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There is now strong evidence that so-called Mad Cow Disease, more accurately called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) is, in fact, in the United States food chain, and, further, that many people have actually already died of the similar disease transmitted by it, new-variant Creuzfeld-Jakob Disease (nvCJD), in which the brain decays into a sponge-like consistency. The symptoms of nvCJD are identical to those of Alzheimer's Disease.

This is what we know about BSE in the U.S.:

1. A variant of TSE does exist in the U.S. Called "downers" by cattlemen, there are cows and calves which simply fall over, don't get up again, and die within a few days. About 100,000 cows per year die of this affliction, which is similar, if not identical, to some of the early reports of TSE in Great Britain. When feed derived from some of these "downer" cows was fed to minks (an animal subject to the disease), a large percentage of the minks succumbed to spongiform encepthalopathy. Experiments confirming that the disease was transmissible between minks and cattle were done by the USDA.

2. Humans can get nvCJD merely by eating meat from an infected animal. Cooking cannot make the meat safe. Furthermore, infected meat can potentially contaminate the surfaces of meat processing, cutting, or slicing equipment, possibly spreading the disease carrier to non-infected meat.

2. Some percentage of the people currently diagnosed as dying from Alzheimer's Disease actually have nvCJD, according to several autopsy studies.  The numbers in these limited studies indicate already epidemic proportions in people exposed 10-30 years ago, between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of cases. (It takes that amount of time for the disease to progress.) Many more people may already have been exposed.

3. The disease can be spread through the re-use of infected carcasses. Cattle and pig carcasses - including those from "downers" - are processed in "rendering plants" into high-protein feed additives. Until 1997, these additives were used in cattle feed, and it is believed (from the experience in Great Britain) that this is the route of transmission of the disease.

4. In 1997 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stopped use of cattle carcass remains for feeding cattle, but allowed these remains to be used for feed only for other animals, such as pigs, chickens, and domestic pets, and continued to allow non-cattle carcass remains to be fed to cattle. However, it is known that other animals can get Spongiform Encephalopathy. Pigs in particular are known to be subject to the disease. Since it is transmissible between species - that, for instance, pigs could get it from eating cattle remains and vice versa - there is no reason to believe that the current restriction is protective of public health. Dr. Michael Hansen of Consumers Union has openly challenged the FDA on this issue.

5. The disease carrier, believed to be something called a prion, cannot be destroyed by cooking, and is extremely persistent to heating and other processes used in rendering carcasses into animal feed.

The implications of this problem are enormous. There is no way to know what meat is infected and what meat is safe. Potentially millions of people are affected.

A detailed explanation of the above can be found in Rachel's Health and Environment News #607.

In light of this evidence, as editor and publisher of the Health Alert Website, I am going to make some recommendations. The government and the meat industry, in my opinion, is playing Russian roulette with our health.

What You Can Do

1. Avoid eating meat, especially beef and pork. Seek alternative, high-protein vegetarian alternatives. Children especially should be protected from this threat, since nvCJD would manifest during the prime of their lives - 10-30 years after exposure. Young adults, some in their 20s, are dying of this disease in Great Britain. (There are other good reasons to avoid meat; see other pages on diet and health at this website).

2. Promote the shutdown of the animal rendering industry. Since we cannot measure the safety of rendered carcasses, there are no safe uses. Furthermore, because of the persistence of the likely disease carriers, there are persuasive reasons to pass national legislation that would guarantee cremation of all animal carcasses.

3. Call your legislators, both in your state and at the federal level, and ask them to promote a ban on use of rendered animal feed products and promote legislation that would guarantee the safe destruction of animal carcasses. Call the FDA Commissioner and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, and ask them to ban the use of rendered animal products for animal feed. Tell them to mandate testing of every farm animal in the U.S.

4. Tell your friends and neighbors about the problem. Print this web page and show people who do not have access to the Internet. Send electronic mail to friends with the URL of this page: http://www.healthy-again.net/madcow.htm.

5. Find out more information about TSE diseases. The Sperling Medical Foundation's "Mad Cow" website has the most information of any place on the Internet: http://www.cyber-dyne.com/~tom/mad_cow_disease.html.