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BSE Tester"s Test

cedardell

Well-known member
If BSE tester's test works it would seem to me that it should be expedited into use. The quicker we can quarentee all beef is free of harmful BSE, the quicker we get our export markets back and can start competeing on a level playing field. If both US and Canadians that use this website would quit bickering and put some pressure on you favorite politicians to require every animal be tested at the packing plant, we could all put this issue to rest and make a profit. The onlhy thing to bitch about then would be the conglomerated packing industry. This we would fight together and US cattlemen and Canadian cattlemen could unite on this issue and be friends. I would like to see Nothern rancher's winter feeding program without fear of getting shot.
 

Bill

Well-known member
cedardell said:
If BSE tester's test works it would seem to me that it should be expedited into use. The quicker we can quarentee all beef is free of harmful BSE, the quicker we get our export markets back and can start competeing on a level playing field. If both US and Canadians that use this website would quit bickering and put some pressure on you favorite politicians to require every animal be tested at the packing plant, we could all put this issue to rest and make a profit. The onlhy thing to bitch about then would be the conglomerated packing industry. This we would fight together and US cattlemen and Canadian cattlemen could unite on this issue and be friends. I would like to see Nothern rancher's winter feeding program without fear of getting shot.

There is nothing that would make it easier to elimate BSE than to have a live test for it. Canadian producers know that better than anyone.

The problem is that no one has approved its use and to my knowledge not a single country in the world who is testing at slaughter for BSE is using a live test.

Why is that? Now before some R-Klanner starts jumping down about crooked USDA and Canadains ask yoursef why the Europeans and Japanese aren't using these tests as there are a few different companies who calin to have a live test.
 

bse-tester

Well-known member
Bill, nobody is currently using a "Live Test" simply because there is not a single test out there that has been formally validated and approved. That process takes approximately two years or so to conduct the validation and then, and only then will it go before the appropriate authority to be reviewed for general acceptance. Our test is currently entering the validation stage and within thenext two years or so, we shall be ready to present it to the OIE and EFSA for consideration - but not before.

Claims are simply that - claims and nothing more!!! Our test has at least been peer reviewed and has also been reviewed by the EFSA and the VLA labs in the UK and it is currently in the hands of the OIE where they are waiting for the validation data to proceed to the next level.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Keep at it Ron. I still don't think it should take this long. Seems like you have had to go through a lot just to get the door open.
 

Mike

Well-known member
bse-tester said:
Bill, nobody is currently using a "Live Test" simply because there is not a single test out there that has been formally validated and approved. That process takes approximately two years or so to conduct the validation and then, and only then will it go before the appropriate authority to be reviewed for general acceptance. Our test is currently entering the validation stage and within thenext two years or so, we shall be ready to present it to the OIE and EFSA for consideration - but not before.

Claims are simply that - claims and nothing more!!! Our test has at least been peer reviewed and has also been reviewed by the EFSA and the VLA labs in the UK and it is currently in the hands of the OIE where they are waiting for the validation data to proceed to the next level.

Ron, Here's the other one put for validation recently by the IRMM:
We might be getting close!!!!!!!!!!

"04/01/2007

IRMM has evaluated a live animal BSE test. This is the first time such an evaluation has been made.

The test was selected to enter IRMM's evaluation programme in the frame of a call for the expression of interest published by Health and Consumer Protection DG in 2003. The test of the company DiaSpec (Freiburg, DE) is based on a sophisticated method using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and applies chemometric methods for data analysis. Blood serum of the animal is analysed and the spectrum obtained is compared to specific reference features of serum of BSE infected or BSE free animals.

IRMM's report concludes that the test demonstrated a good, but not sufficient performance to be recommended for approval by the European Commission. This statement was agreed on by the European Food Safety Authority's working group on TSE testing in their final report.

BSE testing is compulsory in the EU for all cattle older than 30 months and for cattle of certain risk groups.

Evaluation report ( 1087KB )
More about activities at IRMM
The report of the Scientific Expert Working Group at EFSA site."
 

Kathy

Well-known member
bse-tester,

sadly, I have to say I do not trust the VLA of the UK. Danny Matthews et al. are the same people keeping a lid on the environmental connection to BSE. Just to be safe, they made Matthews the head of an envirnomental committee doing soil analysis for heavy metals, radionuclides and trace metals. Keeping a lid on this is his job.

Have you seen these old studies from 1982. They found "lysosomal bodies" which they called "uranisomes" containing "electron-dense crystals"

Uraniosomes produced in the synovial membrane by uranyl acetate.
Pathology. 1982 Apr;14(2):121-7.

Ghadially FN, Lalonde JM, Yong NK
PMID: 7201629

Uranyl acetate was injected into the rabbit knee joint. This produced single-membrane-bound presumably lysosmal bodies (called 'uraniosomes') containing electron-dense crystals in Type A and Type B synovial intimal cells, subsynovial macrophages and lipocytes. Uranium deposits were also seen in the extracellular matrix. All uraniosomes and extracellular deposits analysed by electron-probe X-ray analysis were found to contain uranium, potassium and phosphorus. Traces of calcium and sulphur were also found in some of the uraniosomes and extracellular uranium deposits.


The effect of uranyl acetate on human lymphoblastoid cells (RPMI 6410) and HeLa cells.
Br J Exp Pathol. 1982 Jun;63(3):227-34.

Ghadially FN, Yang-Steppuhn SE, Lalonde JM.
PMID: 7093141

RPMI 6410 cells and HeLa cells were exposed to uranyl acetate. In RPMI 6410 cell cultures this produced single-membrane-bound presumably lysosomal bodies (called "uraniosomes") containing electron-dense crystals in the cultured cells and crystalline deposits in extracellular locations. Neither uraniosomes nor extracellular uranium deposits were found in HeLa cell cultures. All uraniosomes and extracellular uranium deposits analysed by electron-probed X-ray analysis were found to contain uranium, potassium and phosphorus. Traces of sulphur were detected in some but not all uraniosomes and extracellular uranium deposits. Traces of calcium were found in all extracellular uranium deposits and in some uraniosomes also.


Uraniosomes produced in cultured rabbit kidney cells by uranyl acetate.
Virchows Arch B Cell Pathol Incl Mol Pathol. 1982;39(1):21-30.

Ghadially FN, Lalonde JM, Yang-Steppuhn S.
PMID: 6123178

Cultured rabbit kidney cells were exposed to uranyl acetate. This produced single-membrane-bound presumably lysosomal bodies (called 'uraniosomes') containing electron-dense crystals in the cultured cells. Similar crystalline deposits were seen in extracellular locations also. All uraniosomes and extracellular uranium deposits analyzed by electron-probe x-ray analysis were found to contain uranium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus. Traces of sulphur were detected in some but not all uraniosomes and extracellular uranium deposits.


Distribution and form of uranium-containing deposits in chickens treated with uranyl nitrate.
Vet Pathol. 1986 Nov;23(6):706-11.
PMID: 3811136 Mollenhauer HH, Harvey RB, Kubena LF, Droleskey RE, Davis R.

The kidneys of chicks treated with uranyl nitrate were examined by electron microscopy. Most deposits of electron-dense material containing uranium were found in the lumina of distal tubules and collecting ducts of kidneys collected 12-24 hours post-treatment. Some deposits were present in extracellular spaces between adjacent cells. Only occasionally were deposits found intracellularly where they were associated with localized cellular degeneration. A generalized cellular degeneration over the whole kidney was seen 72-96 hours post-treatment, but this was not directly associated with the deposits of electron-dense material.
 

bse-tester

Well-known member
Thanks Mike. I am very aware of the EFSA and their requirements. In fact, it was the EFSA board members that are actually scientists working for the VLA in Newcastle and at Weybridge in the UK that introduced our test to the EFSA only two weeks after the call for submissions was closed back in 2003. We missed it by two weeks!!!

Dr. Koen Van Dyke, the then Chair of the EFSA after reviewing the data and our protocol, sent us the complete validation process that they use to conduct their validations and advised us to do it here in North America apologising that we had missed the deadline by only a matter of a few weeks. So we shall be using that along with the standard lab protocols to conduct our full validation at the USA National Prion Surveillance Centre in Cleveland. We will then present our data to the EFSA and the OIE simultaneously.
 

bse-tester

Well-known member
Kathy, to add to your file on how foolish the containment of some radioactive materials has failed over the past 50 years or so. I know for an absolute fact that the uranium mines on Lake Athabasca having been flooded out at some levels in the past few years, were, in turn, pumped out to salvage soe of the expensive tools and heavy underground mining equipment that we presumed lost due to the flooding. Some of that equipment found its way to Acklands Grainger here in Edmonton for "Estimate for Repair." At no time was there any warning as to the potential for radioactive contamination posted on the equipment or to those who handled it. In fact, only a handful of folks were aware of it and they refused to work on any of it. Others however, were subjected to complete and utter exposue to the pieces. Some of the pieces were sent to other facilities for repair also.

My main concern over and above this obvious concern was where did the pumps dump the water that came out of those flooded mine shafts and tunnels. There was surely millions of gallons of contaminated water and nobody is saying where it was dumped. If it went into the lake, then it is already in places we do not want to even consider. If it was dumped on the land, then there are other factors to consider.

Just thought I would pass that along.
 

Kathy

Well-known member
Thanks for your comments on the disgusting actions of individuals who feel making a few bucks is more important than human life.

Are you going to attend the prion meetings in Calgary next week?



Check the links below found at the CCNR site. Dr. Gordon Edwards, wrote: "Uranium - Known Facts and Hidden Dangers", it is excellent.

http://www.ccnr.org/alpha_in_lung.html picture of the effects of uranium in lung tissue (lines are path of alpha particles shooting out from uranium atoms, the energy produced is 4.1-4.2 million electron volts/each time.

http://www.ccnr.org/tailings_wall.html Wall of uranium mine tailings at Elliot Lake,ON
(I believe, but have not confirmed), that this wall of tailings which held back thousands of tons of more tailings, was flooded - as per the note with this picture that in 1992 the company was requesting the right to flood the tailings). Out of sight, out of mind!

more pics at this ccnr.org site
 

bse-tester

Well-known member
Kathy,

I have just returned from Europe and will not be able to attend any meetings in Calgary next week. Frankly, I have been somewhat out of the loop for a while and was not up to speed on those meetings. Do you have info on the Calgary meetings?

Thanks. Ron.
 

Kathy

Well-known member
http://www.prionmeeting.ca/detail.aspx?menu=4&app=120&cat1=394&tp=2&lk=no&title=Program+-+Detailed

PrP Canada 2007 - Canada's prion research conference - Protein Structure Dynamics

Feb 18-21, 2007 Calgary, AB

Sheraton Suites Calgary, Eau Claire
255 Barclay Parade SW
(I believe this is right downtown).

What is PrPCanada?
The Alberta Prion Research Institute and PrioNet Canada are partnering to bring to you PrPCanada 2007 – Canada’s prion research conference. This collaborative event themed “Exploring new terrain” will demonstrate how Canadians are contributing to global prion research efforts by highlighting research taking place through PrioNet Canada and the Alberta Prion Research Institute (with presentations from over 30 different research projects). The conference also includes plenary talks, workshops, guest speakers, and a poster session.

Guest speakers include:

Opening plenary: Dr. Adriano Aguzzi, University of Zurich, presenting on the status of prion research around the world
Mr. Ray Bradley, BSE expert from the UK, will speak on the rise and fall of BSE in Europe
Welcome plenary: Ms. Florence Kranitz, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation (US), speaking on the human side of prion diseases
Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti from the National CJD Surveillance Centre (US) speaking on human prion diseases
Mr. Jay Ingram, Discovery Channel Canada, presenting a workshop on effective science communications
Dr. Jiri Safar, University of California, presenting a workshop on conformation-dependent immunoassay and protease-sensitive PrPSc
Dr. Michael Samuel, Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, speaking on lessons learned from CWD in Wisconsin
Dr. Robert Will, Western GeneralHospital (Edinburgh), presenting on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Session theme moderators include:
Dr. Neil Cashman, University of British Columbia/PrioNetCanada
Dr. Howard Feldman, University of British Columbia
Dr. Ted Leighton, Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre (U of S)
Dr. Stephen Moore, University of Alberta/Alberta Prion Research Institute
Dr. Maura Ricketts, Public Health Agency of Canada
Dr. David Westaway, University of Alberta

Rates & Deadlines:
CAN$425
CAN$175 - students
Half day rates are also available.
PrioNet Canada and Alberta Prion Research Institute member registration (as allocated – see conference web site) is complimentary.

Poster abstract deadline is January 15, 2007.
Registration deadline is January 25, 2007.

PrPCanada 2007 is proudly offered in partnership by the Alberta Prion Research Institute and PrioNet Canada.
 
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