SCI/TECH: BSE May Infect Tissues Once Thought Safe to Eat

Swiss researchers find that prions causing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), the disease thought to cause mad cow disease in humans, may infect organs outside of the central nervous system and immune system. Laboratory mice infected with BSE have shown evidence of prions existing in the liver, kidneys and pancreas. Mad cow disease has killed over 140 people in the United Kingdom.



If true this finding could mean disaster for public health and the beef industry. Current precautions against the spread of BSE and mad cow disease may be ineffective. The U.S. decided to resume imports of Canadian beef prior to another case being identified there -- this discovery could cast further doubt on the wisdom of that decision.

Related News Links:
www.newsday.com
seattlepi.nwsource.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
NEWS: Canadian Food Inspection Agency says suspected case of mad cow detected
mad cow could be the end




[edit on 21-1-2005 by TrickmastertricK]

I'm surprised no one has commented on this yet. Am I the only one who thinks this is disturbing news?

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I'm surprised no one has commented on this yet. Am I the only one who thinks this is disturbing news?

Good find. Hang tough - I need to pull some research files.


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Oh ain't this nice news? Just when you thought you could get a big beef burger, now turns out that the BSE is spread throughtout the whole animal. I guess in the near future they(the food police), will tell us not to eat anything. Man I love my 2in. thick ribeye or my New York strip just like the next man but this news is either true or disinformation. Kind of makes we wonder why we have a USDA if they don't have enoungh manpower to ck. the meat they way it should do. Are there any of you readers who like a good steak and are now kind of worried with every bite you take might incubate in your system for a period of time until it turns your body and brain into a mush? I would bet if we all banded together and not bought any beef for a say a period of 2 or 3 months not only would the outragious prices come down quick but there would be more control and that would have to force the govt. and the meat producers to pay more attention to the product they are rushing out the doors of their meatpacking plants!

BSE seems to only affect Europeans, or something. With all the beef eaten here, with the shoddy work done by the FDA, and federal oversight of agriculture here in the States, and the country that may have invented the process of "backhauling", we should be seeing thousands of cases of this. IIRC, there's been less than 5 cases?

Tinfoil hat time, I'm starting to wonder how "real" this disease is, how real it's threat. I'm reminded of that line from a Brosnan Bond film where the media-mogul villian blithely mentions causing the BSE scare to win a bet against his cattle-ranch baron competitor.

Don't shoot me for bringing up John Titor again but...

January 31, 2001 02:14 AM
"The "Mad Cow" story here is yet to begin but don't worry, the fruited gelatin deserts are safe."

02/15/01 17:06 (right now) 420
((Do you feel some pleasure in breathing clean air and not having to check a geiger counter every few miles?))
Yes I do. However there is a fear about being here that I can only define as uncertainty. When I walk around in 2001, the air smells clean but I wonder if it really is. In 2036, there is no gray. The air is either clean or it will kill you. That feeling is very overwhelming when I eat here.

02/15/01 17:06 (predictions for the future) 421
You mean other than the mad cow pandemic, the breakthroughs in high-energy physics and the unknown functions of the 5100?

BSE may have been a reality at the time he posted these comments. but all the experts were 100% positive it couldn't be passed through muscle tissue. Now they're not so positive and indeed people will be worrying about everything from hamburger to gelatin...

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
Don't shoot me for bringing up John Titor again but...

January 31, 2001 02:14 AM
"The "Mad Cow" story here is yet to begin but don't worry, the fruited gelatin deserts are safe."

02/15/01 17:06 (right now) 420
((Do you feel some pleasure in breathing clean air and not having to check a geiger counter every few miles?))
Yes I do. However there is a fear about being here that I can only define as uncertainty. When I walk around in 2001, the air smells clean but I wonder if it really is. In 2036, there is no gray. The air is either clean or it will kill you. That feeling is very overwhelming when I eat here.

02/15/01 17:06 (predictions for the future) 421
You mean other than the mad cow pandemic, the breakthroughs in high-energy physics and the unknown functions of the 5100?

BSE may have been a reality at the time he posted these comments. but all the experts were 100% positive it couldn't be passed through muscle tissue. Now they're not so positive and indeed people will be worrying about everything from hamburger to gelatin...

I was thinking the same thing bigprobe! It's possible existance in muscle tissue calls everything into question.

Originally posted by djohnsto77

It's possible existance in muscle tissue calls everything into question.

Sorry dj - got distracted with other stuff.

FYI - this is old news. Has been known for a long while that prions are in muscle tissue - and through the body from the pancreas to the tonsils, bone, marrow, everywhere... Prions are also excreted in urine and milk... And new strains are created when new cells or species are infected - and in response to environmental change (like heating or freezing)...

...The dosage or level of exposure is important - prion infection works by the numbers - low exposure may not take - the disease progresses slowly because cells are infected by direct contact (takes time). Ie., doubling - takes decades for 2 infected cells to spread to 1 million - but the next double to 2 million is relatively immediate...

...THE GOOD NEWS - strains compete - so if the body is exposed to 3 or 4 different prion strains simultaneously, chances are good that normal healthy protein/cells will win the battle...

...fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) obviously is a prion-related disease - it causes actin proteins to mis-fold in connective tissue stem cells into "a-smooth muscle actin" - and nearly 100% of Americans are infected by adulthood.

... But FMD is not defined as a prion disease - instead, like all other related diseases, it's sometimes called a protein folding disorder.

Which is supposed to make it less scary.. ....There is SO much more to this story...



I do have references for all of this - will provide on request. ...But fyi - Swiss researcher Aguzzi has done a lot... and if you search my name +fibromuscular dysplasia you will find lots of medical refs and links.
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