Are USDA assurances on mad cow case 'gross oversimplification'?
2 May 2012 11:24am, EDT
By Robert Bazell, Chief science and medical correspondent, NBC News
The mad cow discovered in California last week was not really a mad cow. It
suffered from a closely related disease. There is no cause for alarm at this
point, but several top scientists say the public health implications may not be
as clear the U.S. Department of Agriculture would have us believe.
The diseased dairy cow from a rendering (or carcass recycling) plant in
Hanford, Calif., near Fresno, was infected with a condition variously known as
BASE (bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy), atypical BSE and L-type
BSE, which has so far been found in about 70 animals in the world. Lyndsay Cole,
a spokeswoman for USDA, confirmed the diagnosis in an email Tuesday.
This condition, first reported in two Italian cows in 2004, causes the same
rapid crippling and death as the classic bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
that swept through Britain and much of Europe in the 1980s and '90s. But the
brains of the animals look very different after their demise.
Some experiments have shown that this rare disease can jump from species to
species, infecting lab mice and even non-human primates. The research also
suggests that the infectious agent for the rare disease could be more virulent
than BSE, more likely to appear in meat (classical BSE is mostly in brain and
nervous tissue) and might be carried in milk. Many scientists are quick to point
out that all this research consists of studies too small to be conclusive.
The U.S. government has confirmed the first case of mad cow disease in six
years, but the government is stressing there is no threat to human health. NBC's
Robert Bazell reports.
However, there is an urgent need for further study, they say.
What irks many scientists is the USDA’s April 25 statement that the rare
disease is “not generally associated with an animal consuming infected
feed.”
The USDA’s conclusion is a “gross oversimplification,” said Dr. Paul Brown,
one of the world’s experts on this type of disease who retired recently from the
National Institutes of Health. "(The agency) has no foundation on which to base
that statement.”
“We can’t say it’s not feed related,” agreed Dr. Linda Detwiler, an
official with the USDA during the Clinton Administration now at Mississippi
State.
In the May 1 email to me, USDA’s Cole backed off a bit. “No one knows the
origins of atypical cases of BSE,” she said
The argument about feed is critical because if feed is the cause, not a
spontaneous mutation, the California cow could be part of a larger
outbreak.
The British and European outbreaks of BSE ignited because the industry
turned cattle -- natural vegetarians -- into cannibals, feeding them the remains
of cattle and other animals. U.S. farmers did the same, but Britain had a huge
incidence of a related disease in sheep called scrapie, and many scientists
believe that was the source of the massive cattle outbreak. Although experiments
showed that BSE could infect monkeys and other animals, it was not until the
first human infections that anyone realized the threat it poses to people. The
human form of the disease, first discovered in Britain in the 1980s, has been
blamed for the deaths of at least 280 people worldwide, with 175 in the UK
alone.
How could the California cow have been infected with feed? Following the
British outbreak, ranchers in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world stopped
feeding cattle the remains of cattle, sheep and other mammals. But a farmer’s
feed still could get contaminated by other means. The USDA still allows chickens
to consume the remains of cattle. Chicken litter, containing urine and feces, is
fed to cows. That could theoretically transmit the infection to cattle.
And if it is feed, what does that say about the potential of an outbreak in
the rest of this cow’s heard? It appears the USDA and the California Department
of Food and Agriculture are investigating. Dr. Jim Cullor, associate dean of the
University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine and an expert on
many animal illnesses, spoke to me from his office, which is close to the dairy
farm that housed the sick cow. He would not identify the farm (nor will any
government agency) but he did say dairy farms in the area usually have about
3,000 animals (about half of them milk producers). But some farms in the area
have as many as 10,000 head, Cullor explains. Typically, the inspectors would
visit the farm’s “hospital,” where sick animals are treated. They would also go
over the hospital’s records as well as the farmer’s feed and records of past
feed purchases.
“That farmer will feel like he’s had a visit from the IRS,” Cullor
quipped.
But does such an inspection guarantee safety? Dr. Michael Hansen of the
Consumers Union, along with many scientists, argues that, like Europe, the U.S.
should test all animals that look sick or are over 6-years-old before they enter
the food supply. The rationale behind testing healthy animals 6 years old or
older is that BSE usually takes that long to develop.
"With thorough testing we would know the food supply is safe,” Hansen said.
“We wouldn’t be guessing.”
We would also learn the true incidence and origin of spontaneous and
atypical cases.
But the U.S. tests far fewer animals -- about 40,000 of the 35 million
cattle slaughtered annually. The argument is about cost, an estimated $25 to $30
per animal. Widespread testing would add a few cents to the cost of a pound of
beef. Britain, Europe, Japan and several other nations have decided it is worth
it. The USDA says it is not and declares: “The surveillance program allows USDA
to detect the disease if it exists at very low levels in the U.S. cattle
population.”
Few scientists would argue that the one California cow which never was
headed to the U.S. food supply represents a health hazard. But many maintain
that the current surveillance is insufficient. Dr. Kurt Giles, an expert in
neurogenerative diseases now at the University of California, San Francisco, was
at Oxford during the British outbreak. He told me USDA’s assurances about safety
today remind him of British statements during the 1980s.
“It is so reminiscent of that absolute certainty,” he said.
Robert Bazell is NBC's chief science and medical correspondent. Follow him
on Facebook and on Twitter @RobertBazellNBC
Friday, May 25, 2012
R-CALF USDA’s New BSE Rule Eliminates Important Protections Needed to
Prevent BSE Spread
Subject: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Importation of Bovines and
Bovine Products APHIS-2008-0010-0008 RIN:0579-AC68
Comment from Terry Singeltary Document ID: APHIS-2008-0010-0008 Document
Type: Public Submission This is comment on Proposed Rule: Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy; Importation of Bovines and Bovine Products Docket ID:
APHIS-2008-0010 RIN:0579-AC68
Topics: No Topics associated with this document View Document: More
Document Subtype: Public Comment Status: Posted Received Date: March 22 2012, at
12:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time Date Posted: March 22 2012, at 12:00 AM Eastern
Daylight Time Comment Start Date: March 16 2012, at 12:00 AM Eastern Daylight
Time Comment Due Date: May 15 2012, at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time Tracking
Number: 80fdd617 First Name: Terry Middle Name: S. Last Name: Singeltary City:
Bacliff Country: United States State or Province: TX Organization Name: CJD TSE
PRION Submitter's Representative: CONSUMERS
Comment: comment submission Document ID APHIS-2008-0010-0001
Greetings USDA,
OIE et al, what a difference it makes with science, from one day to the
next. i.e. that mad cow gold card the USA once held. up until that fateful day
in December of 2003, the science of BSE was NO IMPORTS TO USA FROM BSE COUNTRY.
what a difference a day makes$ now that the shoe is on the other foot, the USDA
via the OIE, wants to change science again, just for trade $ I implore the OIE
decision and policy makers, for the sake of the world, to refuse any status quo
of the USA BSE risk assessment. if at al, the USA BSE GBR should be raise to BSE
GBR IV, for the following reasons. North America is awash with many different
TSE Prion strains, in many different species, and they are mutating and
spreading. IF the OIE, and whatever policy makers, do anything but raise the
risk factor for BSE in North America, they I would regard that to be highly
suspicious. IN fact, it would be criminal in my opinion, because the OIE knows
this, and to knowingly expose the rest of the world to this dangerous pathogen,
would be ‘knowingly’ and ‘willfully’, just for the almighty dollar, once again.
I warned the OIE about all this, including the risk factors for CWD, and the
fact that the zoonosis potential was great, way back in 2002. THE OIE in
collaboration with the USDA, made the legal trading of the atypical Nor-98
Scrapie a legal global commodity. yes, thanks to the OIE and the USDA et al,
it’s now legal to trade the atypical Nor-98 Scrapie strain all around the globe.
IF you let them, they will do the same thing with atypical BSE and CWD (both
strains to date). This with science showing that indeed these TSE prion strains
are transmissible. I strenuously urge the OIE et al to refuse any weakening to
the USA trade protocols for the BSE TSE prion disease (all strains), and urge
them to reclassify the USA with BSE GBR IV risk factor.
SEE REFERENCE SOURCES IN ATTACHMENTS
PLEASE SEE Terry S. Singeltary Sr. _Attachment_ WORD FILE ;
***Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently
sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. These atypical BSE cases
constitute an unforeseen first threat that could sharply modify the European
approach to prion diseases.
Second threat
snip...
MAD COW USDA ATYPICAL L-TYPE BASE BSE, the rest of the story...
***Oral Transmission of L-type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Primate
Model
***Infectivity in skeletal muscle of BASE-infected cattle
***feedstuffs- It also suggests a similar cause or source for atypical BSE
in these countries.
***Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently
sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
The present study demonstrated successful intraspecies transmission of
H-type BSE to cattle and the distribution and immunolabeling patterns of PrPSc
in the brain of the H-type BSE-challenged cattle. TSE agent virulence can be
minimally defined by oral transmission of different TSE agents (C-type, L-type,
and H-type BSE agents) [59]. Oral transmission studies with H-type BSEinfected
cattle have been initiated and are underway to provide information regarding the
extent of similarity in the immunohistochemical and molecular features before
and after transmission.
In addition, the present data will support risk assessments in some
peripheral tissues derived from cattle affected with H-type BSE.
in the url that follows, I have posted
SRM breaches first, as late as 2011.
then
MAD COW FEED BAN BREACHES AND TONNAGES OF MAD COW FEED IN COMMERCE up until
2007, when they ceased posting them.
then,
MAD COW SURVEILLANCE BREACHES.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Update from APHIS Regarding a Detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
(BSE) in the United States Friday May 18, 2012
> > > Ackerman says downed cattle are 50 times more likely to have
mad cow disease (also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE) than
ambulatory cattle that are suspected of having BSE. Of the 20 confirmed cases of
mad cow disease in North America since 1993, at least 16 have involved downer
cattle, he said. < < <
don’t forget the children...
PLEASE be aware, for 4 years, the USDA fed our children all across the
Nation (including TEXAS) dead stock downer cows, the most high risk cattle for
BSE aka mad cow disease and other dangerous pathogens.
who will watch our children for CJD for the next 5+ decades ???
WAS your child exposed to mad cow disease via the NSLP ???
SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FROM DOWNER CATTLE UPDATE
DID YOUR CHILD CONSUME SOME OF THESE DEAD STOCK DOWNER COWS, THE MOST HIGH
RISK FOR MAD COW DISEASE ???
you can check and see here ;
TSS
