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tw · 12-24-2003, 12:10 AM

Now to pour gasoline on those fears:

1) Well less than one in ten cows that cannot walk are tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This was simply one of few not walking cows that was tissue sampled, processed, and only later did preliminary lab results come back positive. It is not entirely sure where the meat has gone.

2) Although almost no one gets BSE, the related disease called Creutzfeldt--Jakob disease kills about 250 Americans a year. Reasons for CJ are unknown and may be directly traceable to same source as BSE.

3) Even though nerve tissues (brain, spinal cord) are removed from a slaughtered animal (and therefore BSE cannot be spread), what they forget to mention is the removal of that never tissue splatters the rest of the meat. It is not a clean removal process. Therefore can BSE spread by the violent removal of nervous tissue?

4) BSE appears to have an incubation period of 10 years or more. Just another reason why BSE research is so unproductive - since experiements take so long to yield results. That being the case, if BSE is in our food system, then we will find out many years later - long most readers have totally forgotten about this news story.

5) BSE and CJ are believed to be based upon something that is not a bateria and not a virus. This was posted many years ago here in the Cellar. Prions can be cooked for hours, radiated, boiled, deep fat fried, chlorinated, disinfected, mutilated, and frozen. Still they remain intact and deadly. How's that for scary sic fi gone reality.

6) Cannibalism is the primary reason that BSE and CJ type diseases spread. Britian suffered because unused parts of livestock were reprocessed, added to grains, and fed back to cattle, sheep, and chickens. Cannibal tribes suffered from BSE like diseases because a 'same species' diet spreads prions among humans.

Having said all this - to intentionally hype fears with honest facts - now put it all into perspective. BSE and CJ are not consider dangerous. They are extremely rare diseases that make an automobile ride to the grocery store far more dangerous. Funny how numbers can turn all those fears of points one thru six into one step above nothing. Demonstrated is how the Daily News, et al can turn an unimportant event (as made obvious by numbers) into a wholesale fear of beef (an emotional response based only on half truths). It is a simple news story, with important facts about a relatively unsafe food distribution system, but hyped by an all but non-existant threat.

One should be far more concerned about where TacoBell gets their meat - from a Pantry Pride plant outside Souderton PA whose FDA meat inspectors observed chicken on the dirty floor simply put into the 'clean and ready to ship' line. Listeria? That is where the diseased turkey meat shipped throughout the US was coming from. The delivery trucks to Taco Bell no longer have the Pilgrim's Pride labels on their side. You can sometimes see the glue from that Pantry / Pilgrim's Pride label as the same trucks deliver to Taco Bell - and probably other Pepsico retail food outlets.

12-24-2003, 12:10 AM	#8
tw Read? I only know how to write. Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,933	Now to pour gasoline on those fears: 1) Well less than one in ten cows that cannot walk are tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This was simply one of few not walking cows that was tissue sampled, processed, and only later did preliminary lab results come back positive. It is not entirely sure where the meat has gone. 2) Although almost no one gets BSE, the related disease called Creutzfeldt--Jakob disease kills about 250 Americans a year. Reasons for CJ are unknown and may be directly traceable to same source as BSE. 3) Even though nerve tissues (brain, spinal cord) are removed from a slaughtered animal (and therefore BSE cannot be spread), what they forget to mention is the removal of that never tissue splatters the rest of the meat. It is not a clean removal process. Therefore can BSE spread by the violent removal of nervous tissue? 4) BSE appears to have an incubation period of 10 years or more. Just another reason why BSE research is so unproductive - since experiements take so long to yield results. That being the case, if BSE is in our food system, then we will find out many years later - long most readers have totally forgotten about this news story. 5) BSE and CJ are believed to be based upon something that is not a bateria and not a virus. This was posted many years ago here in the Cellar. Prions can be cooked for hours, radiated, boiled, deep fat fried, chlorinated, disinfected, mutilated, and frozen. Still they remain intact and deadly. How's that for scary sic fi gone reality. 6) Cannibalism is the primary reason that BSE and CJ type diseases spread. Britian suffered because unused parts of livestock were reprocessed, added to grains, and fed back to cattle, sheep, and chickens. Cannibal tribes suffered from BSE like diseases because a 'same species' diet spreads prions among humans. Having said all this - to intentionally hype fears with honest facts - now put it all into perspective. BSE and CJ are not consider dangerous. They are extremely rare diseases that make an automobile ride to the grocery store far more dangerous. Funny how numbers can turn all those fears of points one thru six into one step above nothing. Demonstrated is how the Daily News, et al can turn an unimportant event (as made obvious by numbers) into a wholesale fear of beef (an emotional response based only on half truths). It is a simple news story, with important facts about a relatively unsafe food distribution system, but hyped by an all but non-existant threat. One should be far more concerned about where TacoBell gets their meat - from a Pantry Pride plant outside Souderton PA whose FDA meat inspectors observed chicken on the dirty floor simply put into the 'clean and ready to ship' line. Listeria? That is where the diseased turkey meat shipped throughout the US was coming from. The delivery trucks to Taco Bell no longer have the Pilgrim's Pride labels on their side. You can sometimes see the glue from that Pantry / Pilgrim's Pride label as the same trucks deliver to Taco Bell - and probably other Pepsico retail food outlets.