POLITICS: Did Chemical and Drug Industries Create Mad Cow?, page 1
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Topic started on 7-2-2005 @ 09:52 PM by soficrow
Researchers now have proved conclusively that prions can be created by laboratory techniques. The news has far-reaching political and economic implications. Prions are the misfolded proteins infamous for causing Mad Cow disease. Scientists long have known that many standard laboratory techniques and chemical processes cause proteins to misfold and clump together, or "aggregate." This tendency for proteins to misfold and aggregate has frustrated researchers, and chemical and drug manufacturers for half a century. Until now, prion researchers have not proved conclusively that such artificially created misfolded proteins could be infectious.






www.sfgate.com
Scientists at UCSF have created synthetic prions - tiny protein particles - and shown they can cause brain disease in laboratory animals and replicate...

...Prusiner, Legname and their colleagues created a large fragment of a normal prion protein and folded it using lab techniques into an abnormal shape...

"The findings represent a renaissance in prion biology," Prusiner said in a statement released by UCSF. "...which will change the way scientists do experiments in the field."





Please visit the link provided for the complete story.



Some prions do occur naturally, but prion researchers have little doubt that most misfolded prions are man-made, or result from human activities. For example, many prescription and over-the-counter drugs 'target' proteins, so proteins are needed for drug research. Chemical companies manufacture proteins, and one of the biggest problems in protein manufacturing is that the proteins tend to misfold and clump together or "aggregate."

Proteins misfold in the production process regularly - a huge problem in commercial manufacturing.




Producing commercially important recombinant proteins in large quantities has long been a headache for biotechnology companies, particularly if the protein of interest has a tendency to fold incorrectly.

www.nature.com...




In fact, it is so common for proteins to misfold in production processes or during experiments that developing a protein resistant to misfolding usually results in an industry Press Release. Systems to monitor protein folding and misfolding also have a secure market niche.

Protein misfolding in commercial protein production may be caused by many different laboratory techniques including the use of centrifuges, and exposing proteins to electricity, electro-magnetic fields and temperature changes.

A great many manufacturing and research processes produce misfolded proteins as a byproduct, or accidentally. Prion scientists believe that any misfolded protein may have the ability to become infectious.




"Scientists think if the proteins misfold, they can become infectious..."

Misfolded Proteins Infectious




The scientists who insist misfolded proteins are benign are generally employed or funded by, or associated with chemical and drug companies. In the end, it is the controversy that is synthetic. Industry-generated denials that prions are infectious have to do with liability and profit.

Drug companies and researchers have been creating misfolded proteins for a very long time, and releasing raw prion aggregates into the environment. If misfolded proteins are benign and not infectious, it doesn't matter, and they're off the hook. But if the misfolded proteins created by the chemical and drug industries are or can become infectious, then there is reason for great concern.

Unlike bacteria, viruses and other microbes, prions are not killed by standard decontamination and sterilization procedures.




…prions are notoriously difficult to break down… "We don't know why prions are so highly stable, but they are extremely hard to destroy. Indeed, one standard method of decontamination - soaking in fomaldehyde - actually stabilises the prions."

New Methods Work to Killing Prions




It is highly likely that infectious prions now contaminate most of the nation's soil, and from there, have seeped into groundwater to rivers, then into the oceans and seas. This means that drinking water is contaminated, and so is the water that's used to irrigate crops and water livestock, to make drinks and beverages, to reconstitute juice, to process food, and the list goes on.

Prions in Soil


It is simple to deal with industry created prions: Make it illegal to dump misfolded proteins and aggregates into standard waste removal systems; require industry to create new, effective systems to handle prion contaminated waste, and to filter and destroy misfolded proteins from waste.

Cleaning up the results of past negligence will be more complicated and expensive, but also doable.



Related News Links:
www.msnbc.msn.com
www.newstarget.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
POLITICS: Mad Cow-causing Prions Found in All Organs
SCI/TECH: "Mad Cow" Spreading in Deer and Elk
SCI/TECH: "Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body
OP/ED: The Final Solution

[edit on 7-2-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 7-2-2005 by soficrow]


reply posted on 8-2-2005 @ 12:34 AM by soficrow
Originally posted by twitchy


"Who profits from the mad cow terror?"
100777.com...



HOLY !!! Gotta post the first few paras from that link...




MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5. 2001 Mark Purdey, the very bright British farmer who claims mad cow disease is really caused by the insecticide Phosmet, has had some trouble. His house was burned down. Corporate Watch magazine (issue 12) reports that his barn suddenly collapsed and his library of med/science materials was damaged. Purdey was shot at. His phone lines were cut. Purdey went to court to defend his right not to give his cows Phosmet. His lawyer, who won the case, died in a car crash. Purdey's veterinarian, who claimed Purdey had perhaps found a clue to mad cow disease, also died in a car accident.

Phosmet is spread on the spines of cows to eradicate a pest. It is manufactured by Zeneca Corp., a spinoff of the Brit chem giant Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). ICI was originally founded out of the famous explosives firm, Nobel. ICI was one of those big companies which was involved with the Nazi cartel IG Farben. Zeneca makes the cancer drug Tamoxifen, which has been linked to ovarian cancer.

Not a pretty picture. Phosmet, which is an organophosphate compound, comes out of a long line of research on nerve gas. IG Farben pioneered that research long ago. ...




...Many chemicals cause proteins to misfold - and it's been known for a long, long time...

Howard - ever heard the phrase "Policy of Benign Neglect"? Britain did it in Africa, Canada did it with her Indians... It's a very polite and well-mannered form of genocide - and legally defensible.

Billybob, everyone, great discussion, links and info.




.



reply posted on 8-2-2005 @ 01:16 AM by Azeari of the Radiant Eye
Originally posted by soficrow
...Mark Purdey, the very bright British farmer who claims mad cow disease is really caused by the insecticide Phosmet, has had some trouble.


I remember when this story first came out...funny how it sort of died.

Here is the original story from April 98.

Here is an interview with Mr. Purdey from April 01.

This leads to some BBC search results on Purdey's name.

Finally, here is a link to a fascinating story about the discovery of a CJD-like disease discovered among a tribe of cannibals from Papua New Guinea.


reply posted on 8-2-2005 @ 09:40 AM by Azeari of the Radiant Eye
I thought it might be worth reposting a link to this thread: ATS Thread

I said:

One angle that hasn't been mentioned is hamburger ("mince", over here). When you think about the fact that a typical pound of hamburger could contain bits from perhaps hundreds of different animals (I saw the exact stat once, can't find it now), that really increases the odds of any one portion being infected.


And later clarified:

Originally posted by superdude
I understand what you're saying about knowing it is solely from one animal, however does this in any way help to ensure that BSE is not present? Is there special testing done when the animal is slaughtered?

No, it just improves the odds of it NOT being present in that particular meal. The odds of any single animal having it is astronomically smal, but if you eat someting made from tiny pieces of 500 (or whatever) animals, the odds are increased by a factor of 500. The odds are still small, but keep doing it over & over again, keep eating supermarket hamburger 2 or 3 times a week...eventually you've eaten a tiny bit of thousands of individual animals. Maybe tens of thousands over a lifetime?


I think it's a point worth making again: whatever the cause, it makes sense to at least try & reduce the number of individual animals you eat. Traceability makes sense, too, as does organic (or something close at least).



reply posted on 8-2-2005 @ 11:46 AM by soficrow
Originally posted by Azeari of the Radiant Eye
I thought it might be worth reposting a link to this thread:
ATS Thread

it makes sense to at least try & reduce the number of individual animals you eat. Traceability makes sense, too, as does organic (or something close at least).




Good link. Thanks.

Re: reducing the # of individual animals. ...My research says that different strains fight with one another in the body - ie., compete for the same prey - and the body comes out ahead. So my thinking is, a varied diet with more strains is better...



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