Sowing the Seeds of Self-Reliance for Forty Years
Food Supply Update: November 2000
Apocalypse Proteins: Part I
Mad Cows, Deer and Men
Copyright ã 2000 by Geri Guidetti
The Ark Institute http://www.arkinstitute.com
Email: arkinstitute@aol.com
***This Update may be forwarded or posted unedited, including attributions, without permission. Edited versions must receive permission before republication.
An apocalypse, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, is "a disclosure regarded as prophetic; a revelation." The more specifically religious definition of the word includes both Jewish and Christian writings "…depicting symbolically the ultimate destruction of evil and triumph of good." Examples would be the Book of Revelation or the writings of the prophet, Isaiah.
Prophetic revelations often come from unexpected sources--a newborn child, for example. Right now, there is a very sick, 11-month old baby girl in Great Britain who will likely be credited with having created an apocalypse. You see, according to the British newspaper, The Telegraph, this suffering child is believed to be the first case of blood-transmitted (in utero) New Variant Creutzeld-Jacob Disease, nvCJD, the human version of mad cow disease (BSE). The baby's 22-year old mother died seven months after giving birth. A post-mortem confirmed the cause of the young woman's death was nvCJD.
In mid-September, the baby was about half the size of a normal infant her age and was diagnosed with brain damage soon after birth. Doctors told her grandmother they suspect that some of the prions, the infectious proteins that appear to cause nvCJD, had passed from mother to child across the placenta via blood, and caused her brain damage. Up until now, only the eating of infected beef was the official, government- sanctioned explanation for contraction of human mad cow. Up until now, the mean incubation time of nvCJD was believed to be about 10.5 years after eating infected beef. In fact, the growing number of teenagers and young twenties now dead or dying of the disease in Britain are thought to have become infected through school lunches or meat supplies in their home villages. Yet, there is now growing laboratory evidence that nvCJD may be transmitted by blood as well, and that more--many, many more--people and animals may be infected with the disease than was originally thought.
This laboratory evidence, coupled with the revelation of a birth of a child who is now exhibiting multiple nvCJD symptoms with virtually no incubation period and, of course, no history of beef-eating, has the potential of revealing that what was already considered a bad situation is, in reality, an impending global nightmare. In Part I of this series on Apocalypse Proteins, I will attempt to summarize some of the key points of what we know --and don't know--about mad cow disease (BSE), CJD, vCJD, nvCJD and other prion protein diseases. In Part II we'll look in greater depth at the causes of these emerging prion protein plagues, and try to answer the question, "How do we control and "kill" this thing?" Then, in Part III, we'll look at other proteins that may unexpectedly threaten human survival.
What do we know, and when did we know it? Here's a brief summary of some of the accumulating data:
•
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, BSE or, dubbed by the British as Mad Cow Disease, is an always-fatal, progressive central nervous system disease identified in the UK in cattle in 1986. Over the course of the disease, large holes or vacuoles are formed in brain tissue giving it the appearance of a sponge. Severe neurological symptoms in afflicted animals gave them the appearance of having gone "mad." Europe has been rocked by daily accounts of new cases of both cow and human forms of this disease. It is now spreading across the continent.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, BSE or, dubbed by the British as Mad Cow Disease, is an always-fatal, progressive central nervous system disease identified in the UK in cattle in 1986. Over the course of the disease, large holes or vacuoles are formed in brain tissue giving it the appearance of a sponge. Severe neurological symptoms in afflicted animals gave them the appearance of having gone "mad." Europe has been rocked by daily accounts of new cases of both cow and human forms of this disease. It is now spreading across the continent.•Epidemiologists have discovered a connection between BSE and scrapie or "mad sheep disease", a similar, fatal affliction in sheep. Scrapie has been present in UK sheep for over 200 years. In 1934, a UK vaccine catastrophe occurred when scrapie was spread to nearly 5 thousand of eighteen thousand lambs vaccinated with scrapie-contaminated vaccine. Further studies determined that scrapie could spread naturally from ewe to lamb, and from lamb to lamb via vaccination. The data was not published for 15 years! In 1947, with the help of man, a scrapie-infected food supplement "jumped species" and brought a similar disease to farm-raised mink. Today, it is believed that scrapie once again" jumped species," with British assistance, and became BSE or mad cow disease when remnants of butchered, diseased sheep were ground up and turned into feed and protein supplements for cattle.
Epidemiologists have discovered a connection between BSE and scrapie or "mad sheep disease", a similar, fatal affliction in sheep. Scrapie has been present in UK sheep for over 200 years. In 1934, a UK vaccine catastrophe occurred when scrapie was spread to nearly 5 thousand of eighteen thousand lambs vaccinated with scrapie-contaminated vaccine. Further studies determined that scrapie could spread naturally from ewe to lamb, and from lamb to lamb via vaccination. The data was not published for 15 years! In 1947, with the help of man, a scrapie-infected food supplement "jumped species" and brought a similar disease to farm-raised mink. Today, it is believed that scrapie once again" jumped species," with British assistance, and became BSE or mad cow disease when remnants of butchered, diseased sheep were ground up and turned into feed and protein supplements for cattle.•When cattle started to die of a strange new neurological disease, they were butchered for human consumption, and remaining parts of the carcasses were ground up and turned into food for still more cattle and other animals.
When cattle started to die of a strange new neurological disease, they were butchered for human consumption, and remaining parts of the carcasses were ground up and turned into food for still more cattle and other animals.•In 1987 there were 446 BSE cases in the UK. In 1991, 25359 cases. By 1992, the peak year, so far, there were 37280.. By 1994, the new cases had dropped to 24436. By 1996, 8149, and through November 11th this year, there were 1067 new cases.
In 1987 there were 446 BSE cases in the UK. In 1991, 25359 cases. By 1992, the peak year, so far, there were 37280.. By 1994, the new cases had dropped to 24436. By 1996, 8149, and through November 11th this year, there were 1067 new cases.•Through last week, the UK has reported a total of 180,323 BSE cases, more than 50% of the dairy herds in the UK, since recognition of the deadly disease. Throughout the rest of Europe, exclusive of the UK, there have been 1578 cases before this week's latest, increasing numbers from France and Italy. More about these, later. Canada and Oman have each had one confirmed case. Through the CDC and USDA, the U.S. officially reports no BSE cases to date.
Through last week, the UK has reported a total of 180,323 BSE cases, more than 50% of the dairy herds in the UK, since recognition of the deadly disease. Throughout the rest of Europe, exclusive of the UK, there have been 1578 cases before this week's latest, increasing numbers from France and Italy. More about these, later. Canada and Oman have each had one confirmed case. Through the CDC and USDA, the U.S. officially reports no BSE cases to date.•Throughout the most severe years of the epidemic, British government and health officials insisted there was no risk to human health from eating meat from BSE -infected herds. On March 21, 1996, 10 cases of CJD were officially reported in the UK. A naturally occurring, Sporadic CJD, occurs worldwide, including in the U.S. and Australia, in about 1 in 1 million people each year. Nearly all of these are 63 years of age or older. This frequency has remained constant for many years. The ages of the10 new victims of CJD average 27, and the pathological changes in their brain tissue were different than Sporadic CJD. These 10 novel cases, the tip of an emerging iceberg of still undetermined size, represented the first reported new variant CJD, nvCJD, the human form of mad cow disease.
Throughout the most severe years of the epidemic, British government and health officials insisted there was no risk to human health from eating meat from BSE -infected herds. On March 21, 1996, 10 cases of CJD were officially reported in the UK. A naturally occurring, Sporadic CJD, occurs worldwide, including in the U.S. and Australia, in about 1 in 1 million people each year. Nearly all of these are 63 years of age or older. This frequency has remained constant for many years. The ages of the10 new victims of CJD average 27, and the pathological changes in their brain tissue were different than Sporadic CJD. These 10 novel cases, the tip of an emerging iceberg of still undetermined size, represented the first reported new variant CJD, nvCJD, the human form of mad cow disease.•CJD has also been transmitted in health care settings (Iatrogenic CJD.) It has been spread by "sterilized" neurosurgical instruments. It has been transmitted via cornea and dura mater grafts. Human pituitary growth hormone treatment of short-statured children up until 1985 continued despite warnings that the hormone was possibly a source of the agent that causes CJD. By 1985, the first four children infected with CJD via growth hormone had appeared. Injection programs were immediately halted in most countries, though France continued. By 1996 there were 90 cases of growth hormone caused CJD, and half of these were in France according to……
CJD has also been transmitted in health care settings (Iatrogenic CJD.) It has been spread by "sterilized" neurosurgical instruments. It has been transmitted via cornea and dura mater grafts. Human pituitary growth hormone treatment of short-statured children up until 1985 continued despite warnings that the hormone was possibly a source of the agent that causes CJD. By 1985, the first four children infected with CJD via growth hormone had appeared. Injection programs were immediately halted in most countries, though France continued. By 1996 there were 90 cases of growth hormone caused CJD, and half of these were in France according to……•…Australia's Dr. Lynette Dumble, a Senior Research Fellow at University of Melbourne's Department of Surgery, who claims that another hormone, human pituitary gonadotrophin, has also knowingly been injected into infertile women during the same time period. She says that records of these patients were "less than complete" and that "…just three years after the first cases of pituitary growth hormone-related CJD, the National Institutes of Health in the United States prematurely assumed in 1988 that the short-term nature of the gonadotrophin treatment precluded any risk of contracting CJD, and set about shredding the records of infertile women treated by some 250 gynecologists over the previous 15 years." In 1989, the first of these injected women, a forty-year old Australian woman, contracted CJD. By 1993 there were three more in Australia, all within a year or two of forty. Officially, 300 infertile British women received the injections, but infertility personnel indicate the numbers were likely much larger. Dr. Dumble says that the issue for American, German and Scandinavian women "has scarcely been touched." She points out that these real and potential CJD cases could have been contained, but that these women may already have passed on their legacy to their children--and to the general blood supply.
…Australia's Dr. Lynette Dumble, a Senior Research Fellow at University of Melbourne's Department of Surgery, who claims that another hormone, human pituitary gonadotrophin, has also knowingly been injected into infertile women during the same time period. She says that records of these patients were "less than complete" and that "…just three years after the first cases of pituitary growth hormone-related CJD, the National Institutes of Health in the United States prematurely assumed in 1988 that the short-term nature of the gonadotrophin treatment precluded any risk of contracting CJD, and set about shredding the records of infertile women treated by some 250 gynecologists over the previous 15 years." In 1989, the first of these injected women, a forty-year old Australian woman, contracted CJD. By 1993 there were three more in Australia, all within a year or two of forty. Officially, 300 infertile British women received the injections, but infertility personnel indicate the numbers were likely much larger. Dr. Dumble says that the issue for American, German and Scandinavian women "has scarcely been touched." She points out that these real and potential CJD cases could have been contained, but that these women may already have passed on their legacy to their children--and to the general blood supply.•CJD has been transmitted in mortuary settings. According to Johns Hopkins Medical Center's Dr. Paul Brown, in an article for a funeral director's publication, The Director, the frequencies with which body tissues have been found to contain the CJDinfective proteins (prions) are: Brain +++, Spinal cord ++, Cerebrospinal fluid ++, Pituitary Gland ++, Eye +++, Lung +, Liver +, Kidney +, Spleen +, Lymph nodes +, Blood +, and zeros ( 0 ) for all of the following: heart and skeletal muscle, adipose (fat) tissue, testis, prostate, tears, nasal mucous, saliva, sputum, urine and feces. The key: +++ is usually infective; ++ frequent; + irregular; 0 absent.
CJD has been transmitted in mortuary settings. According to Johns Hopkins Medical Center's Dr. Paul Brown, in an article for a funeral director's publication, The Director, the frequencies with which body tissues have been found to contain the CJDinfective proteins (prions) are: Brain +++, Spinal cord ++, Cerebrospinal fluid ++, Pituitary Gland ++, Eye +++, Lung +, Liver +, Kidney +, Spleen +, Lymph nodes +, Blood +, and zeros ( 0 ) for all of the following: heart and skeletal muscle, adipose (fat) tissue, testis, prostate, tears, nasal mucous, saliva, sputum, urine and feces. The key: +++ is usually infective; ++ frequent; + irregular; 0 absent.•Blood Transmission: Officially, in Britain, "Don't worry about it. We remove all of the white blood cells (leucodepletion) where most of the infective prion agent of CJDs are concentrated. The blood supply is safe." Then, September 14, 2000 in the prestigious British science journal, Lancet, "We have shown that it is possible to transmit BSE to a sheep by transfusion with whole blood taken from another sheep during the symptom-free phase of an experimental BSE infection. (underlined for emphasis) BSE and nvCJD in human beings are caused by the same infectious agent, and the sheep-BSE experimental model has a similar pathogenesis to that of human nvCJD. Although UK blood transfusions are leucodepleted--a possible protective measure against any risk from blood transmission--this report suggests that blood donated by symptom-free nvCJD-infected human beings may represent a risk of spread of nvCJD infection among the human population of the UK." The scientists go on to point out that they are releasing this evidence early because "…we regard this finding as sufficiently important to report now rather than after the study is completed, several years hence. The blood donation resulting in transmission of BSE to the recipient was 400 mL of whole blood taken from a healthy sheep 318 days after oral challenge with BSE."
Blood Transmission: Officially, in Britain, "Don't worry about it. We remove all of the white blood cells (leucodepletion) where most of the infective prion agent of CJDs are concentrated. The blood supply is safe." Then, September 14, 2000 in the prestigious British science journal, Lancet, "We have shown that it is possible to transmit BSE to a sheep by transfusion with whole blood taken from another sheep during the symptom-free phase of an experimental BSE infection. (underlined for emphasis) BSE and nvCJD in human beings are caused by the same infectious agent, and the sheep-BSE experimental model has a similar pathogenesis to that of human nvCJD. Although UK blood transfusions are leucodepleted--a possible protective measure against any risk from blood transmission--this report suggests that blood donated by symptom-free nvCJD-infected human beings may represent a risk of spread of nvCJD infection among the human population of the UK." The scientists go on to point out that they are releasing this evidence early because "…we regard this finding as sufficiently important to report now rather than after the study is completed, several years hence. The blood donation resulting in transmission of BSE to the recipient was 400 mL of whole blood taken from a healthy sheep 318 days after oral challenge with BSE."In other words, the blood donor had been fed BSE -infected cattle brain. At 318 days, it still showed no symptoms. Blood was taken from this apparently healthy animal and transfused into another. At 629 days, the donor developed BSE symptoms. At 610 days the transfused, recipient sheep developed BSE symptoms. The conclusion and implications are obvious: the blood of an outwardly healthy appearing animal may transmit BSE. Could the blood of an outwardly healthy appearing CJD (any variety) human "carrier" transmit the prion protein agent to blood recipients? If nvCJD is confirmed in the case of Britain's 11-month old baby girl, it would appear that the human form of mad cow may, indeed, pass through blood, especially from mother to child in utero..
•The U.S. Red Cross now excludes potential American donors who may have been exposed to British beef during the peak of its epidemic. So do private blood banks. Students, military, diplomatic corps, are often mentioned in pre-donation questionnaires, and any who have been exposed to bovine insulin or growth hormone during that time period. Canada, too, has placed severe restrictions on blood donations from visitors to the UK. (A family member who recently donated blood at a private blood bank reported that she was asked if anyone in her family had ever been diagnosed with CJD.) The official U.S. position is that nvCJD, the new variant directly traceable to mad cow disease, is not present in the U.S., yet sporadic CJD and a couple of genetically inherited varieties are. It appears the prion protein agents are present in the blood in several laboratory and human studies. What does this bode for our blood supply if/when nvCJD is identified in the U.S.?) Maurice Callaghan, an engineer from West Belfast, was one of the early victims of nvCJD. He died in 1995. He was a regular blood donor in the years before his illness. Seven of 82 known victims were regular blood donors in the UK.
The U.S. Red Cross now excludes potential American donors who may have been exposed to British beef during the peak of its epidemic. So do private blood banks. Students, military, diplomatic corps, are often mentioned in pre-donation questionnaires, and any who have been exposed to bovine insulin or growth hormone during that time period. Canada, too, has placed severe restrictions on blood donations from visitors to the UK. (A family member who recently donated blood at a private blood bank reported that she was asked if anyone in her family had ever been diagnosed with CJD.) The official U.S. position is that nvCJD, the new variant directly traceable to mad cow disease, is not present in the U.S., yet sporadic CJD and a couple of genetically inherited varieties are. It appears the prion protein agents are present in the blood in several laboratory and human studies. What does this bode for our blood supply if/when nvCJD is identified in the U.S.?) Maurice Callaghan, an engineer from West Belfast, was one of the early victims of nvCJD. He died in 1995. He was a regular blood donor in the years before his illness. Seven of 82 known victims were regular blood donors in the UK.•November 13, 2000 in the Times of London: "Half the surgical instruments used for tonsil operations could be contaminated by variant CJD, according to an expert." (Tonsils are infected with CJD prions even before disease symptoms appear. Normal sterilization protocols do not inactivate CJD prions. Sterilized instruments remain infective.) The estimate for the surgical instruments was based on a conservative estimate of 10,000 people in the UK incubating the disease. John Collinge of Imperial College School of Medicine in London said the ear, nose and throat surgeons at St Mary's Hospital, part of the medical school, "…calculated that half the tonsillectomy sets in the UK are contaminated….This is potentially a serious problem." The doctor complained, "It's a major problem to which the Department of Health (UK) has given a lot of thought and not much action." The Department of Health is consulting with surgeons on whether to switch to disposable, single-use instruments, especially in tonsil, appendix, eye and brain surgeries.
November 13, 2000 in the Times of London: "Half the surgical instruments used for tonsil operations could be contaminated by variant CJD, according to an expert." (Tonsils are infected with CJD prions even before disease symptoms appear. Normal sterilization protocols do not inactivate CJD prions. Sterilized instruments remain infective.) The estimate for the surgical instruments was based on a conservative estimate of 10,000 people in the UK incubating the disease. John Collinge of Imperial College School of Medicine in London said the ear, nose and throat surgeons at St Mary's Hospital, part of the medical school, "…calculated that half the tonsillectomy sets in the UK are contaminated….This is potentially a serious problem." The doctor complained, "It's a major problem to which the Department of Health (UK) has given a lot of thought and not much action." The Department of Health is consulting with surgeons on whether to switch to disposable, single-use instruments, especially in tonsil, appendix, eye and brain surgeries.•November 16, 2000 in New Scientist: "Disturbing new evidence suggests that nearly three times as many people may be at risk from BSE than previously thought. So far, all victims of vCJD, the human form of BSE, have been from a minority of the population (37%) with a particular genetic make-up. This raised hopes that most of the population was immune to the infection." New evidence now indicates that this is not so. "The implication is that people with the 'protective' gene combinations are not immune from the disease. They'll simply have to wait longer for the disease to strike." (The demographics implications are mind-boggling. Thirty years from the date of infection, how many thousands or even millions of citizens will develop, nearly simultaneously, vCJD. How will the UK or any country handle the massive medical care issues? Many of these people may be parents of young children at that time. Others will be elderly. Will any family remain untouched by tragedy?)
November 16, 2000 in New Scientist: "Disturbing new evidence suggests that nearly three times as many people may be at risk from BSE than previously thought. So far, all victims of vCJD, the human form of BSE, have been from a minority of the population (37%) with a particular genetic make-up. This raised hopes that most of the population was immune to the infection." New evidence now indicates that this is not so. "The implication is that people with the 'protective' gene combinations are not immune from the disease. They'll simply have to wait longer for the disease to strike." (The demographics implications are mind-boggling. Thirty years from the date of infection, how many thousands or even millions of citizens will develop, nearly simultaneously, vCJD. How will the UK or any country handle the massive medical care issues? Many of these people may be parents of young children at that time. Others will be elderly. Will any family remain untouched by tragedy?)•November 18, 2000 in PA News: "According to the BBC, the Government has previously predicted that the maximum number of people who could die was 136,000, and the so-called Central Figure--the best guess about how many actually would die--was 6000. But the initial figure has been upwardly revised to 250,000….Professor John Collinge of the BSE Advisory Committee told the programme: 'We might be seeing an epidemic that involves hundreds of thousands of people. Let's hope that's not the case, but it's still possible…We need to guard against false optimism and wishful thinking, which has bedevilled this field for too long."
November 18, 2000 in PA News: "According to the BBC, the Government has previously predicted that the maximum number of people who could die was 136,000, and the so-called Central Figure--the best guess about how many actually would die--was 6000. But the initial figure has been upwardly revised to 250,000….Professor John Collinge of the BSE Advisory Committee told the programme: 'We might be seeing an epidemic that involves hundreds of thousands of people. Let's hope that's not the case, but it's still possible…We need to guard against false optimism and wishful thinking, which has bedevilled this field for too long."•85 zoo animals, 24 species from 4 countries, have now been infected with BSE. The animals range from the bison and cheetah to exotic antelopes, lions, tigers, pumas and more. What's more, British house cats are increasingly afflicted with a feline version of the same BSE. (Suspect is the animals' feed containing BSE contaminated "animal by-products.")
85 zoo animals, 24 species from 4 countries, have now been infected with BSE. The animals range from the bison and cheetah to exotic antelopes, lions, tigers, pumas and more. What's more, British house cats are increasingly afflicted with a feline version of the same BSE. (Suspect is the animals' feed containing BSE contaminated "animal by-products.")•A full 15% of free-ranging deer and elk in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming was reported infected with a prion disease similar to scrapie and mad cow according to a news report. An October study reported in Journal of Wildlife Disease found 4.9% of mule deer, 2.1% of white-tailed deer and 0.5% of elk were infected, and they project 15% in 37 to 50 years. It is called Chronic Wasting Disease in these animals (cervids), and there have been newspaper reports of at least 3 deaths in people who have eaten venison from deer hunted in this region. In two of these three cases, the reported victims were younger than one would expect for sporadic CJD--one was in his twenties and a mother in her thirties. The third was a man in his sixties. Each reportedly died within a few months, much shorter than the 15 to 24 months often cited in cases of CJD. In EMBO Journal, the highly respected scientific journal of the European Molecular Biology Organization, in vitro (test tube) studies with the prions responsible for Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and (normal) human cellular prion protein, PrpC, showed the deer prions were effective in converting human prions to an infective form, though at a 14-fold lower rate than normal deer to deer prion conversions.
A full 15% of free-ranging deer and elk in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming was reported infected with a prion disease similar to scrapie and mad cow according to a news report. An October study reported in Journal of Wildlife Disease found 4.9% of mule deer, 2.1% of white-tailed deer and 0.5% of elk were infected, and they project 15% in 37 to 50 years. It is called Chronic Wasting Disease in these animals (cervids), and there have been newspaper reports of at least 3 deaths in people who have eaten venison from deer hunted in this region. In two of these three cases, the reported victims were younger than one would expect for sporadic CJD--one was in his twenties and a mother in her thirties. The third was a man in his sixties. Each reportedly died within a few months, much shorter than the 15 to 24 months often cited in cases of CJD. In EMBO Journal, the highly respected scientific journal of the European Molecular Biology Organization, in vitro (test tube) studies with the prions responsible for Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and (normal) human cellular prion protein, PrpC, showed the deer prions were effective in converting human prions to an infective form, though at a 14-fold lower rate than normal deer to deer prion conversions.•October 27, 2000: Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans reported a serious medical accident. A neurosurgeon had unintentionally exposed eight brain surgery patients to CJD by using washed, sterilized surgical instruments that had been previously used on a patient who had CJD, the latter confirmed on the patient's death. All eight potentially infected patients were being notified of the accident. Again, prion proteins are not "killed" or, better, rendered non-infectious, by any standard sterilization protocols currently used in medicine and dentistry worldwide, including in the U.S.
October 27, 2000: Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans reported a serious medical accident. A neurosurgeon had unintentionally exposed eight brain surgery patients to CJD by using washed, sterilized surgical instruments that had been previously used on a patient who had CJD, the latter confirmed on the patient's death. All eight potentially infected patients were being notified of the accident. Again, prion proteins are not "killed" or, better, rendered non-infectious, by any standard sterilization protocols currently used in medicine and dentistry worldwide, including in the U.S.•A year ago the European Commission reported that some French rendering plants were supplying animal feed makers with animal remains contaminated by sewage sludge. France's poultry and dairy industries lost at least $63 million last year after it was discovered that Belgian animal feed tainted with the toxic chemical dioxin had made its way to French farms. France now has both mad cow and nvCJD cases, both of which are increasing.
A year ago the European Commission reported that some French rendering plants were supplying animal feed makers with animal remains contaminated by sewage sludge. France's poultry and dairy industries lost at least $63 million last year after it was discovered that Belgian animal feed tainted with the toxic chemical dioxin had made its way to French farms. France now has both mad cow and nvCJD cases, both of which are increasing.This is just a smattering of what's currently known and still emerging in this bizarre food and, now it appears, blood-related crisis. Make no mistake about it: this is a VERY important story that you will be hearing much more about in coming years. In many ways, it smacks of the early AIDS epidemic years. The unfolding disaster in Europe was a direct consequence of the British government's and beef industry's public denial of the dangers of eating beef contaminated by feed containing ground up, scrapie-infected sheep, even after the laboratory evidence was clear. A new, three-year, 16-volume study of the unfolding tragedy squarely blames the actions and inaction of the government. Fearing the economic consequences on the beef and dairy industries, public health officials at the highest levels in the British government are accused of the blatant lying to and, essentially, sacrificing of thousands--worst-case, millions--of their citizens. Given new discoveries of modes of transmission of mad cow, scrapie and nvCJD, British medical scientists now fear that this epidemic may be unfolding for the next fifty years or more.
Surveillance for scrapie, BSE (mad cow), CJD and nvCJD in the U.S. has increased. This summer, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) was granted court approval to impound and destroy 350 sheep from a ranch in Vermont. The sheep were suspected of having been exposed to BSE in Belgium where the flock originated. I will discuss the scope and depth of the US effort to prevent an epidemic here, though many would argue that it already is here and being spread by blood, in Part II of this series. In the interim, here are a couple of excellent resources that post nearly daily reports on this emerging epidemic:
http://www.rense.com http://www.rense.com Scroll down to "Headlines" and "Data Pages--Mad Cow/CJD." You can also listen to radio interviews I have done with Jeff Rense on this and other topics. Go to "Archived Shows" on the right side of the home page and then to "Real Audio Archives 2000."
Another excellent resource can be found at http://www.mad-cow.org. This site also includes links to research reports published in scientific journals. I will post this Food Supply Update with all past issues at The Ark Institute's Web site, http://www.arkinstitute.com immediately. Click on the Food Supply Update button. A Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to all…Geri Guidetti, The Ark Institute
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