Mad Cow Blog

Consumer Groups Push For Ban on Chicken Feces in Cattle Feed

Mad Cow Lawyer — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:19:03 -0800

Consumer groups concerned about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), sometimes referred to as "mad cow disease," are asking the FDA to ban the presence of poultry feces in cattle feed, according to the LA Times.

According to the story, advocates say that the feed in question, which includes "feces, spilled chicken feed, feathers and poultry farm detritus" -- increases the risk of cows becoming infected with BSE.

Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union says that the chicken feed and the feces contain tissue from ruminants -- cows and sheep, among other mammals. BSE can be transmitted to cattle through the consumption of ruminant remains. According to the article, the contamination need not be widespread to cause a problem. "It takes a very small quantity of ruminant protein, even just 1 milligram, to cause an infection," said Steve Roach, public health program director with Food Animal Concerns Trust, a Chicago-based animal welfare group that is part of the coalition. Cattle industry representatives disagree with the need for a ban:

The National Cattlemen's Beef Assn., the beef industry's main trade group, said the ban was not needed and that several FDA reviews had determined that the chance of cattle becoming infected with mad cow disease from eating poultry litter was remote.

"Science does not justify the ban, and the FDA has looked at this now many times," said Elizabeth Parker, chief veterinarian for the trade group.

Interestingly, at least some of those in the business of selling beef directly to consumers share the consumer groups' concerns:

The practice also makes McDonald's, one of the nation's biggest beef purchasers, nervous. "We do not condone the feeding of poultry litter to cattle," it said in a statement.

"Risk of dying from mad cow disease by eating U.S. beef was less than from riding a motorcycle in Taiwan traffic"

Bill Marler — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:39:44 -0800

The Legislative Yuan will be able to review the protocol signed by Taiwan and the U.S. allowing the import of bone-in beef, lawmakers said yesterday.

The signing of the protocol on Oct. 23 touched off a wave of protests, with calls for a renegotiation of the agreement to exclude beef parts likely to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease. Local governments announced they would rally restaurants and shops against the sale of the beef from Nov. 10.

President Ma and other government officials have said that a renegotiation is out of the question because it would damage Taiwan's international reputation. They say the deal was at least as stringent as similar agreements the U.S. closed with South Korea and EU.

Foreign Minister Timothy Yang denied yesterday that the government had given in to U.S. demands in order to achieve visa-free access to the country for Taiwanese tourists. Earlier, officials also rejected accusations that the beef decision had been made to obtain a new start for talks about a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.

Meanwhile, American Institute in Taiwan Director William Stanton was backtracking on an earlier comparison he made. He had said the risk of dying from mad cow disease by eating U.S. beef was less than from riding a motorcycle in Taiwan traffic.

Nebraska Firm Recalls Beef Tongues That Can Contain Prohibited Material - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

Mad Cow — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:26:19 -0800

J.F. O'Neill Packing Company, an Omaha, Neb., establishment is recalling approximately 33,000 pounds of beef tongues that may not have had the tonsils completely removed, which is not compliant with regulations that require the removal of tonsils from cattle of all ages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

Tonsils are considered a specified risk material (SRM) and must be removed from cattle of all ages in accordance with FSIS regulations. SRMs are tissues that are known to contain the infective agent in cattle infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), as well as materials that are closely associated with these potentially infective tissues. Therefore, FSIS prohibits SRMs from use as human food to minimize potential human exposure to the BSE agent.

The following product is subject to recall:

* " Various weight cases of "BEEF TONGUES." Each case bears the establishment number "EST. 889A" inside the USDA mark of inspection and were sold under the following brand names:

"J.F. O'NEILL PACKING CO.," "WHOLE FOODS NATURAL," "WHOLE FOODS ORGANIC," "PREMIER PROTEIN PARTNERS," "MONTANA RANCH BRAND," "GRASSLAND BEEF," "AUSTIN MEATS," "MORGAN RANCH," "KOBE BEEF AMERICA," "IMPERIAL WAGYU BEEF," "BRAND ADVANTAGE WAGYU," "BRAND ADVANTAGE PARTNERS," "YAMAYA U.S.A.," and "A.D. ROSENBLATT."

The company is recalling all products packed between July 1, 2009, and October 8, 2009. These products were shipped primarily to distribution centers in Nebraska and California for further sale to restaurants, hotels and institutions.

Japan Suspends Beef Imports From Tyson Plant

Mad Cow Lawyer — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:19:07 -0800

The AP is reporting that Japan suspended beef shipments from a Tyson Plant over its failure to remove cattle parts, specifically bovine spinal columns, banned under a bilateral agreement. Japanese officials are concerned about mad cow disease. According to the A.P.:

Japanese quarantine inspectors found bovine spinal columns in one of 732 boxes shipped from Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., which arrived in Japan in late September, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. The box contained 35 pounds (16 kilograms) of chilled short loin with spinal bones, which were not released commercially, said ministry official Goshi Nakata.

The suspension only affects Tyson's factory in Lexington, Nebraska, one of 46 meatpacking plants approved to export beef to Japan.

The same plant also had Japanese export suspended in February 2007 for a similar problem.

Cow Backbone Found in Japan - Violates BSE Ban

Mad Cow Lawyer — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:31:26 -0800

Japan's farm ministry said Saturday that it had found a cow backbone in a shipment from the United States that violates a ban imposed due to concerns over mad cow disease.

A Japanese importer on Friday informed the ministry that it had received a box containing 16 kilogrammes (35 pounds) of US beef without sanitary certification, a requirement under a trade accord between the two countries.

The ministry later confirmed that it was Japan's third discovery of US cow backbone designated as specified-risk material since Tokyo conditionally lifted a ban on US beef shipments in 2006.

The ministry has suspended imports from the shipping agent and immediately called on the US Department of Agriculture to investigate the case, officials said.

Japan banned US beef in December 2003 after the brain-wasting cattle disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was found in a US herd. Japan had until then been the US cattle industry's biggest export market.

The ban nearly grew into a full-blown trade war, with US farm-state senators pressing for sanctions unless Tokyo opened up its markets by the end of 2005. Japan agreed in 2006 to resume US imports on condition age and portion limits be imposed on cattle at the time of slaughter.

The Evolution of the Mad Cow

Mad Cow — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:06:48 -0800

Thanks to Mark Johnson of the Journal Sentinel for blogging about "the quest to find where prions came from." Mark wrote:

Scientists in Canada and the United States claim to have found the evolutionary origin of prions, the deadly killer responsible for a family of fatal brain-wasting illnesses: chronic wasting disease in deer; scrapie in sheep; mad cow disease in cows; and human mad cow disease, kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people.

In each disease, the prion, a misfolded protein, leaves behind the same grim calling card: spongelike holes in otherwise healthy brains.

Now scientists from the University of Toronto, University of California, San Francisco and the University of Alberta say they have found evidence that prions descended from the ancient ZIP family of metal ion transporters. These ZIP proteins are able to transport zinc and other metals across the membranes of cells.

In their paper, published this week in the online journal PLoS ONE, the scientists say they discovered that prion proteins and ZIP proteins contain long stretches of similar amino acid sequences. The scientists calculated that the similar sequences in both ZIP and prion proteins would acquire very similar three-dimensional structures. Finally, ZIP and prion proteins have a number of other factors in common that suggest an evolutionary link, the scientists reported.

Nodaway County, MO Health Officials Explain "Mad Cow"

Mad Cow Lawyer — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:37:20 -0800

The Nodaway County Health Center, in northwest Missouri, has provided some excellent information on the nature and perceived sources of "mad cow" disease in humans, as reported in Nodaway News Leader. Apparently, there is public concern over an unconfirmed report of a local death attributable to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD.

I found these paragraphs very helpful. First, the basic nature of the nearly always fatal CJD is explained.

CJD is believed to be caused by an abnormal form of a naturally-occurring protein that results in destructive changes to the brain. This abnormal protein is called a prion. Prion diseases have been recognized in various species of animals for many years.

Next the different types of CJD, and their respective causes are delineated.

• CJD occurs in several forms. Sporadic CJD, sCJD, is the most common, accounting for about 80 percent of the cases. It occurs mainly in persons 55-75 years of age, but can occur in younger and older individuals as well. This disease is rapidly progressive, with death occurring an average of seven months after symptoms first begin. It
• Genetic CJD is another form, accounting for 10-15 percent of the cases. This disease may be caused when persons inherit genes that make them more susceptible to development of prions in the brain.
• A third form is hospital-acquired CJD. A small number of people have apparently contracted this disease when they received materials such as pituitary hormone, brain tissues or corneal grafts from an infected person, or when surgical instruments used on an infected person were then used on an uninfected person.
• A final and more recently recognized form of CJD is variant CJD, vCJD. Variant CJD was first recognized in 1996, and has been linked to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE. Human cases are thought to have been caused by consumption of BSE-contaminated meat or other tissues, primarily in Great Britain during the 1980s. This disease tends to affect younger persons than sCJD; the average age at death for vCJD is 29 years. The course of vCJD is longer than that of sCJD, with an average survival time of 14 months.

Finally, the health center notes that to date, the apparent threat of CJD in humans in the U.S. is very small. Thanks to Nodaway County health officials for some very informative writing.

Japanese Beef Import Ban Over Mad Cow Unlikely to Ease

Mad Cow Lawyer — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:33:19 -0800

Restrictions on import of U.S. beef into Japan, in place since 2003, are unlikely to ease under the new Japanese government, according to this report from Reuters.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) picked up the reins of government on Wednesday in a coalition with two small parties, including the Social Democrats, which oppose both easing beef import rules and opening Japan to more farm imports.

The U.S. beef industry says it has lost some $10 billion in sales to Japan in the six years since Tokyo banned imports of American beef due to mad cow disease. It allowed some supplies to resume in 2006 but under strict limits.

Current import restrictions limit U.S. imports to beef from cattle aged 20 months or younger. U.S. government officials are working to raise the limit to 30 months, but there has been no movement yet.

Greek Scientists Report Ability of Farmed Fish to Carry BSE

Mad Cow Lawyer — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:15:16 -0800

A group of Greek scientists, led by Evgenia Salta, are reporting that farmed sea bream, a commercially farmed fish, can carry and develop BSE or "mad cow" disease when fed contaminated feed.

While this is not a finding of contaminated fish in the wild, the ability of such fish to develop contaminated brain tissue after exposure may be problematic. According to this article, the study authors' conclude:

"the possibility that the affected sea bream brain tissue might be infectious, must be taken seriously in any consideration to lift EU feed bans, especially those related to farmed fish.”

The study did not investigate whether contaminated fish had any ability to contaminate other fish.

Ranchers Criticize USDA Mad Cow Policy

Mad Cow Lawyer — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:45:33 -0800

The Rapid City Journal reports that the CEO of a cattle rancher association aimed public criticisms at the USDA's "mad cow" policy. Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF, made his remarks at the annual Stockgrowers Association meeting in Rapid City. Among Bullard's criticisms:

The USDA' s policy with respect to Canadian Cattle. Bullard complained that the "USDA still has not overturned its rule allowing all Canadian cattle and beef to come into the U.S., despite the discovery of 17 cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in that country's cattle."
International buyers, including Japan, continue to limit U.S. beef exports due to concerns over "mad cow" or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
USDA continues to allow mingling of Mexican and U.S. cattle as well, raising concerns of bovine tuberculosis, a threat to the health of U.S. cattle herds.

Moving beyond the topic of BSE, Bullard also criticized sanitary conditions at large slaughterhouses: "We see in the beef industry an increase in e-coli and other foodborne illnesses that originate not from the meat, but from the intestine. These are enteric bacteria that can only contaminate meat if the meat is contaminated with fecal material. It's a sanitary issue."

In the UK, Calls for Testing of Blood Supplies After Donor Dies of vCJD

Mad Cow Lawyer — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:33:51 -0800

It remains to be seen if variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), often referred to as "mad cow disease," will become as much of a problem here in the U.S. that it is in the U.K. The reach of the threat posed by vCJD however is illustrated by this story about possible contamination of public blood supply.

The Daily Echo reports:

A campaign for all donated blood to be screened for the human form of mad cow disease is being led locally by a young woman [Lisa Farrant] from Fordingbridge, after her grandmother, a keen blood donor, died from the disease.

Farrant's grandmother may have been exposed to vCJD as a cafeteria worker where "mechanically recovered meat" was often an ingredient in school meals (editorial note - yuck).

It does not appear that the blood supply in the UK is currently screened for vCJD, nor does it appear that a proper test is imminent:

A spokesperson for the National Blood Service said while there was no approved test of spleens and tonsils as yet, the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) are evaluating the tests and hope to make their recommendations to the government soon.

Let's hope it never comes to this point in the U.S.

Expert Calling for British Coroners to Test for Mad-Cow

Mad Cow Lawyer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:52:32 -0800

A British professor, and expert on "mad cow" disease, is calling on coroners to test for the presence of indicators of mad-cow disease in the deceased, according to a upi.com story. Professor John Collinge is a member of a government panel monitoring the progress of spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. According to the report, Collinge says that "without post-mortem tests for the infection it is impossible to get accurate information on how many people in Britain may be carrying it."

164 people in Britain are confirmed to have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow. Currently, coroners are not required to conduct tests for the presence of the infectious agent. Understanding the breadth of the spread of the disease is an important component in designing and implementing protections from it. If deaths due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are being missed due to a lack of testing, the 164 person figure may be less reliable, and therefore less useful.

Sporadic CJD Claims Two Of Ashland's Best Known Muscians

Mad Cow — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:49:34 -0800

Within a span of seven weeks, two popular Ashland, OR musicians have died of apparent sporadic Creuzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD).

Dead are Dave Marston, 56, and Robin Lawson, 70. The two music industry veterans made their homes and livings in the artistic Oregon city best known for its annual Shakespeare Festival, but apparently did not work together.

Marston, a former music director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, artistic director of the Siskiyou Singers, band leader of the Beatles cover band Nowhere Men, leader of the Marston Family Singers (with Tami and their combined six children), The Ancient Men, the Rogue Valley Peace Choir, the Children's Peace Choir and choirs at the First Methodist Church, the Congregational Church and the Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland.

He died June 22nd of sporadic CJD

Lawson was a jazz pianist, actor, broadcast journalist and press secretary to a U.S. Congressman. He was a British immigrant, who enlisted in the U.S. Army after studying jazz in California. He performed a long-running one man show as Winston Churchill and worked in both radio and television as a journalist.

He died Aug. 9th of sporadic CJD.

The Oregon Department of Human Services has kept track of CJD deaths for the past 18 years, and reports there have been a total of six cases in Jackson County, where Ashland is located. Not all were confirmed.

CJD is said to affect about one in a million people worldwide. The Ashland men were diagnosed with CJD by specialists at the University of California at San Francisco.

Study Suggests Chronic Wasting Disease Does NOT Jump the Species Barrier

Mad Cow — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:51:40 -0800

Science Daily is reporting on results of study that suggests that people who consume deer and elk with chronic wasting disease (CWD) may be escaping infection by an inability of the infectious agent to spread to people.

Data from an ongoing multi-year study suggest that people who consume deer and elk with chronic wasting disease (CWD) may be protected from infection by an inability of the CWD infectious agent to spread to people. The results to date show that 14 cynomolgus macaques (monkeys) exposed orally or intracerebrally to CWD remain healthy and symptom free after more than six years of observation.

The study does not yet mean it is safe for people to eat elk or deer with CWD. According to SD:

CWD is a type of brain-damaging disease known as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or prion disease. CWD primarily affects deer, elk, and moose.

Other TSE diseases include mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, scrapie in sheep, and sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. Humans are not susceptible to sheep scrapie, but BSE appears to have infected about 200 people, primarily in Europe in the 1990s. Those findings provided the rationale for the present CWD-macaque study, which began in 2003.

Is University of Wisconsin Treating A "Mad Cow" Victim? Tune in Tomorrow!

Mad Cow — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:50:20 -0800

There will be a press conference at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics on Friday to calm fears about a possible case of Mad Cow Disease.

UW Hospitals spokesperson Lisa Brunette says: "There is no patient with "Mad Cow" disease here.

The denial that UW Hospital is treating someone with the human version of Mad Cow disease--called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease--came as Brunette was scheduling a media briefing to address the speculation.

Brunette says they will hold a media briefing Friday morning to address the speculation.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurodegenerative disorder believed to be caused by an abnormal isoform of a cellular glycoprotein known as the prion protein.

CJD occurs worldwide and the estimated annual incidence in many countries, including the United States, has been reported to be about one case per million population.

R-CALF Wants USDA To Drop Animal ID System In Favor Of Disease Strategy

Mad Cow — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:39:14 -0800

We have not given much if any space to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). We know the United States Department of Agriculture has been listening; that most farmers and ranchers have been protesting, and the public is mostly confused about what's up.

The NAIS was advanced after the 2003 discovery of a Mad Cow in eastern Washington State. It was tracked to Canada, and before long the whole idea of being able to quickly and easily track animals seemed like a good idea.

The online publication of Wallaces Farmer, however, says there is a new idea out there; this one being advanced by R-CALF, the organization that represents the U.S. cattle industry. WF reports:

R-CALF USA recently sent a letter to the Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., expressing its appreciation for her decision to hold back further funding for the National Animal Identification System until USDA finishes its listening sessions.

R-CALF USA states in its letter that the U.S. needs to create a national strategy to improve livestock disease prevention, control and eradication instead of implementing NAIS...

..R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says DeLauro has been informed of an eight-point plan that should be the starting point for the creation of a national disease strategy that will better protect the health of the nation's livestock and the safety of meat produced from the livestock. Bullard says R-CALF is hopeful USDA will redirect its resources to begin development of a national disease prevention strategy.

Go to WF for more.

Eating Farmed Fish Could Transmit Infectious Prions From Cows With BSE To Humans

Mad Cow — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:30:31 -0800

OK, everyone from your mother to your cardiologist says you should be eating more fish. The American Heart Association recommends eating at least two servings of fish per week.

But if you do not live on the coast or some faraway island, getting fresh fish that only a short time earlier was swimming freely sea is not easy. Chances are that Salmon or Halibut you buy in Des Moines or Atlanta in the winter is “farmed fish,” raised in a pen and just maybe fed prions from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Farmed fish could be a source of transmission of BSE to humans, risking variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of Mad Cow Disease.

This is the possibility is raised in the June issue of the prestigious Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. The authors, Dr. Robert P. Friedland, Dr. Robert B. Petersen, and Dr. Richard Rubenstein hail, respectively, from the medical schools at Louisville, Case Western, and the State University of New York.

“We are concerned that consumption of farmed fish may provide a means of transmission of infectious prions from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans, causing variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, “ the doctors write.

“We have not proven that it’s possible for fish to transmit the disease to humans. Still, we believe that out of reasonable caution for public health, the practice of feeding rendered cows to fish should be prohibited,” Friedland said. “Fish do very well in the seas without eating cows,” he added.

Creutzfeldt Jakob disease is an untreatable, universally fatal disease that can be contracted by eating parts of an animal infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease).

An outbreak in England attributed to infected beef prompted most countries to outlaw feeding rendered cow material to other cattle because the disease is so easily spread within the same species.    The risk of transmission of BSE to humans who eat farmed fish would appear to be low because of perceived barriers between species. But, according to the authors, it is possible for a disease to be spread by eating a carrier that is not infected itself. It’s also possible that eating diseased cow parts could cause fish to experience a pathological change that allows the infection to be passed between the two species.

“The fact that no cases of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease have been linked to eating farmed fish does not assure that feeding rendered cow parts to fish is safe. The incubation period of these diseases may last for decades, which makes the association between feeding practices and infection difficult. Enhanced safeguards need to be put in place to protect the public,” Friedland said.

Deaths from Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in the United Kingdom attributed to eating infected beef total 163. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been identified in nine Canadian and three U.S. cattle.

American Beef Getting Closer To Getting Back On Taiwan Menus

Mad Cow — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:36:01 -0800

Surely the most costly cow ever to trod upon American soil was the one found in Washington State six years ago. The discovery that it had Mad Cow disease led to U.S. beef being banned around the world, costing billions upon billions of dollars.

One-by-one, country-by-country, American Beef has fought its way back. Now it is hoping Taiwan does not turn out to be as volatile as was South Korea.

Harry Tseng, director general of the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of North American Affairs, is optimistic about fully opening his country’s market to U.S. beef before 2009 ends.

Stephen M. Young, the top U.S. envoy to Taiwan, has repeatedly urged Taiwan government to make a science-based decision on fully opening its market to U.S. beef.

All of Taiwan's scientific review and technical work indicates that U.S. beef does not pose a threat of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, Young tells the Taiwan News.

U.S. de-boned beef from cattle under age 30 months was allowed back into Taiwan in 2005, but local government continued the broader ban after a second Mad Cow was found in the U.S.

In South Korea, the Seoul Central Prosecutor's Office indicted four producers and a script writer of the "PD's Notepad," an investigative television program aired on MBC for airing a story on the Mad Cow threat from U.S. beef.

Portland Nutrition Examiner Gets Its Wrong--Mad Cow Disease Is Rare; Does Not Happen "Often"

Mad Cow — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:48:43 -0800

We do not wish to pick on anyone.

Over the transom this morning came the work of the “Portland Nutrition Examiner,” Kendall Scott. Writing under a headline---Do you know where your meat and animal products come from?—she wrote:

“According to former cattle rancher, Howard Lyman, many cattle, animals that were never meant to eat meat, end up being fed their own kind, and this often results in Mad Cow Disease. This food-borne illness can then be passed on to humans eating meat from those animals.”

We are use words like “many” and “often.” There are many trees in the forest. People often drive through yellow lights. Those work. “Many” and “often”, however, are not words to be used when writing about Mad Cow Disease.

We write this blog knowing that Mad Cow Disease is rare and that research into all the Prion diseases is fascinating and demands our attention.

We cannot help but point out that several sites on the web that appear dedicated to Mad Cow hysteria haven’t had any new posts in months or years, including Mr. Lyman’s. As indicated below, only three cows infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease have been located in U.S. herds. (See blue boxes below) Since this chart was published, a 16th infected animal was found in an animal in Canada. None of these animals entered the human food chain, nor were they fed to other beasts.

Next, we look at so-called "new variant" Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the human form of Mad Cow Disease thought to be contracted from eating contaminated beef.

The three people who've died in America from nvCJD appear to have all contracted the disease out of the country. Same story with the one death in Canada.

On a world-wide basis, outside of England and France where the original Mad Cow outbreak occurred, nvCJD is rare.

COUNTRY	TOTAL NUMBER OF PRIMARY CASES (NUMBER ALIVE)	TOTAL NUMBER OF SECONDARY CASES: BLOOD TRANSFUSION (NUMBER ALIVE)	CUMULATIVE RESIDENCE IN UK > 6 MONTHS DURING PERIOD 1980-1996
UK	165 (4)	3 (0)	168
France	24 (1)	-	1
Republic of Ireland	4 (0)	-	2
Italy	1 (0)	-	0
USA	3 ^† (0)	-	2
Canada	1 (0)	-	1
Saudi Arabia	1 (1)	-	0
Japan	1* (0)	-	0
Netherlands	3 (0)	-	0
Portugal	2 (0)	-	0
Spain	5 (0)	-	0

^†the third US patient with vCJD was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and has lived permanently in the United States since late 2005. According to the US case-report, the patient was most likely infected as a child when living in Saudi Arabia.

*the case from Japan had resided in the UK for 24 days in the period 1980-1996.

Source: The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit (NCJDSU), University of Edinburgh. February 2009.

Our final word to Ms. Scott: "Chill."

UK May Have Mad Cow Disease Death of 22-Year Old Man

Mad Cow — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:21:27 -0800

The family of the United Kingdom's Andrew 'Rew' Hawker are confident that when test results are in, they will show he died from variant CJD---linked to eating BSE infected meat.

Hawker died at at King's Mill Hospital on 7th May after being struck down by pneumonia while he fought the degenerative neurological disorder.

The 22-year old Bilsthorpe man has died from a suspected case of the incurable Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) — better known as 'mad cow' disease. Health experts have told his family Andrew suffered from the more common sporadic form of CJD which usually affects 45-75 year olds.

Hawker was diagnosed with the brain disease in October last year and his brave fight against it touched the hearts of his devastated friends and family.

For more on this tragic death, go here.