Texas Woman Dies of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Source: The Beaumont Enterprise

Whether Mad-Cow has entered the U.S. food chain, or not, do you trust the Bush Administration to tell you about it before it's too late for a number of people?

I don't.

There is already criticism from members of the Administration and the cattle industry of the FDA's release of "inconclusive" data on a cow tested for the disease last week (which later turned out to be negative). They're upset that the data's release caused a plummet in the livestock trade market.

Ask yourself: which is more likely? That the Bush Administration would encourage the FDA to take aggressive preventative measures against Mad Cow, and to educate the public, even if it meant a huge loss of money for the beef industry? OR, that the Bush Administration would wait until it's proven that Mad Cow has entered the human food chain in the U.S., and several dozen people are dead, before acting?

You ever read Fast Food Nation? If you have, you know not to trust the Republicans with the safety of your food.

[Edited on Nov 26, 2004 by Keith]

I wonder if it does turn out to be the variant CJD whether or not they'll be able to track down the origin of the beef this woman ate...if it turns out to orginate from the states does anyone think the canada-us border will open quicker or slower for our (canadian) beef?

The evil part of me wants it to originate in the states just so I can laugh and tell them to start taking our meat again.

The US is fucked if it was American beef.

The UK moved onto disposable surgical instruments because you it's tricky to
sterilise against BSE/CJD prions.
bbc story.

The US would be crazy to cover up any BSE infections. The public would never trust 'them' again.

Anyone interested in Spongiform Encephalopathies might like the SEAC website.

Is that all you think about? Stuffing us Americans with your meat?

Mostly.

But keep it a secret... some people around here are far too scared of teh geigh...

wow, that's my hometown. my sixth grade teacher was named Mr Baize. i wonder if that was his mom or something. small town. whoa.


-pb

it's times like this that i am so glad i am a vegan!

[Edited on Nov 26, 2004 by ninadelamorte]

Yeah yeah, you think you're immune... Just wait until someone dies of Mad Tofu Disease!

How long have you been vegetarian? You know how long the incubation time is, right? What about US blood supplies? Do you trust those?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/bse/article/0,2763,541077,00.html

How long has the US herd been infected; how many people in the US have nvCJD?

I feel the urge to tell my one fascinating nvCJD fact (I did pay attention in lectures; honestly.)

One of the first people to get nvCJD was a French bodybuilder. It's thought that he used bovine somatotrophin collected from infected cattle to aid his fitness regime but he was infected by the prions contained in the contaminated product.

So, watch out for things other than dodgy burgers.

I'd love a photograph of the chain mail gloves that CJD researchers wear.

tofu doesn't get mad, it gets vegan.



i'm sorry for that. really, i am.

A topic similar to this was going on in the Veggie group recently and I raised this very point. Unless you were raised vegan or vegetarian - or have only ever eaten organic meat - you are still at risk (albeit lower) on developing vCJD from infected meat.

I think the height of the UK scares was around the mid-late 80s. Before I stopped eating meat. Joy.

I've recommended Fast Food Nation to a few of my meat eating friends - most of them take the 'what I don't know can't hurt me' approach to it.

Chain mail? Seriously??

"You will now suffer Brain Lesion +3 for 2d6 rounds"

Yes, they take it seriously.

Double layer of latex gloves, chainmail, another layer of nitrile. All the instruments and gowns are destroyed to avoid the risk of contamination.

chainmail gloves online

It scares me.

Now... I can understand the double layer latex and the nitrile but what does the chainmail do? Besides look cool in that ass kicking medieval way?



[Edited on Nov 26, 2004 by FreakPirate]

It stops them cutting themselves with a scalpel that they've just used to cut into a cow's brain with. I think they sometimes have their hands buried in goop and one hand hold stuff while the opther hand cuts about, sometimes jabbing themselves. Chainmail makes that less likely.

Ahh that makes sense.

There you go. I've learned something new today.

Never underestimate the FDA. And never overestimate the american public.
It wouldn't be the first or last time the government shit the bed and the public rolled over.

Given the lack of nucleic acids conventional means of sterilization are ineffectice. Prions can take temperatures up 600 C and is resistant to all know protesases. Nothing short NaOH or incineration will eliminate it's lethality. Hence the precautions

I'm interested to see where this is traced to as well. I was under the impression that animal feed containing other animals wasn't allowed in the U.S. Hence all the reassurances when BSE reared it's ugly head in England nearly a decade ago.
Remember kids cows eat grass, not cows and sheep.

There is a feed ban in place. The concern comes from old dairy cattle. Most slaughter cattle are under 24 months of age which is too young to have been fed MBM or meat and bone meal. Mechanically extracted meat is what concerns people. Prions exist in sufficent quantities in the brain spinal cord and dorsal ganglia to transmit the disease. components of these find their way into ground beef through MEM.

Well there you go. Thanks. So if I stay away from ground beef I shouldn't have anything to worry about? I was in England visiting relatives when the BSE outbreak was in the news. My relatives reassured me that eating cuts of beef wasn't a problem but did warn me to think twice about eating a hamburger.