Suspected mad cow disease (BSE) in the US

A case of suspected Mad Cow Disease (BSE or Bovine Spongiform Encephylits) has occured in the US. The cow came from a farm in Mabton, Washington (about 70 miles south of Yakima) and parts of the animal passed through at least three processing plants (Interstate Meats of Federal Way (Wa.), Willamette Meats (OR) and a processing plant in Iowa) before the alert was issued. Mad cow surfaces in U.S., Alberts, Canada.com, 12/24/03.; Washington animal first mad cow case in nation, Dworkin, Oregonian, 12/24/03.

The cow was obviously ill before it was slaughtered and was referred to as a "downer." In other words it was falling down before slaughter (Dworkin article and USDA press release).

BSE is transmissable to humans as vCJD - variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease. There are several variants of the disease: BSE that occurs in cows, scrapies in sheep and goats, transmissable mink encephalopathy, feline spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease of deer and elk, and in humans, kuru, Classical Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), USDA site.

So far, Japan and Chile, and South Korea have banned US beef; the EU is tightening import restrictions, and Canada is meeting to decide what to do. Japan halts U.S. beef imports after mad cow case, rEUTERS, 12/24/03; Canadian farmers caution against banning U.S. beef; Mad Cow Causes Beef Bans, Stocks Drop , Reuters; Chile Suspends Imports of U.S. Beef , Reuters.

The best lay person's discussion about BSE and vCJD is at How Stuff Works and the article is How Mad Cow Disease Works.

OK, that's the news, but what about the implications?

Well, this is a big issue. It was when it happened in Britain, it was in Canada, and it is in the US - despite the fact that we have consistently been told that there is no possibility that it could occur here.

In my opinion, the basic problems with BSE (and other TSE's) in the food supply lies in feeding dead animals to herbivores. In other words, since the 1930s in the US, animal feed has contained slaughtered animals. This is fed to cows, sheep, and others. Specific issues with BSE arose after the 1980s when processing requirements decreased the temperature and disinfectants used to process meat.

Obviously there is the concern about vCJD in humans, though the immediate death toll from that is statistically limited - at this time. The larger concerns are that 1) it's spread in the food supply which increases the probability of human infection, 2) it is basically untreatable; 3) you can't kill the damn prion that causes it. Yeah, you can't kill it. Those who died in Britain could not be buried. They, and every instrustment that was used on them or their samples, are stored as toxic waste.

From How Mad Cow Disease Works

# The agent must be small - The agent's size must be as small or smaller than a virus.
# You can't kill it by cooking or freezing - Much higher temperatures than those used in cooking or sterilizing are required to kill it.
# Disinfectants don't work - Normal chemicals that you would use to disinfect surfaces for bacteria and viruses (Lysol, Betadine) are not effective.
# It does not appear to have genetic information (nucleic acids) - This finding has been questioned.

Of course there is the question of why obviously sick animals are ending up being processed for food (human or animal) in the first place. As with the suspect cow from Washington, the animal could not even walk at the time it was slaughtered. Yet proceed they did. They took their sample as required, and sent the cow on to other processing plants. Thereby enhancing rhe probability that it would 1) end up in the food supply, and 2) contaminate other creatures being processed and the facilities they were being processed at.

While the claims are that human contamination is relatively rare, there is speculation that it is not. Diagnosing CJD in humans is expensive and testing is relatively rare. vCJD symptoms are similar to a number of other neurological and brain disorders (such as Alzheimers) and so the possibility of lack of diagnosis is high.

There is an excellent and extensive article at Organic Consumers Association called U.S. Violates World Health Organization Guidelines for Mad Cow Disease: A Comparison of North American and European Safeguards. It discusses both the guidelines and why they are in place.

There is a lot of information on this issue out there - much of it way over my head technically. The implications of BSE in the US are huge, both from a health and economic perspective. The ongoing denials about the possibility of BSE in the US have been reflected in the so-called safety measures put in place. Currently, the sample from the suspected cow is on its way to Britain for confirmation. My guess is that this will be in the news for a while.

Resources
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) APHIS USDA site

Consumer Questions and Answers About BSE US HSHS, US FDA, Center for Food Safety

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) FDA information page

BSE - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
"Mad Cow Disease" University of Illinois information center

Organic Consumers - Mad Cow

Organic Consumers Association - Mad cow page

How Mad Cow Disease Works How Stuff Works

The spread of mad cow disease, CNN.Intl - Asia.

Mad Cow Disease: The Rampage of an Illness, Purdue University.

Full archive links to the Guardian/UK on BSE and CJD Great resource!

Note of interest: Last year Oregon agreed to extend elk ranches in the state even though the risk of chronic wasting disease skyrockets in confined elk. The evidence of this was from deer and elk farms in Colorado. There has been some evidence that chronic wasting disease in deer and elk is transmissable to humans. Certainly it is closely related to BSE. Some of us were against this expansion for this very reason.

Posted by rowan at December 24, 2003 8:27 AM | TrackBack | [eMail this article!] |