How old was the host cow, that recently confirmed US case of BSE, when it contracted the disease? Answer me that SH. I suspect it was quite young when it acquired it. Look, the bottom line in this argument is simply that the length of time that this disease takes for the animal to display symptomaic behaviour can be years, and decades inhumans. It stands to reason and has been shown in Finland, in Japan and in France that younger than 24 months of age are infected with the disease but have not shown any outward signs of having it, so the problem that we face in North America is simple - if it ain't a downer or stumbling around acting sick, it ain't tested! You know it and I know it! So, does that convince you that all cows that stroll inton the kill floor are 100% healthy? No damn way are they 100% healthy. In the USA alone, there is close to 300,000 downers per year that are pulled from the human food chain. But millions make it throught the net and enter our food chain and if you are so naive to think that those millions, the majority having no symptoms or signs of illness, are all clean and healthy, then your argument is a sinking ship. England sold over 350,000 tons of offal to France - before the food ban. Canada was shipping offal to Taiwan by the cargo ship load before, during and after the feed ban. We banned the feed and then allowed chickens and pigs to eat it and then we fed the remnants of the chickens and pigs to the cattle. One doesn't need to be too damn smart to figure out that problem. As for the argument that you seem to like about not getting BSE from eating beef. How many cases reports last year alone in Europe where top scientists, like the one in Italy, the case of a woman confirmed to have the nvCJD which science indicated is caused by the consumption of BSE infected meat. The British Government, in 2003, publicly admitted that it was a mistake on their part to have suggested that meat and meat by-products did not cause nvCJD and that due to the ratio of evolving cases of CJD in England vs the amount of infection cases priot to 2003, it was calculated that some 4000 people were infected with the scrapie-form PrPsc agent (BSE/nvCJD Prion) and that that figure, although expected to decline as years went by, was the direct result of eating meat from BSE infected animals. I guess you will not accept the facts that the British Government put forth, but that is the way it was, is and will be as long as we cover our eyes, block our ears and do nothing to make sure our beef supply is the safest and the best in the world. That is something that I am trying to do, in spite of all of these arguments. No offence, but there is enough information already published that will answer your questions and it is out there and all you have to do is look for it. Perhaps you have simply already made up your mind and nothing will change it, not even the facts. A friend in the British Government Ministry of Ag-Foods told me that in late 2003, they were investigating 208 NEW cases of BSE in England that had flared not in one area, but scattered all over the country. This scared the crap out of him as it looked as if there was another outbreak, but everywhere all at once. I am convinced that BSE has been around for a long time and that we have a chance to eradicate from our food supply and bring back consumer confidence through a strong and rigid testing program. But then, that is my opinon. Ron.
