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More for Consumer Confidence

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Anonymous

Guest
This was a Breaking News headline press release off the Science Daily:

Second wave of mad cow disease possible
EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 19 (UPI) -- British scientists recently discovered that the gene responsible for mad cow disease can lie dormant many years, which could create a second wave of disease.

Scientists had thought only 40 percent of the population was at risk for vCJD, the human equivalent of the mad cow infection. They now believe tens of thousands more people could be at risk if they consumed diseased meat in the 1980s and 1990s, the Scotsman reported.

A dormant infection was recently found in someone with the MV genotype that accounts for half the population. Now two other dormant infections have been discovered in the W genotype, meaning virtually everyone can be a carrier.

Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University, says it is possible incubation periods are very, very long. Blood transfusions and surgery could then allow the disease to spread indefinitely.

Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington said it was a case of waiting and seeing what might happen because no one really knows.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Murgen said:
Better run and get this published in a National Newspaper, and the RCALF newsletter OT.

Actually a few minutes ago it was also posted on cattlenetwork.com's Ag news briefs -- they must think it could have an effect on the future, too....But you have to look past the end of your nose to understand that :wink:
 

PORKER

Well-known member
If thats the case, then ;It's yet one more variable that the USDA and packers and producers need to consider when thinking about their collective or respective stance on BSE will bit them back.This will make Creekstone look Good.
 

Murgen

Well-known member
news is great, using it for your own purposes, is where it becomes un-ethical

Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington said it was a case of waiting and seeing what might happen because no one really knows

This sounds like more hypothesis and speculation.

Is that news? I thought news was supposed to be factual!
 

mrj

Well-known member
Being a cancer survivor, and a person who travels many miles in a car (where I believe 50,000 people, +/-, die in accidents each year), I wonder if their is some sort of projection to rate the risk of dying prematurely of various causes which might be useful in analyzing how worried one should be over vCJD.

What are the actual known and scientifically verified links between BSE and vCJD at this date?

MRJ
 

agman

Well-known member
PORKER said:
If thats the case, then ;It's yet one more variable that the USDA and packers and producers need to consider when thinking about their collective or respective stance on BSE will bit them back.This will make Creekstone look Good.

How so, what will their testing reveal?
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Depends on the type of test they choose,one like IHC that is outdated and is poor for indicating bse. The one that is the best for detection of bse and which may be the newest and can test blood,urine or tissue to find a animal with just one piron.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
This article can't help consumer confidence- but it sure makes you wonder what will happen to the cattle industry 10, even 20 years down the line if some of these projected deaths come true...I guess the last sentence of the article pretty well sums it up...But I grew up in a world where if public safety was involved- you erred on the safe side......

I have always thought and with every new daily occurrence believe more that we may have erred on the direction taken concerning BSE...I only wish that instead of dropping many of the US BSE safeguards, we would have strengthened them...We should have bit the bullet from day one and tested all OTM's, allowed independent Packers to test All on their own to keep our foreign markets open, banned all possible exposure avenues including strenghtening the feedban, and guaranteed a BSE free herd for the future- so we would already be a step ahead IF all these human cases start appearing...

The way Canada is now finding POST feedban cattle, and they have not been able to trace feed source for these exposures, which means there is still no guarantee their (or for that matter our) feedban is working, positives could be showing up for years...... If a whole new generation of vCJD deaths start appearing, even in England- it will hit the beef market like a hammer- especially if positive BSE cows are still appearing--But if these deaths start occurring in the US or Canada it will devestate it.....
 
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Anonymous

Guest
reader 2- A question-- Does the US do any testing with tonsils or biopsy's on people to look at the possibility of latent vCJD infection? Has any country besides the UK?

It appears to me that if they really feel this is an indicator, it would/should be something they could be looking at to get some indications if there could be a potential future problem in either the States or Canada....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Thanks reader- and I suspect it will take domestic cases to spur the US into doing the research that is probably needed...Our government and bureaucracy are historically reactive instead of being proactive- and then when spurred into action many times overreact....

And you were right about the article being top news around the world- I even saw it in Turkish and Pakastani publications today......

But the one below from the UK paper has to be about the most inflamingly dangerous for beef demand:

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Key quote "One possibility is that the incubation periods are very, very long and so they may occur at a later date. The worst-case scenario is that these individuals could infect other people through blood donation or surgery and we could get into a situation where vCJD is self-sustaining." - Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit

Story in full
TENS of millions more Britons are at risk of contracting the human form of mad cow disease than originally thought, raising fears over the safety of blood products and surgery.

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=742652006
 

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