Mad Cow Disease Deaths in tri-state

[kywildcat]

Ok-not sure if this is tin foil hat or not.
My dear BOLs' music teacher mentioned that his neighbor died recently of MCD, that a close relative of the neighbor had also died of MCD recently. My mother (who works in a hospital, and is prone to pooh poohing rumors about health) said yes, and a co-worker of hers had a death in the family of MCD as well. Both Mom and Sister have said there is a big clamp down on reporting MCD deaths.
I have found nothing in the local news about this (tri-state area OH, KY, IN).
Am I behind on this? Is the USDA still inspecting meat? Has anyone heard of this?

[rodeodance]

1. i, for one, have heard nothing about this.

[kikiek]

2. Maybe they died of CJD Cruekzfeldt Jakob's Disease. Similar human condition

to mad cow, but not the same. It is rare and that many deaths from it might stir suspicion up, but it doesn't mean there was mad cow causing it. Here in MN we had a few deaths from a hunting party from it, and they still denied any ties to animal meat. I think they checked for that wasting disease in deer herds but never found a connection. By the way the state health dept does track these deaths in MN, and I would suspect all the other states. Of course the death would have to be reported as suspicous for CJD for an autopsy to even be conducted to detect it. Hallmark of the dementia associated with it is a very rapid course like 6 mo maybe a year and death.

[rasputin1952]

6. I'm inclined to go w/CJD as well....

albeit rare, 3 deaths is w/in the realm of possibility/probability.

What gets me is that there was any notion at all that herbivores would do well eating animal byproducts...someone wasn't thinking during that little intrusion...

[kikiek]

10. Disgusting isn't it.

[Kali]

12. I have seen cattle and deer chew old hides and bones. Especially in late

winter when natural protein sources are deficient and/or other minerals may be lacking. It isn't as "un-natural" as you might think.

Here in the west the soils are naturally deficient in phosphorus - until the BSE problem, steamed bone meal was an inexpensive and easily utilized way to supplement that mineral. I think you can still buy it for gardens but not for cattle anymore.

[rasputin1952]

16. I'm a transplant here in Nebraska, and I've spoken to a few of the

ranchers around here, and they say that some cattle will eat small stones as well.

While I figure almost anything can be cannibalistic, (I recall reading about chimps ambushing other chimps then devouring them), I guess it all comes down to the needs at the time.

In following the CJD/MCD links and the reports that were coming out w/the first MCD case, (BSE: Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis), was directly implemented via a prion in the infected cattle's brain/spinal cord. What I found incredibly foolish was the thought that this practice was defensible all around the world, when the logical thing to do would bed to arrest the practice immediately.

I sat in on a seminar about BSE and one of the first sufferers of the disease, a woman of about 25 years of age; at the autopsy, the brain truly looked like a sea sponge. She had lost all bodily control functions, but was rational throughout the disease process. It was a terrible thing to watch and know you couldn't do anything...except prevent the next case by using some common sense procedures. In the name of profit, people defended the practice that eventually led to quite a few horrid deaths.

edited for stupid grammatical errors...:)

[brentspeak]

18. CJD is the human variant of Mad Cow disease

Humans actually don't get Mad Cow disease, but they can get CJD from cows who had Mad Cow.

[Kali]

19. there seems to be a difference between CJD and vCJD

vCJD is the type associated with BSE

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/index.htm

[Bitwit1234]

3. I did read that there was a huge huge closing off on cows

in one of the Canadian proviences...they said that the farmers had been feeding them prohibited feed for years..... Can't remember but I think it was Alberta.

[JDPriestly]

5. The tri-state area is Indiana, Ohio and, I believe, Kentucky

Lots of game (deer) in the tri-state area, I believe.

[hootinholler]

23. There are lots of tri-state areas.

2 different ones involve W. Va.: Ohio, PA and WV, and Md, Va and WV.

-Hoot

[Danmel]

24. Not to mention New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

:)

[Cobalt Violet]

30. And Massachusets, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

:hi:

[Kali]

14. there was a post on it here yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=116&topic_id=14345

[achtung_circus]

27. Here

Canadian producers may only feed their ruminants approved animal protein products such as pure porcine, equine, poultry, and fish. Banned as ingredients in ruminant feeds are "prohibited materials" - protein including meat and bone meal from mammals other than pigs and horses.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2007/20070302e.shtml

OTTAWA, March 2, 2007 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has placed precautionary movement restrictions on cattle from nine farms in Saskatchewan because they received feed that did not meet Canada’s current feed ban requirements. There is no food safety risk associated with meat and other products from the exposed animals.

The contamination occurred when misidentified ruminant meat and bone meal was distributed from a processor to feed mills. The meat and bone meal was subsequently included as an ingredient in certain ruminant animal feeds, which is not permitted under Canada’s feed ban. The CFIA was notified by the processor and mills once the error was detected and immediately initiated an investigation.

All of the contaminated feed has been recalled and the CFIA has verified that all receiving farms have been properly cleaned. Preliminary findings of a science-based assessment indicate that the risk to animal health is, at most, very low. No exposed animals or their products were exported.

A complete investigation is underway to fully examine the situation and verify that the processor takes corrective measures. The CFIA will consider enforcement actions once the investigation concludes.

The CFIA is working with industry to activate the tracking mechanism, based on Canada's traceability system, which will replace the current movement restrictions.

The CFIA is committed to ensuring the ongoing effectiveness of Canada’s feed ban. Domestic and international audits, supported by regular inspection activities, demonstrate very high levels of industry compliance with the ban. However, feed system controls are inherently complex and subject to human error. Enhancements to the feed ban, which come into effect in July 2007, will address potential opportunities for inadvertent contamination by removing more than 99% of potential BSE infectivity from the animal feed system.

All affected producers acted in full accordance with the feed ban, believing they were using feed intended for cattle and other ruminant animals. All involved stakeholders, including producers, continue to be very cooperative with the CFIA.

-30-

For information:
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Media relations: [phone]

[JDPriestly]

4. I know of a case which was either Creuzfeldt or MCD

It is easy for the authorities to sidestep this issue by blaming everything on Creuzfeldt. Too many cases of Creuzfeldt in such an area looks suspicious. I'm not certain whether that many people in the tri-state area have the genetic make-up that tends toward Creuzfeldt. Frankly, I doubt it.

[shadowknows69]

8. these people could be dying from MCD

that they contracted 8 years ago. It takes a while to show up IIRC.

[sam sarrha]

7. inspect.. not really 1 in 10,000, might get bad press.. check this out >LINK>

http://www.maddeer.org

check out their links especially 'Red Zone'

also Google 'Prion Disease' prions are essentially indestructible, survives temperatures of 1800* and chemicals dont effect it..and can jump speciation in 4 gererations..

guy on NPR said they tested patients in Alzhimers care homes and about 12 to 16% actually had CJD a Prion infenction

[donsu]

9. I'd believe your mom and sister

MDC is killing americans

[yewberry]

11. It's very hard to know; there is no requirement for testing or reporting.

Because the prions are very hard to destroy, labs aren't necessarily very motivated to test for it (due to the possibility of contamination.) I may be mistaken, but I think that unless there is some kind of study being conducted, there's no reason to test for it, and there is no agency that requires reporting.

The USDA has recently scaled back testing for BSE.

[RC]

13. We don't test so we don't find...

Can't interfere with the profits, that would interfere with the campaign contributions.

[Kali]

15. "big clamp down"? There has only been one confirmed case of

vCJD (human form of BSE) in the US and that was a woman who had lived in the UK for a long period of time. There have been less that 200 human deaths WORLDWIDE linked to BSE. Of course I can only go by what most would consider credible sources - can't do much about conspiracy theories...

http://www.oie.int/eng/info/en_esbincidence.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/bse/

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/index.htm

edit to say while checking these links I see there is now a third confirmed case of vCJD in the US (patient from the Middle East)

[rasputin1952]

20. I keep far away from Conspiracy Theories...(well, except for JFK)...

and while I don't think this is an outbreak of BSE, I do know that the current gov't we have now would do anything possible to maintain an aura of "serenity". For whatever reason, governments believe that some "truths" should be denied to the people; while this is often necessary and occasionally laudable, it can have disastrous consequences for many people.

Generally speaking, people do not "panic" when told the truth about danger. In this case, most people would avoid beef for a quite some time. While this would affect the market for beef, it would protect people, and that is the purpose of keeping the population informed. The current administration is not known for its ability to be honest to the American people, inevitably, the CT's come in droves, and it the lack of verifiable information that can create a "panic" situation.

I went through this with the UFO "situation", I've seen things I can't explain, but I know there are explanations somewhere, somehow, that bring about an understanding of a situation. The ideal is to look at a problem and figure it out..."Frankenfoods" are another source of distress for people because they really don't know what it happening to their food supply. I'd like to see everything go organic, but there are plenty of pathogens that can mess w/people in the best of days.

[brentspeak]

17. It hasn't been reported anywhere.

[Beelzebud]

21. Mad Cow has been here for a few years, but the corporate media conveniently ignores it.

My mother works as a histologist at a hospital in central Illinois. They've had 4 cases of mad cow disease in the past 6 years. Every time it happens the samples are sent to the CDC, and the patient gets transferred to a facility in Chicago.

[Kali]

22. any documentation on that?

Or any background? When you say mad cow disease what exactly do you mean? vCJD or some other form of CJD? That doesn't seem to fit with what the CDC has on their website. And if something is being covered up why isn't your mother raising hell about it?

[kestrel91316]

25. I think CJD and vCJD are underdiagnosed. If you don't look for

something, you probably won't find it.

How many elderly get diagnosed with Alzheimer's, for instance, and never get a proper diagnostic workup that might show it's actually a prion disease?

[Matariki]

26. off topic - what is BOL an abbreviation for?

[depakid]

28. Not too liong ago, a cluster may have been linked to eating squirrel brains

A British medical journal (The Lancet, 350:642) recently published a letter from a Kentucky neurologist
stating that he had observed a possible association between consumption of squirrel brains and a human
neurological condition known as Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD).

CJD is one of the spongiform
encephalopathies of humans and is in the same category of diseases as bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease), scrapie in sheep, and chronic wasting disease of elk and
deer. The publication and subsequent news wire stories resulted in numerous telephone calls to the
wildlife resource agencies of Kentucky and other states regarding risk to squirrel hunters.

http://www.uga.edu/scwds/topic_index/1997/RECENT~1.pdf

[Kali]

29. wouldn't exactly call 96 or 97 recent

but it is interesting and I have definitely observed squirrels eating road kill (or at least what I know as rock squirrels - I believe they are actually a variety of ground squirrel and not the typical tree squirrel most know)