[Even though this particular article was written in 2001, it's still relevant as the U.S. GOV is still practicing their 'don't look, don't find' policy. Rick.]
mad cows and englishmen (and Americans) by Gabe Kirchheimer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) - February 25, 2001 This updated version of an article by Gabe Kirchheimer originally appeared in the July 2000 issue of High Times magazine, the second in a series on Mad Cow disease in the USA. His first article on the topic, the first to be published in a large national magazine, appeared in the January 1998 High Times. Many of the allegations contained in these articles have recently been confirmed by the FDA and other agencies, and reported by the New York Times, CNN and other national media. Does Mad Cow disease represent a worldwide pestilence affecting many species of animals and millions of people? Is CJD the world's most dangerous disease? Is unsafe animal feed creating the most devastating epidemic since AIDS? 'Are you familiar with CJD? Welcome to a living hell. Take a brief walk with me while I tell you of the most horrifying disease known to mankind.' ~ ~ Dolly Campbell, whose husband died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Mad Cows In The USA Mad Cow disease has turned Britain on its head. Even as the number of infected cattle in the United Kingdom has been reduced-over 180,000 cases have been confirmed, nearly four million cows have been destroyed-the likelihood of widespread human infection has increased. The disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cows and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, literally destroys the brain, filling its tissue with spongy holes. The growing number of British victims of "new variant" CJD, mostly young people in their prime who contracted the brain sickness from tainted meat, is a grim precursor to an uncertain future. Consumption of British beef has plummeted; financial losses have been catastrophic. An exhaustive report, released by the official UK BSE Inquiry last summer, traced the history of the continuing epidemic and confirmed the negligence of the authorities. Mad Cows have now been found in France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Holland, Portugal, Denmark, Luxembourg, Brazil and Canada. The US Department of Agriculture maintains that no Mad Cows exist here, and has tested nearly 12,000 bovine brains in the last decade-of 1.25 billion cattle raised in that period-and found not a single case of the British variant of Mad Cow disease. It is primarily this data upon which the agency bases their denials. But what strains of the disease is the USDA looking for? Would the USDA actually alert the world if they found BSE in their laboratory, therefore precipitating the kind of panic seen in the UK and Europe? The stakes are extremely high. One infected animal, whose remains are "rendered," powdered and mixed into feed, can infect thousands of other animals, and the thousands of people who eat them. Leading food-safety advocates question the agency's small test sample, methodology and motives. They point out that USDA scientists are not likely to find the British variant of Mad Cow because, in fact, US cattle are likely infected with an entirely different strain-or strains-of BSE. Similar Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), or "prion diseases," such as scrapie (with 20 strains, and found in 45 US states) and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), have been found in populations of American sheep, goats, deer, elk, mink, and squirrels. The deadly infection is acquired through contaminated feed and maternal transmission, and probably from contaminated areas and through close proximity of animals to one another. Mad People Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human TSE, is still considered so rare-the medical literature states only one in a million cases of "classic" CJD occurs in humans-that few doctors and neurologists even recognize the symptoms, which are frequently misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease. CJD robs victims of lucidity, control and life over a period ranging from six months to three years from the onset of symptoms, which can take from 10 to 40 years to manifest. Like all TSEs, CJD is 100% fatal. There is no treatment or cure. As no blood test for the living is available, CJD has been definitively diagnosed only through brain biopsy. The US Centers for Disease Control has repeatedly refused to mandate CJD-unlike HIV and many other diseases-as reportable. With stories of CJD cases increasing, support groups have sprung up around the country and on the Web to demand action. The US Department of Agriculture sees no reason to advise the public at this time that eating US beef or pork constitutes a significant risk of infection with CJD, acquired from animals with TSEs. Neither does the USDA warn against other risks such as blood meal or horticultural bone meal [see sidebar below], which can be easily inhaled or enter the body through the eyes, a direct route to the brain. The FDA has only recently communicated that numerous drugs and dietary supplements containing bovine ingredients, perhaps even gelatin capsules themselves, and cosmetics which include collagen and tallow are at uncertain risk of carrying the infectious agent-a nearly indestructible mutant protein known as a "prion"-which apparently causes CJD and other TSEs. Neither have US doctors, surgeons and dentists been notified that surgical instruments are at highest risk of transmitting the infection, as standard autoclave sterilization does not neutralize infectious prions. Blood, blood products, bovine extracts and transplant organs are not screened for CJD in the US, although around the world infected organ recipients, who developed symptoms sometimes decades after treatment, have been traced to infected donors. See No Evil, Here No Evil Lack of government action is based on the assumption-or deception-that the United States is completely free of Mad Cow disease, other domesticated animals are equally unaffected, and that only the very rare "classic" strain of CJD, which primarily affects the elderly, and not British nvCJD or another strain, exists here. In actuality, a careful reading of the evidence indicates Mad Cows-as well as Mad sheep, deer and elk-roam the land, and the incidence of human CJD is exponentially higher than the Centers for Disease Control has made clear. Several key studies show it is likely that tens or even hundreds of thousands of people are dying right now of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed CJD. Article continues here > http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id906/pg1/index.html Plus more info on Mad Cow Disease > http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id930/pg1/index.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com contact owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mail list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] no flaming arguing or denigration of others allowed contact owner with complaints regarding posting/list or anything else. Thank you. please share/comment/inform and mostly enjoy this list Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quick_vegetarian/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quick_vegetarian/join (Yahoo! 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