NCBA's Gary Weber

[Mike]

Think maybe Dr. Weber would like to retract some of his statements now?
___________________________________________________________
April 3, 2001

I rarely take time to comment on articles I see...but I must make an exception to one you recently published. I found your article quite off track and full of gross errors and obvious biased..

You extensive use of information and opinion provided by Moser is one example.

"Dr. Markus Moser, a molecular biologist and guest researcher at Oxford University in England, heads the Swiss company Prionics, which developed a rapid-response test for BSE, called the Prionics Check Test. The Check Test costs about $40 per cow, and Moser says it has found cases of mad cow in tests of "healthy" cattle which otherwise would have entered the food chain."

Come on ..of course a guy who is set to make millions off selling "his" test...is going to bash what we do...here are the facts..

The IHC test being used by APHIS was the first such test fully tested and verified in the world. It is as sensitive as the prionics test...it just takes more time. In fact..it provides less false positives...an error that requires many more confirmatory steps..time and expense. Pit our IHC test against the prionics..side by side and the only difference will be lots of false positives..extra tests with Prionics...no difference in true ability to detect the prion protein. It seems you were victimized by a sales pitch.

Long before Moser even knew what BSE was...the U.S. had already started surveillance..already banned the importation of cattle and products that could carry the BSE agent.

You need to be more suspicious of the views of so called "European Experts." If they were so "smart" why did they continue to import live cattle and contaminated feed from the UK after we banned it in 1989..ask Moser that!

Why did Europe continue to sell BSE contaminated feed to 3rd world countries long after we banned the importation of cattle and all feeds that could carry BSE from ALL of Europe into the US in 1997?

Why was PCB/dioxin contaminated feed fed to pigs and chickens in Europe and why did the government cover it up??

Why did FMD [foot and mouth disease] spread across the UK and then Europe?

If you want to do a story that is objective...ask these questions.

What you will find is Europeans have lost sight of how to regulate agriculture... their arrogance and failure to invest in and apply science in agriculture is outrageous. It is even more outrageous that anyone from Europe would have the guts to criticize what we have done here. Dr. Moser and European officials should be embarrassed at their behavior and their consumer constituents outraged.

In the US we have never cut corners on BSE prevention..we have aggressively pursued prevention...LONG before Europe ever did.

Gary Weber
National Cattlemen's Beef Association
1301 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20004-1701
202-347-0228
http://hill.beef.org

 

[agman]

Think maybe Dr. Weber would like to retract some of his statements now?
___________________________________________________________
April 3, 2001

I rarely take time to comment on articles I see...but I must make an exception to one you recently published. I found your article quite off track and full of gross errors and obvious biased..

You extensive use of information and opinion provided by Moser is one example.

"Dr. Markus Moser, a molecular biologist and guest researcher at Oxford University in England, heads the Swiss company Prionics, which developed a rapid-response test for BSE, called the Prionics Check Test. The Check Test costs about $40 per cow, and Moser says it has found cases of mad cow in tests of "healthy" cattle which otherwise would have entered the food chain."

Come on ..of course a guy who is set to make millions off selling "his" test...is going to bash what we do...here are the facts..

The IHC test being used by APHIS was the first such test fully tested and verified in the world. It is as sensitive as the prionics test...it just takes more time. In fact..it provides less false positives...an error that requires many more confirmatory steps..time and expense. Pit our IHC test against the prionics..side by side and the only difference will be lots of false positives..extra tests with Prionics...no difference in true ability to detect the prion protein. It seems you were victimized by a sales pitch.

Long before Moser even knew what BSE was...the U.S. had already started surveillance..already banned the importation of cattle and products that could carry the BSE agent.

You need to be more suspicious of the views of so called "European Experts." If they were so "smart" why did they continue to import live cattle and contaminated feed from the UK after we banned it in 1989..ask Moser that!

Why did Europe continue to sell BSE contaminated feed to 3rd world countries long after we banned the importation of cattle and all feeds that could carry BSE from ALL of Europe into the US in 1997?

Why was PCB/dioxin contaminated feed fed to pigs and chickens in Europe and why did the government cover it up??

Why did FMD [foot and mouth disease] spread across the UK and then Europe?

If you want to do a story that is objective...ask these questions.

What you will find is Europeans have lost sight of how to regulate agriculture... their arrogance and failure to invest in and apply science in agriculture is outrageous. It is even more outrageous that anyone from Europe would have the guts to criticize what we have done here. Dr. Moser and European officials should be embarrassed at their behavior and their consumer constituents outraged.

In the US we have never cut corners on BSE prevention..we have aggressively pursued prevention...LONG before Europe ever did.

Gary Weber
National Cattlemen's Beef Association
1301 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20004-1701
202-347-0228
http://hill.beef.org

Why should Dr Weber retract any statement. You are a smart man, read his comment carefully. BTW, the key words are "more false positives". That conclusion could not be derived at unless side-by-side testing was conducted. I trust that testing occurred. There is no proof the Rapid Test would have yielded a different result than the IHC test. If both yielded a negative result there is no further evidence that the Western Blot test would not have produced a different result than either as was the case with the IHC test previously administered on said cow.

 

[Mike]

Think maybe Dr. Weber would like to retract some of his statements now?
___________________________________________________________
April 3, 2001

I rarely take time to comment on articles I see...but I must make an exception to one you recently published. I found your article quite off track and full of gross errors and obvious biased..

You extensive use of information and opinion provided by Moser is one example.

"Dr. Markus Moser, a molecular biologist and guest researcher at Oxford University in England, heads the Swiss company Prionics, which developed a rapid-response test for BSE, called the Prionics Check Test. The Check Test costs about $40 per cow, and Moser says it has found cases of mad cow in tests of "healthy" cattle which otherwise would have entered the food chain."

Come on ..of course a guy who is set to make millions off selling "his" test...is going to bash what we do...here are the facts..

The IHC test being used by APHIS was the first such test fully tested and verified in the world. It is as sensitive as the prionics test...it just takes more time. In fact..it provides less false positives...an error that requires many more confirmatory steps..time and expense. Pit our IHC test against the prionics..side by side and the only difference will be lots of false positives..extra tests with Prionics...no difference in true ability to detect the prion protein. It seems you were victimized by a sales pitch.

Long before Moser even knew what BSE was...the U.S. had already started surveillance..already banned the importation of cattle and products that could carry the BSE agent.

You need to be more suspicious of the views of so called "European Experts." If they were so "smart" why did they continue to import live cattle and contaminated feed from the UK after we banned it in 1989..ask Moser that!

Why did Europe continue to sell BSE contaminated feed to 3rd world countries long after we banned the importation of cattle and all feeds that could carry BSE from ALL of Europe into the US in 1997?

Why was PCB/dioxin contaminated feed fed to pigs and chickens in Europe and why did the government cover it up??

Why did FMD [foot and mouth disease] spread across the UK and then Europe?

If you want to do a story that is objective...ask these questions.

What you will find is Europeans have lost sight of how to regulate agriculture... their arrogance and failure to invest in and apply science in agriculture is outrageous. It is even more outrageous that anyone from Europe would have the guts to criticize what we have done here. Dr. Moser and European officials should be embarrassed at their behavior and their consumer constituents outraged.

In the US we have never cut corners on BSE prevention..we have aggressively pursued prevention...LONG before Europe ever did.

Gary Weber
National Cattlemen's Beef Association
1301 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20004-1701
202-347-0228
http://hill.beef.org

Why should Dr Weber retract any statement. You are a smart man, read his comment carefully. BTW, the key words are "more false positives". That conclusion could not be derived at unless side-by-side testing was conducted. I trust that testing occurred. There is no proof the Rapid Test would have yielded a different result than the IHC test. If both yielded a negative result there is no further evidence that the Western Blot test would not have produced a different result than either as was the case with the IHC test previously administered on said cow.

The Prionics Check Western test has never had a false positive - in side by side testing. Out of 18 million worldwide. Of course this was not known at the time of Dr. Webers statement because it had been approved only a short time. Maybe he should have said; the IHC has more "False Negatives". :???:

As for his statement;
"no difference in true ability to detect the prion protein. It seems you were victimized by a sales pitch."
We both know that to be wrong, now, don't we? That's why the USDA changed the confirmatory tests to both.

 

[mrj]

Mike,

What is your point? Dr. Weber and NCBA actually WERE in the forefront of bringing into play preventive mechanisms and planning for possible BSE in the USA when few were concerned about the possibility. Shouldn't that fact be just cause for credit, rather than your attempts to denigrate him and the organization?

MRJ

 

[Mike]

Mike,

What is your point? Dr. Weber and NCBA actually WERE in the forefront of bringing into play preventive mechanisms and planning for possible BSE in the USA when few were concerned about the possibility. Shouldn't that fact be just cause for credit, rather than your attempts to denigrate him and the organization?
MRJ

The point is simply that he was against using the Prionics WB Test that others were touting as more accurate and could find lower levels of prions in sub-clinical cases and others. NOW we see that it is true and that Dr. Weber was wrong.
And if he was in the "forefront" of preventative mechanisms.............
maybe that's why we've been caught with our pants down and are the laughing stock of the world of BSE. Terrible advice.
And MAYBE he's part of the problem? He had a closed mind to the newer tests..............................and stuck to his "Sound Science". Whatever that is?