October 11, 2007
Gummer family friend dies of human form of 'mad cow' disease
in 1990 John Gummer encouraged his four-year-old daughter, Cordelia, to eat a burger to show that beef was safe
Times Online and agencies
A family friend of John Gummer, the former Agriculture Minister who in 1990 tried to show that beef was safe by encouraging his 4-year-old child to eat a hamburger in front of the cameras, has died from the human form of "mad cow" disease.
Elizabeth Smith, 23, a student from St Margaret South Elmham, Suffolk, died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) on October 4, three years after becoming ill.
Her father, Roger Smith, a retired vicar, said today that his own daughter had rarely eaten burgers as a child and had enjoyed a normal, healthy diet.
"I think her [Elizabeth's] average consumption of burgers was probably about 1 per cent of the national average," Mr Smith said.
"If you live in the depths of the countryside, like Elizabeth did, there aren't burger bars everywhere so she hardly ate any.
"It may be nothing to do with beef burgers. If people knew precisely where the disease came from they would be able to stop it."
Mr Smith said Mr Gummer, who encouraged his daughter Cordelia to eat a burger in front of TV cameras in 1990 in order to demonstrate that humans were at no danger from mad cow disease, was a personal friend.
"John, not for the only time in his life, was unfairly treated by the press," Mr Smith said.
"It was a load of old cobblers. It didn't change the way I viewed meat. It changed the way I viewed the press."
Mr Smith said his daughter was first diagnosed with vCJD in 2005.
He said Miss Smith, who was reading geography at Birmingham University, needed round-the-clock care as the disease took hold.
"She first became ill in August 2004 but it wasn't diagnosed for another seven months. She was able to stay at university until March 2005," he said.
"It took so long to get diagnosed because the symptoms are so vague - it could have been various other things in the early stages. There is no blood test and no 100 per cent certain test until after death.
"Initially the symptoms can be confused with depression. Elizabeth wasn't depressed but she had numbness in her face and we thought it was MS (multiple sclerosis).
"Then she started having short-term memory loss but because her brain was young she was able to compensate, which is why she was able to carry on at university.
"However, by the time she came home she found that she had trouble swallowing and then couldn't swallow at all so for the last two-and-a-half years she was fitted with a gastro-tube.
"After that the disease was remorseless in the way that it killed her off.
"By August 2005 she was a very, very sick person. She was unable to walk for the last two years of her life and couldn't speak or smile.
"She had to be cared for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She was more helpless for those last two years than when she was born - at least then she could move her arms and cry but by the end she couldn't even do that."
Mr Smith said his daughter began a degree course in 2002 after gaining A-Levels in biology, English, geography and chemistry at Leiston High School in Leiston, Suffolk.
His wife Molly said: "Elizabeth was clever, bright and intelligent. If she had been able to do her final exams she would have got a very good degree.
"She wanted to do primary school teaching and had a place on a post-graduate training course at Birmingham - she actually passed that interview when she was three or four months into the disease.
"She had a very active life and loved being outdoors. She was good at sports and enjoyed running, while she also liked to visit Minsmere bird reserve."
Mr Smith, vicar of Mendham and Metfield in Suffolk from 1978 until 1991, said: "We don't want to scare people because it is an extremely rare disease. Not everyone is going to die from it.
"In fact I would tell people to worry more about their driving than getting CJD."
He said his daughter's funeral would take place at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Metfield, tomorrow.
Mr and Mrs Smith also have a son, Andrew, 39.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2639215.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2639215.ece?token=null&offset=12
gummer and all these other political bozo's should be put in prison for what i call 'industrial and political poisoning',
with bush right along side of him for his BSE MRR policy, the legal trading of all strains of TSE globally. like i said before ;
BOTTOM LINE ;
(Adopted by the International Committee of the OIE on 23 May 2006)
11. Information published by the OIE is derived from appropriate
declarations made by the official Veterinary Services of Member Countries.
The OIE is not responsible for inaccurate publication of country disease
status based on inaccurate information or changes in epidemiological status
or other
significant events that were not promptly reported to then Central
Bureau............
http://www.oie.int/eng/Session2007/RF2006.pdf
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:44 PM
Subject: BSE; MRR; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived from Bovines Commodities
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 9:12 PM
Subject: BSE; MRR; IMPORTATION OF LIVE BOVINES AND PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM BOVINES [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0041] RIN 0579-AC01 COMMENT SUBMISSION
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:27 PM
Subject: BSE; MRR; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived from Bovines Commodities
http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=19960
Docket Title Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Minimal-Risk Regions; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived from Bovines Commodities
Docket Type RULE
Document ID APHIS-2006-0041-0397
COMMENT FROM TERRY S. SINGELTARY SR. 1/09/2007
snip...
MY personal belief, since you ask, is that not only the Canadian border, but the
USA border, and the Mexican border should be sealed up tighter than a drum for
exporting there TSE tainted products, until a validated, 100% sensitive test is
available, and all animals for human and animal consumption are tested. all we are
doing is the exact same thing the UK did with there mad cow poisoning when they
exported it all over the globe, all the while knowing what they were doing. this BSE
MRR policy is nothing more than a legal tool to do just exactly what the UK did,
thanks to the OIE and GW, it's legal now. and they executed Saddam for
poisoning ???
go figure....
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
see full text ;
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064801f3412&disposition=attachment&contentType=crtext
ATTACHMENT TO SINGELTARY COMMENT 1/09/2007
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064801f3413&disposition=attachment&contentType=msw8
England worried briefly about infecting other countries
27 Aug 00 confidential correspondence obtained by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/aug00_last_news.html#fff
Sun, 3 Sep 2000. Unpublished Inquiry documents obtained by CJD activist Terry S. Singeltary Sr. of Bacliff, Texas
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/sep00_news.html#hhh
Other US BSE risks: the imported products picture
24 Jul 00 Trade Statistics: UK to US
Compiled by Terry S.Singeltary Sr of Bacliff, Texas
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/jul00_dont_eat_sheep.html#hhh
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/may00_news.html
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/may00_news.html#aaa
http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0612&L=sanet-mg&P=21108
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
still disgusted in Sunny Bacliff, Texas
Gummer family friend dies of human form of 'mad cow' disease
in 1990 John Gummer encouraged his four-year-old daughter, Cordelia, to eat a burger to show that beef was safe
Times Online and agencies
A family friend of John Gummer, the former Agriculture Minister who in 1990 tried to show that beef was safe by encouraging his 4-year-old child to eat a hamburger in front of the cameras, has died from the human form of "mad cow" disease.
Elizabeth Smith, 23, a student from St Margaret South Elmham, Suffolk, died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) on October 4, three years after becoming ill.
Her father, Roger Smith, a retired vicar, said today that his own daughter had rarely eaten burgers as a child and had enjoyed a normal, healthy diet.
"I think her [Elizabeth's] average consumption of burgers was probably about 1 per cent of the national average," Mr Smith said.
"If you live in the depths of the countryside, like Elizabeth did, there aren't burger bars everywhere so she hardly ate any.
"It may be nothing to do with beef burgers. If people knew precisely where the disease came from they would be able to stop it."
Mr Smith said Mr Gummer, who encouraged his daughter Cordelia to eat a burger in front of TV cameras in 1990 in order to demonstrate that humans were at no danger from mad cow disease, was a personal friend.
"John, not for the only time in his life, was unfairly treated by the press," Mr Smith said.
"It was a load of old cobblers. It didn't change the way I viewed meat. It changed the way I viewed the press."
Mr Smith said his daughter was first diagnosed with vCJD in 2005.
He said Miss Smith, who was reading geography at Birmingham University, needed round-the-clock care as the disease took hold.
"She first became ill in August 2004 but it wasn't diagnosed for another seven months. She was able to stay at university until March 2005," he said.
"It took so long to get diagnosed because the symptoms are so vague - it could have been various other things in the early stages. There is no blood test and no 100 per cent certain test until after death.
"Initially the symptoms can be confused with depression. Elizabeth wasn't depressed but she had numbness in her face and we thought it was MS (multiple sclerosis).
"Then she started having short-term memory loss but because her brain was young she was able to compensate, which is why she was able to carry on at university.
"However, by the time she came home she found that she had trouble swallowing and then couldn't swallow at all so for the last two-and-a-half years she was fitted with a gastro-tube.
"After that the disease was remorseless in the way that it killed her off.
"By August 2005 she was a very, very sick person. She was unable to walk for the last two years of her life and couldn't speak or smile.
"She had to be cared for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She was more helpless for those last two years than when she was born - at least then she could move her arms and cry but by the end she couldn't even do that."
Mr Smith said his daughter began a degree course in 2002 after gaining A-Levels in biology, English, geography and chemistry at Leiston High School in Leiston, Suffolk.
His wife Molly said: "Elizabeth was clever, bright and intelligent. If she had been able to do her final exams she would have got a very good degree.
"She wanted to do primary school teaching and had a place on a post-graduate training course at Birmingham - she actually passed that interview when she was three or four months into the disease.
"She had a very active life and loved being outdoors. She was good at sports and enjoyed running, while she also liked to visit Minsmere bird reserve."
Mr Smith, vicar of Mendham and Metfield in Suffolk from 1978 until 1991, said: "We don't want to scare people because it is an extremely rare disease. Not everyone is going to die from it.
"In fact I would tell people to worry more about their driving than getting CJD."
He said his daughter's funeral would take place at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Metfield, tomorrow.
Mr and Mrs Smith also have a son, Andrew, 39.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2639215.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2639215.ece?token=null&offset=12
gummer and all these other political bozo's should be put in prison for what i call 'industrial and political poisoning',
with bush right along side of him for his BSE MRR policy, the legal trading of all strains of TSE globally. like i said before ;
BOTTOM LINE ;
(Adopted by the International Committee of the OIE on 23 May 2006)
11. Information published by the OIE is derived from appropriate
declarations made by the official Veterinary Services of Member Countries.
The OIE is not responsible for inaccurate publication of country disease
status based on inaccurate information or changes in epidemiological status
or other
significant events that were not promptly reported to then Central
Bureau............
http://www.oie.int/eng/Session2007/RF2006.pdf
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:44 PM
Subject: BSE; MRR; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived from Bovines Commodities
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 9:12 PM
Subject: BSE; MRR; IMPORTATION OF LIVE BOVINES AND PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM BOVINES [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0041] RIN 0579-AC01 COMMENT SUBMISSION
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:27 PM
Subject: BSE; MRR; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived from Bovines Commodities
http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=19960
Docket Title Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Minimal-Risk Regions; Importation of Live Bovines and Products Derived from Bovines Commodities
Docket Type RULE
Document ID APHIS-2006-0041-0397
COMMENT FROM TERRY S. SINGELTARY SR. 1/09/2007
snip...
MY personal belief, since you ask, is that not only the Canadian border, but the
USA border, and the Mexican border should be sealed up tighter than a drum for
exporting there TSE tainted products, until a validated, 100% sensitive test is
available, and all animals for human and animal consumption are tested. all we are
doing is the exact same thing the UK did with there mad cow poisoning when they
exported it all over the globe, all the while knowing what they were doing. this BSE
MRR policy is nothing more than a legal tool to do just exactly what the UK did,
thanks to the OIE and GW, it's legal now. and they executed Saddam for
poisoning ???
go figure....
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
see full text ;
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064801f3412&disposition=attachment&contentType=crtext
ATTACHMENT TO SINGELTARY COMMENT 1/09/2007
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064801f3413&disposition=attachment&contentType=msw8
England worried briefly about infecting other countries
27 Aug 00 confidential correspondence obtained by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/aug00_last_news.html#fff
Sun, 3 Sep 2000. Unpublished Inquiry documents obtained by CJD activist Terry S. Singeltary Sr. of Bacliff, Texas
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/sep00_news.html#hhh
Other US BSE risks: the imported products picture
24 Jul 00 Trade Statistics: UK to US
Compiled by Terry S.Singeltary Sr of Bacliff, Texas
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/jul00_dont_eat_sheep.html#hhh
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/may00_news.html
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/may00_news.html#aaa
http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0612&L=sanet-mg&P=21108
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
still disgusted in Sunny Bacliff, Texas