-Caveat Lector- Suspected case of mad-cow disease found in Japan By ERIC PRIDEAUX, Associated Press TOKYO (September 10, 2001 11:19 a.m. EDT) - Japan may have Asia's first case of mad-cow disease, the government said Monday. The government cited tainted feed from Europe as a possible cause. Initial tests on the brain of a cow in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo revealed signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad-cow disease, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Scientists believe the disease causes a similar fatal brain-wasting ailment in humans. More tests are needed to determine conclusively whether the cow was infected with BSE, officials said. Earlier testing in August had come up negative. The cow was slaughtered after mysteriously losing the ability to stand in early August, the ministry said. The Holstein probably was contaminated after eating feed that contained animal parts, said Katsuaki Sugiura, another official at the Ministry of Agriculture's animal health division. Most imported feed used in Japan comes from the United States, Canada and Australia - all believed to be free of mad-cow disease. However, some feed was imported from European countries, including Denmark and Italy, before a Japanese ban on European feed took effect this year, Sugiura said. Milk produced by the 5-year-old Holstein already had been sold on the market before the slaughter, but there was no danger to consumers, said Norio Tsuruoka, an official at the Chiba prefectural office's stockbreeding sanitation section. He said it was not immediately clear where the milk had been marketed. Chiba is a main supplier of agricultural products to Tokyo, which borders the state on the west. There are a total of about 100 cattle in Shiroi, the town where the cow was found, including some 30 other cows at the same farm. Many have been quarantined but none are thought to carry the disease, Tsuruoka said. Officials have yet to decide whether to slaughter the other cattle. Scientists believe humans can contract variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human equivalent of mad cow disease, by eating beef infected with BSE. CJD kills its carrier by tearing holes in brain tissue. Mad-cow disease is believed to be spread by recycling meat and bones from infected animals back into cattle feed. The first diagnosis of mad-cow disease in Britain in 1986 resulted in wholesale herd slaughtering, mandatory testing and a European Union ban on British beef exports. The EU ban on British beef has since been lifted. As a precaution, Japan last year banned beef from the European Union and food made from processed beef and bull sperm. Health experts here had boasted that high standards of cleanliness at Japanese cattle ranches would protect the country from exposure to the brain- eating disease. Japan also restricted donations of blood from people who lived in Britain, where more than 100 people have been diagnosed with variant CJD since 1980. "We must now ask ourselves if our previous way of thinking was wrong, if there were factors we hadn't foreseen," said Kiyoshi Onodera, deputy division chief at the Ministry of Agriculture's animal health division. No cases of variant CJD have turned up in the United States. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
