News Intelligence Analysis
Health Issues
A Roundup of Vital Information About the U.S. Mad Cow Disease Outbreak
By Pamela Kraemer, a Yurica Report writer and researcher
A Brief Background of Mad Cow Disease
As a concerned consumer, I stopped buying beef as soon as I heard about the dreaded bovine spongiform encephalopathy otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease, which was found in Washington State. Here's why:
The disease is passed via a "pure protein" and it is difficult to pass from one animal to another--but since cattle feed is made from animals, most often diseased and very sick, the protein carrying the BSE is contained within the feed. That is why, when people eat BSE contaminated beef we can get Mad Cow. Even though researchers are working on finding a cure or a way to eliminate BSE it has proven to be elusive and difficult to isolate. Botulism is an example of a sickness which is protein based but it is not infectious. (Read the excerpt below for information regarding this.) Mad Cow, however, is considered to be infectious.
We know this much: the one known infected cow from Washington State was routinely ground up and its parts sent all over the west before anyone knew it was infected. And that is just one cow. Since this is an infectious disease, does anyone doubt that this is just the tip of the iceberg? Here is an excerpt from an article, by Jack Brown, a microbiologist from the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Kansas University (KU). Microbiology is one of the sections of the department. The entire article can be found here. This is an excerpt that explains what is known about this new kind of infectious agent from Jack Brown's article:
"Unfortunately, there are several human diseases that fall into this category of spongiform encephalopathies, and include: kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (pronounced: Kroytzfelt- Yakobe) disease, and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome of humans. All of these diseases result in eventual spongiform encephalopathy, and like scrapie, and now "Mad Cow" disease, are possibly transmitted by a relatively new kind of suspected infectious agent called a prion - the term prion is an acronym coined several years ago by the scientist, Stanley Prusiner. The acronym stands for: proteinaceousinfectious particle - Prusiner just changed the letters around a bit. Prusiner studied the best-documented spongiform encephalopathy, sheep scrapie, and determined that the only identifiable thing which could transmit this disease from animal to animal was unlike any other infectious agent before identified - the disease appeared to be transmitted by pure protein, alone. In October, 1997, Stanley Prusner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification and characterization of the Prion and the association of this protein with neurological disorders.
Now, certain extraordinarily small disease-causing infectious agents called viruses have been known for a long, long time - these infectious agents may infect for example, bacteria (known as bacteriophage), plants (plant viruses like tobacco mosaic virus), and animals (poliovirus, HIV, influenza virus, to name only a few). However, without a single exception every virus identified to date has been found to contain a genome (genetic material) comprised of nucleic acid (either RNA or DNA), which contains all of the information (genes) for the formation of virus progeny (offspring). No form of existing life ever identified on the earth - (or semi-life form like a virus which requires a host cell in order to make more virus) which can propagate its own form has ever been found to be devoid of either DNA or RNA. Only viruses have RNA as a possible genome - all other known life forms have only DNA as their central genetic information. Therefore, an infectious agent which consists of protein alone, is extremely difficult to yet comprehend, e.g., how can copies of itself be made? How can a protein cause an on-going, progressive disease and the disease be transmissible?
There is no known mechanism which accounts for protein alone serving as a template for making many copies of the same protein, or for a protein alone to cause infection (an infection is the invasion of a host by a microorganism which results in the presence and growth of the microorganism - an infection may not lead to disease - a disease is any deviation from the normal function of the body that is characterized by a defined set of symptoms - an infectious disease is therefore a disease caused by the establishment and growth of any infectious organism which results in defined dysfunction as a result of the presence of the organism or product of the organism). Although protein toxins are well-known (such as botulism toxin; tetanus toxin) - these proteins are not infectious - the organism which produces the toxin is the infectious agent and the cause of the disease - which may result from release of the toxin from the living organism (like Clostridium botulinum - botulism; or, Clostridium tetanii - tetanus). Yet, Prusiner and by now many other investigators have failed to identify anything but protein in these infectious particles known as prions.
As it turns out, the protein in question (prion) is also present in a normal form in all animals - it is called PrP. As far as I know, the actual function of this protein is not known. The gene that encodes this protein is found on chromosome number 20 in humans (humans have 23 pairs of different chromosomes - for a total of 46 - one of the chromosomes within each numbered pair comes from your mother, and the other from your father). The PrP protein is abnormal (structurally different in sheep with scrapie - is called PrP-sc). It is this altered form of PrP (PrP-sc) which is apparently infectious. If PrP-sc is given to healthy sheep, the normal PrP is either over-produced and somehow altered to PrP-sc; the information from the normal gene (called messenger RNA) is possibly altered in the presence of PrP-sc, or, the injected PrP-sc reproduces. Reproduction may occur in the following way: altered Prp-Sc proteins interact with normal PrP and this interaction causes a change in the folding pattern of the normal protein. This now abnormally folded, and therefore now abnormally shaped protein can then interact with other, normal PrP protein molecules. Consequently, over time there is an exponential increase in the number of dysfunctional PrP proteins within the cell. Thus, one would naturally interpret the appearance of more and more abnormally shaped PrP within a cell as a result of an "infection" - a result of a reproductive event that leads to a continuous increase in the number of abnormal particles inside the cell. Why this alteration of normal PrP protein to an abnormal shape results in brain damage is not yet understood. Too, how the original, altered form (disease form) of PrP enters the bloodstream and eventually enters the cells of the brain is also unknown. In this regard, a possible receptor in the membrane of cells that line the intestine may have been found that could bind and transport PrP-Sc into the cell that bound it - and therefore eventually allow the protein to enter the bloodstream. (http://people.ku.edu/~jbrown/madcow.html)
Do you believe that this one cow is the only victim of the disease
here? Anyone who understands infectious diseases can tell you,
this cow had to get BSE from a viable source, i.e. a carrier.
Canada is not an isolated island, apparently cows come and go
between the U.S. and Canada frequently. Here is my list of important
resources and information on the disease:
Go here to see the progression of this disease, where it comes from, what and who it attacks and the history of the disease.
Also, this is a site that offers information on the disease produced by vegetarians.
Here is a news
source in Canada that has done some good research about Mad
Cow:
Here is an excellent article in The
Atlantic magazine, dated Sept. '98, "Did we allow
our livestock to be infected due to very lax regulations regarding
what was being fed to our cattle and where they were coming from?"
Here is information from our own Center for Disease Control,
( CDC)
about this disease. Read it to find out how the U.S. is handling
the crisis.
What About the Bush Political Response to Mad Cow Disease?
The discovery of a case of Mad Cow disease in the U.S. was a red alert for an industry that spent years playing down the threat. A pre-planned lobby campaign was launched by the industry.
But the political fallout for Mr. Bush in an election year, created gloom over the administration political pros. To quote from an excellent article by Mike Allen, dated Dec 28,2003 from the Washington Post: "Bush has closer ties to ranching than to any other industry besides oil, and Democrats seized on this new avenue for attacking Bush as a captive of business. Howard Dean, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, said that it showed "the complete lack of foresight by the Bush administration once again." Go here to read the whole article.
The New York Times also published an article by Glen Justice, "For Cattle Industry, a Swift Response Years in the Making." Mr. Justice wrote in part: "Cattle and livestock interests have given almost $22 million to political campaigns since the 1990 elections, with three-quarters going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign finance.
"Many say the relationship improved with the election of President Bush, who is the former governor of Texas, the top cattle-producing state, and owns a ranch there. Mr. Bush was the top recipient of campaign money from the industry in his 2000 election and again this year, as well as from allies like the dairy and meat processing industries.
"'I love those cattlemen!' Mr. Bush said when he met the association's president, Eric Davis, at a White House Christmas party, the association's newsletter says. Its Web site has a picture of the president at an industry conference.
"Mr. Keys said the association itself traditionally steers clear of the risk involved in presidential contributions, lest it back the wrong candidate. But he says his organization is firm in its support for Mr. Bush and the Republican Party." For the whole article click here.
Since our President, G.W. Bush was heavily backed by the Texas
Cattle Association, as well as other cattlemen, could it be possible
that he is trying to protect his deep pocketed friends from fully
feeling the effects leveled by BSE? Is that why the president
announced that he "ate lots of beef" before and after
the discovery of the diseased cow?
Start here to see who Bush may be protecting:
Perini Ranch Steak House endorsed
by President Bush. Scroll down the page to see all the Texas
cattle connections.
Texas taxpayers organization shows a $387,000
contribution to Governor Bush's campaign.
And, see the Iowa Farmer's endorsement of the Bush-Cheney ticket.
Here are three excellent articles regarding Mad Cow disease in the NY Times:
First go to: Marian Burros article:
"Eating Well: Warily Searching for Safer Beef"
Next go to: Bush
Embraces Some Regulations as Election Approaches by David
Sanger.
And then: U. S.
Imposes Stricter Safety Rules for Preventing Mad Cow Disease
by Denise Grady.
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