY-22) to fund a National Academies of Science (NAS) study on the distribution of BSE infection in cattle and the impact of a full ban of risk materials in all animal feed. Food Safety Network Link

USDA concludes first round of talks on protocol for resumption of U.S. beef sales to China

A delegation from the U.S. and Chinese governments concluded two days of negotiations to establish a protocol for the resumption of U.S. beef sales to China.
"We've made considerable progress with China during these discussions to reopen their market to U.S. beef and we will meet again soon to conclude the talks," said Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Dr. J.B. Penn. "We also developed and completed a memorandum of cooperation that provides a basis for addressing food safety issues on an ongoing basis." USDA.gov


Beef-Importers

The Japan Meat Traders Association was cited as saying Wednesday that the U.S. government has refused to buy back 1.4 billion yen ($12 million) worth of American beef that it had imported but could not clear Japanese customs due to the discovery of a material banned under the bilateral accord to safeguard against mad cow disease, in a separate shipment of U.S. beef. FSNet Link


New Zealand awarded BSE-free status

The internationally recognized designation could substantially boost beef exports.
The recent confirmation of New Zealand as a bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-free country has been hailed as “fantastic news” by the deputy chairman of Meat and Wool New Zealand Mike Petersen. FSNet Link


Mexico reopens border to U.S. beef on the bone

Javier Trujillo, Mexico's head of animal health, was cited as saying Mexico on Wednesday had reopened its border to U.S. imports of beef on the bone, lifting another part of a drawn out ban on American beef that started with a mad-cow disease outbreak, adding, "Beef on the bone from the United States and Canada can enter Mexico. It's solved." FSNet Link


Judge speeds Creekstone's USDA suit

Arkansas City beef processor Creekstone Farms has, according to this story, won a court ruling that will speed up a hearing date in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson approved a schedule allowing Creekstone to file for summary judgment in the company's suit, which challenges the USDA's authority to deny the company's request to test all cattle it slaughters for mad cow disease.
The judge's ruling will allow Creekstone to file a motion by June 23 and sets Sept. 15 as a deadline for all parties to respond. Wichita Eagle Link


S. Korea to resume US beef imports on June 7

An agriculture ministry official was cited as saying on Monday that South Korea will resume U.S. beef imports on June 7 after it announces a list of approved beef processing facilities in the United States.
The story notes that South Korea, once the third-largest export market for U.S. beef, banned imports from the United States in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease was reported there. Boston.com Link


BSE Study Delayed Until Fall

The National Animal Disease Laboratory in Ames, IA has stopped a
study of how BSE is transmitted due to concerns about the lab's
sewage-treatment practices. The research, postponed until the fall,
would include inserting protein linked to the disease into the brains of calves to study how BSE is transmitted, reports the DesMoinesRegister.com. FSNet Link


Prion infection of oral and nasal mucosa

Journal of Virology (Volume 80, Number 9)
Crista DeJoia, Brian Moreaux, Kimberly O'Connell, and Richard A. Bessen*
Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717
Received 10 December 2005/ Accepted 16 February 2006
Centrifugal spread of the prion agent to peripheral tissues is postulated to occur by axonal transport along nerve fibers. This study investigated the distribution of the pathological isoform of the protein (PrPSc) in the tongues and nasal cavities of hamsters following intracerebral inoculation of the HY strain of the transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) agent. We report that PrPSc deposition was found in the lamina propria, taste buds, and stratified squamous epithelium of fungiform papillae in the tongue, as well as in skeletal muscle cells. Journal of Virology Link


'Atypical' strain of BSE found in U.S. cattle

The two cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy found in U.S. cattle over the past year came from a rare strain of BSE found largely in Europe that scientists are only beginning to identify, according to research by a French scientist.
Researchers in France and Italy who presented their work at an international conference in London reported two rare strains of bovine spongiform encephalopathy that are harder to detect and affect mainly older cattle. Alberta Beef Magazine Link


U.S. mad cow cases are mysterious strain

Two cases of mad cow disease in Texas and Alabama seem to have resulted from a mysterious strain that could appear spontaneously in cattle, researchers say. Yahoo News Link


Evidence of a new human genotype susceptible to variant CJD

This new information on the PRNP codon 129 genotype shows that the entire UK population (that is, all PRNP codon 129 genotypes) is susceptible to vCJD infection, which was not known before. The immunohistochemical technique used in the prevalence study appears to be specific, but is unlikely to be 100% sensitive, suggesting that the true prevalence in the UK population may be even greater than estimated from the study. Therefore, these results indicate that there may be a large subgroup of the population who are carriers for the disease (60% of people with non-MM genotypes) and that such carriers may have a long incubation period or may die before developing CJD. These findings are supported by studies of kuru and recent studies in transgenic mice, which show that PRNP codon 129 MV and VV genotypes are associated with longer incubation periods, and possibly with different phenotypes, than MM genotypes [4,5,6].
These findings have important public health implications, as these carriers may be able to spread the disease through blood transfusion, through surgical procedures or through organ or tissue donation. A self-sustaining secondary epidemic is possible, unless measures are taken to prevent it. Accordingly, countries throughout the world have implemented various public health measures in an attempt to prevent such an outcome. However, until a reliable test becomes available, we must rely on measures such as excluding certain blood donors with identifiable risk, leucoreduction of blood components, enhanced decontamination of medical and surgical equipment and the development of technologies such as prion filters for blood. Eurosurveillance.org Link


Korean consumer, industry groups call for beef boycott

Groups throughout Korea are calling on the government to reverse its decision to allow the import of U.S. beef and blasting the United States for applying "irrational pressure" on Korea to force it to accept beef imports.
Involved groups include Solidarity for Anti-Mad Cow Disease, the National Network for School Lunch and the Association of Lawyers for a Democratic Society. FSNet Link


Japan will allow seized meat shipment to be sold

Japanese officials said that if the market reopens to U.S. beef this month or next, as expected, tons of beef quarantined in January after the market was closed will be eligible to enter the market. The beef, which has been in cold storage since January, will be inspected for safety before it can be sold. FSNet Link


S Korea-US-Beef

South Korea is, according to this story, not likely to resume U.S. beef imports before July, officials said Wednesday, citing problems with some U.S. slaughterhouses designated to process meat bound for South Korea.
South Korea agreed in January to allow American beef into the country on a limited basis, ending a two-year ban prompted by mad cow fears. But a reopening of the formerly third-largest overseas U.S. beef market has been delayed over measures to ensure meat safety.
The story says that the latest problems are that some of the 37 U.S. slaughterhouses, designated to handle meat for export to South Korea, either process American beef without separating it from foreign beef or use tools that were used to slaughter cows that are 30 months old or older, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry said.
USDA.gov Link


Ottawa urged to delay ban on high-risk feed: Proposal aimed to prevent mad cow disease

The Canadian government is, according to this story, being pressured to wait for American action before banning the use of cattle brains, corpses and other "high risk" material in animal feed, pet food and fertilizer to prevent the spread of mad-cow disease Iowa State University Link


We must stop putting animal parts in animal feed

George A. Neville of Ottawa, a retired Health Canada scientist, writes regarding, Alzheimer's 'looming threat' to Canada, June 5, and Government under pressure over animal-feed rules, June 8, to say that the federal government must get cracking on a national strategy to deal with the "looming threat" posed by the ballooning prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in Canada's aging population.
Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a progressive, degenerative condition that destroys brain cells. These presumed symptoms and degeneration are indistinguishable from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease unless autopsies are performed after death, yet dementia deaths are rarely followed by autopsy.
In the meantime, since 1997, Canada and the United States have continued to allow the use of "specified risk material" (SRM) and blood in some animal feed (poultry, hogs, fish), pet food, and fertilizer. SRMs are condemned cattle and deadstock, as well as the brains, spinal cords, tonsils, eyeballs, and bits of small intestine from cattle that contain high concentrations of prions.
In addition to the need for increasing care provisions for ballooning numbers of dementia sufferers, the federal government must take the long-belated initiative to stem this genesis of dementia by banning the use of rendered animals parts and blood as feed to all animals, both ruminant and non-ruminant.


Korea puts off beef decision indefinitely

According to a post on the Korean government's agricultural Web site, a decision on the end of a ban on U.S. beef, expected this week, has been put off indefinitely because seven of 38 plants wishing to export beef were found wanting during inspections. Korean inspectors object to plants using the same tools on animals under and over 30 months of age, as well as production lines that contain both U.S. and Canadian cattle. USDA.gov Link


CFIA completes BSE investigation

OTTAWA, ONTARIO - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has concluded its investigation of the case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) confirmed on April 16, 2006, in a cow from British Columbia.
The investigation, conducted in line with international guidelines, identified 148 animals, including the affected animal's herdmates and recent offspring. From this group, 22 live animals were located and all tested negative for BSE. One additional animal, which is currently pregnant, has been placed under quarantine and will be tested once it has calved. Of the remaining animals investigated, 77 had died or been slaughtered, 15 were exported to the United States and 33 were untraceable. Because BSE investigations typically involve older animals, it is common for a portion of the herdmates to go untraceable due to lack of records. Cattlenetwork.com Link


Lab workers say bosses threatened them

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Two workers at a national research center say they were threatened with their jobs after questioning how the facility handled the waste of animals used in mad cow disease research.
Richard Auwerda and Timothy Gogerty alerted their bosses and Ames city officials in May that the National Animal Disease Center might be contaminating Ames' sewage plant with diseased tissue and fluids. SFGate.com


Mad cow-feed

H.J. Baker & Bro. Inc, a feed manufacturers, was cited as saying Tuesday that livestock feed ingredients shipped to nine states may have been contaminated with cattle remains in violation of a 1997 ban to protect against mad cow disease, and that it was recalling three livestock feed ingredients, including two used to supplement feed given to dairy cows.
Mark Hohnbaum, president of the Westport, Conn.-based company's feed products group, was cited as saying that a sample tested by the Food and Drug Administration was positive for cattle meat and bone meal, adding, "This is very concerning to us. This isn't something that happens to us. We are very serious about food safety."
FSNet Link


Japan, U.S. agree on beef import resumption

Japan agreed on Wednesday to resume U.S. beef imports, which have been suspended for five months due to concerns about mad cow disease, after it inspects beef processing plants authorised by the U.S. government as suppliers to Japan.
Reuters Link


Human mad cow infection could hide for 50 years

INFECTION with the lethal prions that cause the human form of "mad cow" disease could last more than 50 years before symptoms appear, research based on an old cannibal disease from Papua New Guinea shows.

During that time, victims with silent infection could pass on the prions via blood transfusions, organ or tissue donations or insufficiently sterilised metal surgical instruments. Sidney Morning Herald Link

Want your McBSE with fries?