By Yu Ying-fu
Monday, Nov 30, 2009, Page 8 A referendum proposal on US beef launched by civic groups including the Consumers’ Foundation, the Homemakers’ Union and Foundation, the John Tung Foundation and the National Health Insurance Surveillance Alliance has passed the first application threshold and is proceeding to the second stage.
The proposed referendum suggests rejecting the Department of Health’s decision to allow imports of US bone-in beef, ground beef, bovine internal organs, spinal cord, etc, starting today. It further seeks to reopen negotiations with the US over beef imports.
For the referendum application to proceed, its proponents must collect the signatures of 5 percent of the total number of people who were eligible to vote in the most recent presidential election.
Gathering the signatures of hundreds of thousands of people across the country is no simple feat. As a lawyer, I have experience handling consumer complaints, for example against the Taipei City Government’s bus office and Eastern Multimedia Group.
I helped distribute official signature forms for the present proposal for a referendum on US beef. But based on my past experience, I am concerned that the signature drive will fail.
The proposed referendum says that the protocol on US beef imports signed by Taiwan and the US in Washington on Oct. 22 allows imports of bone-in beef, ground beef, processed beef products not contaminated with specific risk materials, central nervous system parts and meat scraps stripped by machine from cows less than 30 months old.
This deal sparked fear among consumers, while pan-blue and pan-green politicians have opposed the protocol, as have several county and city governments.
The government’s decision to relax restrictions on the import of bone-in beef, internal organs and other beef products from the US despite documented cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also called mad cow disease) there — and political meddling by the government and the National Security Council in the decisions of experts at the health department are not appropriate in a democracy.
Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say that treatment for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which is caused by abnormal prions from infected meat, cannot be cured. There is no treatment to slow or halt the course of the disease. Anyone infected with vCJD is on the road to inevitable death.
The only way to be sure of not getting the illness is to avoid eating beef products from BSE-affected countries.
To this day there have been no cases of the abnormal prion in Taiwan. Once in Taiwan, however, how would Taiwan get rid of it?
The government insists that US bone-in beef is safe, yet when the Ministry of Audit delivered a report on Oct. 27 to the legislature on the central government’s final account for last year, Auditor-General Lin Ching-long (???) said that, as of last year, the health department did not have enough personnel, funding or equipment to inspect and test US beef imports.
Furthermore, the prion can escape detection by specialized tests. This is because concentrations of the prion in certain body parts are so low that no technology exists that can guarantee that meat is free of it.
The prion’s presence can only be detected within six months of the onset of BSE. Cows less than 30 months old may be in the incubation stage of the illness, making the prion undetectable.
Health authorities have no way of guaranteeing that US beef is free of the disease, so assurances that consumers will be protected are nothing but empty talk.
Since the government is not capable of effectively testing imported beef, it should not have relaxed restrictions. Doing so puts consumers at risk.
This is a matter of consumer rights and a question of life or death for us and for future generations.
If not enough people sign the petition for this referendum proposal, Taiwan will be an object of disdain for the South Koreans. At least the South Koreans took to the streets in the hundreds of thousands to fight imports of US beef.
Yu Ying-fu is a lawyer.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/11/30/2003459764
Taiwan - Inquiry into US beef imports 30 Nov 2009
Premier Wu Den-yih (???) yesterday called for “mutual respect” between Taiwan and the US, as Taipei moved to adopt measures to block imports of US ground beef and bovine offal.
Wu dismissed remarks made by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt when he met with Legislative Speaker Wang Jyn-ping (???) on Monday that the controversy surrounding Taiwan’s relaxation of US beef imports was a “phony issue,” saying it was a “real issue of concern to the public.”
“We respect what [Burghardt] said, but we think and feel differently about this issue as he is an American and from a beef-exporting country,” Wu told reporters at the Executive Yuan.
“When people still have doubts over the safety of US ground beef and bovine offal, of course the government has to prohibit imports of such products,” Wu said. “We respect [Burghardt’s] views, and we hope he can understand the public sentiment.”
Taiwan recently signed a protocol with the US to expand market access for US beef to include bone-in beef and other beef products that have not been contaminated with “specific risk materials.”
OUTCRY
In response to a public outcry, the government promised to adopt administrative means to block ground beef and bovine offal, a move supported by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, but a stance that has put them at odds with their Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterparts, who have proposed amending the Act Governing Food Sanitation (???????) to statutorily ban the imports.
Wu said the KMT’s version of the amendments — requiring all imports of ground beef and intestines be thawed for examination in a way that will effectively destroy the products — could create a win-win-win situation to safeguard public health, conform to the spirit of the WTO and respect the Taiwan-US protocol.
“I think there would be no reason for the US to oppose [administrative measures] targeting ground beef and bovine offal, which account for between 1 and 3 percent of its exports, nor would it let [the controversy] pose a negative influence on imports of its bone-in beef into Taiwan,” the premier said.
‘RISKY’ PRODUCTS
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (???) said yesterday it was unlikely the legislature would deal with a number of proposed amendments to the Act Governing Food Sanitation seeking to ban “risky” beef products from the US before the local elections next Saturday.
“We can sit down and discuss the proposals after the elections or the legislature will be paralyzed as a result,” Wang told reporters.
Wang made the remarks after the DPP once again occupied the speaker’s podium and threatened to boycott plenary sessions through next Saturday.
PARALYZED
The DPP has paralyzed the plenary session since Nov. 3, making it impossible for any bills to clear the legislative floor over the past three weeks.
By law, the legislature should review and pass the central government’s fiscal budget request by the end of next month.
The deadlock continued because the DPP and the KMT still could not agree on the wording of the proposals.
The DPP would like to enshrine a ban on “risky” US beef products in the law, while the KMT wants to authorize the government to draw up measures to inspect bovine products from places where the risk of mad cow disease has been under control.
The KMT caucus condemned the DPP for paralyzing the plenary session again.
At a press conference, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (???) accused the DPP of refusing to negotiate relevant proposals even if the KMT had proposed a week ago to “ban the import of beef materials or products that are found risky or inedible.”
Showing reporters a number of snapshots of yesterday morning’s plenary session, KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (???) said only three DPP legislators — Chai Trong-rong (???), Yeh Yi-jin (???) and Kuo Wen-cheng (???) — participated in the boycott, while the remaining 25 DPP lawmakers were absent.
Lu accused the DPP of manipulating the controversy for political gain in the elections.
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (???) alleged that the DPP mobilized supporters to paralyze his phone lines in protest against his proposed amendment to the act.
Kung’s proposal sought to “draw up measures to inspect beef products from areas where the risk of mad cow disease has been under control.”
Kung said his cellphone and the phone at his office had been paralyzed by angry callers since an anonymous Netizen posted an article on Coolloud — a Web site for civic groups to publicize press releases and press conference notices — calling on the public to call the 22 KMT legislators endorsing Kung’s proposal.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (???) said yesterday that Burghardt could not be more erroneous on the safety of US beef, demanding the US envoy recant his statement that US beef was safe for human consumption.
“It is possible that because Burghardt does not live on the continental US, he has lost touch with the current situation [of beef safety] and needs to be taught a lesson,” Huang said.
The TSU said the Consumer Union — a US-based consumer protection foundation — is engaged in a dispute with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), arguing that the US private meat plants should be allowed to conduct their own tests on cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Huang said that the Consumer Union has long questioned the safety of US beef because of the prevalent practice of using chicken excrement as part of cow feed.
Such a practice has been blamed for being a source of BSE and other neurological diseases found in US cattle, Huang said.
Although the Consumer Union has formally asked the FDA to allow private meat establishments to conduct their own BSE tests, which the TSU said would only cost US$0.10 per test, the US government has flatly refused to do so, he said.
“Burghardt was obviously dead wrong when he said US beef is safe for human consumption and that no one in the US worries about its safety. He must recant his statement because, Mr Burghardt, you are wrong,” Huang said.
Source: taipeitimes
http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/301109/taiwan___inquiry_into_us_beef_imports.aspx
'Flash mob' US beef protest held outside Presidential Office
BLOGGERS WITH A BEEF: Protesters said it was the beginning of a campaign in which they hoped to stage a daily 'flash mob' protest at MRT stations By Ko Shu-ling STAFF REPORTER Monday, Nov 30, 2009, Page 3 A small group of bloggers and Internet users staged a “flash mob” protest in front of the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon to oppose the government’s decision to relax restrictions on US bone-in beef and beef products.
Chen Tai-yuan (???), who led the nine-strong protest, said yesterday was just the beginning of a long campaign and they hoped to stage at least one flash mob protest a day at mass rapid transit system (MRT) stations. Videos of the protests would be posted on YouTube, he said.
Chanting “Oppose toxic beef! Just say no! Relaunch negotiations,” participants in black lay on the ground for two minutes playing dead. They staged two protests, an hour apart.
Chen said they wore black to signify a funeral for President Ma Ying-jeou (???) and his administration, which he said had failed to protect the health of the public.
“Vegetarians can get mad cow disease,” he said. “There is a proven case in India.”
While the administration has reassured the public on the safety of US bone-in beef and beef products, Chen said he was not convinced.
“If it is safe, why did Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (???) say he would only eat US beef if President Ma eats it,” he said.
When asked whether he would eat US beef if Ma ate it in public to vouch for its safety, Chen said if Ma was willing to risk his own life that was his business.
Chen said he looked at the matter from two perspectives. One was whether US beef was safe and the other was how the administration had conducted its negotiations with Washington.
On the safety of US beef, Chen said Japan had sent food safety experts to the US to examine the slaughter of cattle younger than 20 months old and the expenses had been paid for by the US government. Taiwan, on the other hand, was conducting random checks at its own expense.
“Why? Are we second-class citizens or something?” he said. “Where is our dignity?”
Participants in yesterday’s protest said they supported the cause, but did not want their faces to be seen.
An 18-year-old who covered his face with a denim jacket said media exposure would not be good for his modeling career. Another participant wearing a surgical mask, black sunglasses and a baseball cap said he was not a supporter of the Democratic Progressive Party, but he believed in the ban on US bone-in beef. His position, however, ran counter to that of his company, a TV station.
Peng Lung-san (???), a motor scooter mechanic, lamented the fact that ordinary people were powerless, saying the government did whatever it wanted in its own interests.
Speaking from his own experience, Peng said the Taipei City Government had turned a deaf ear to his pleas not to demolish his apartment to make way for a new, bigger building complex. He said the city approved of such projects under the pretext of “urban planning.”
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/11/30/2003459780
Greetings,
I would like comment on the facts about USA and BSE and CJD aka mad cow disease, and the rights of the Honorable People of Taiwan and all consumers. This same old song and dance has been played out time and time again, if it not be Taiwan, it was Korea, if not Korea, it was Japan, Canada, ... etc. etc.
It's all about only one thing, TRADE! Science has nothing to do with it. When the BSE GBR risk assessments and trade there from was abolished, when the OIE and the USDA made legal the trading of all strains of TSE globally, the consumer lost. AS with just what happened recently with the atypical Scrapie NOR-98, USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 FROM THE ANIMAL HEALTH CODE. IT can be traded freely now. AS with the atypical BSE cases in the USA, USDA et al have twisted this too into nothing more than an old cow prion disease, not to worry, with the cart before the horse again. When in fact atypical BSE seems to be more virulent than the typical BSE, with both the atypical l-BSE and h-BSE and the typical c-BSE, all documented in North America. The USA has systematically tried to cover up all cases of mad cow disease in the USA, but they failed to do it. A few were accidently reported, and then only with an act of Congress, were they confirmed. IF not for the OIG and the Honorable Phyllis Fong, that mad cow in Texas (the second one, the first stumbling and staggering mad cow in Texas in 2001 they refused to test at all, and sent it to be rendered), that 2nd Texas mad cow would have never been confirmed. The way it was, it took 7 months and literally an act of Congress to confirm it. Then the Alabama mad cow showed up. There is a long line of mad cow cover ups in the USA. They have been documented and ignored. The thing about Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, it's the long, very long incubation period from time of exposure, to clinical symptoms, and then to death, for the ones that do become clinically affected, death is absolute, it is 100% fatal. But for some, they become exposed, and never go clinical. It is a false sense of security, that left unchecked, could come back to haunt the world. Most every scientist around the Globe knows full well that the USA Enhanced BSE surveillance program of 2004, and the Harvard BSE Risk Assessment of BSE in the USA, both were terribly flawed, and proven to be so. There is no doubt that the total of some 800,000+ BSE test were meaningless, due to these flaws, and proven to be so. The August 4, 1997 partial and voluntary mad cow feed ban in the USA was also terribly flawed, and proven to be so. For Pete's sake were are still feeding cows to cows in the USA in 2009. THE USDA et al let our children for 4 years feed on dead stock downer cows through the school lunch program, the most high risk cattle for mad cow disease. WHO will watch the children for the next 5+ decades for CJD. Sporadic CJD has been on the rise year and year in the USA, from 28 in 1996 and earlier to 205 cases in 2008, which includes 38 cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded. nvCJD (which is vCJD now), is human BSE i.e. nvCJD from UK cattle. When UK sheep scrapie was transmitted to UK cattle, typical c-BSE was born, and nvCJD to humans there from. HOWEVER, when USA sheep scrapie was transmitted to USA cattle, your typical UK c-BSE was not the outcome, but something pathologically different. SO, Confucius ask, why then would USA human mad cow, look like UK nvCJD. It would NOT. There are many strains of scrapie, some 20+ different strains, with the atypical scrapie (NOR-98), and BSE in sheep. with the recent decisions of the OIE and the USDA et al on Nor-98, and deregulating that TSE, simply for trade, is like putting the horse before the cart, because they do not have the science to date to validate this human gamble. TYPICAL scrapie transmits to primate by their non-force oral consumption. TO my knowledge, to date, there have been no oral transmission studies done on atypical Scrapie NOR-98. WHAT about CWD? very little is known about CWD in the USA. now, there are two documented strains of CWD in cervids. CWD transmits to primates. WHAT about TME i.e. mad mink disease also in the USA? all these TSE have been rendered and fed to animals for human and animal consumption for over a decade. sporadic CJD rising in the USA of unknown route and sou ce. sporadic CJD in young and old people in the USA. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do know one thing, we have floundered way too long, and too export these TSE around the globe is just damn wrong in my opinion, and the consumers of these Countries receiving our highly potentially tainted products must have all the facts, not just part of them. WE must not allow the OIE and the USDA do what the U.K. did, that is export their tainted mad cow products around the Globe, except this time they just made it legal. There is much more to this nightmare than just the oral consumption, we must think 'friendly fire' there from. ...TSS
>>> In the papers, the government alleges the meatpacking plant slaughtered and processed downer cows for nearly four years — from January 2004 to September 2007 — at the average rate of one every six weeks...<<<
http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/09/suit-meatpacker-used-downer-cows-for-4.html
do you actually believe all these schools recalled this meat because of a few cattle being abused ?
see list ;
FNS All Regions Affected School Food Authorities By State United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service National School Lunch Program March 24, 2008 School Food Authorities Affected by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. Beef Recall February 2006 - February 2008
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/Hallmark-Westland_byState.pdf
Members of The HSUS are also concerned about the meat products provided to their children through the National School Lunch Program. More than 31 million school children receive lunches through the program each school day. To assist states in providing healthful, low-cost or free meals, USDA provides states with various commodities including ground beef. As evidenced by the HallmarkNVestland investigation and recall, the potential for downed animals to make their way into the National School Lunch Program is neither speculative nor hypothetical.
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/FDA/hsus-v-schafer-usda-complaint.pdf
PLEASE SEE ;
Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME.
snip...
95%) downer or dead dairy cattle and a few horses. Sheep had never been fed.
snip...
We believe that these findings may indicate the presence of a previously unrecognized scrapie-like disease in cattle and wish to alert dairy practitioners to this possibility.
snip...
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL WESTERN CONFERENCE FOR FOOD ANIMAL VETERINARY MEDICINE, University of Arizona, March 17-19, 1986
http://web.archive.org/web/20030331063559/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09a/tab01.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf
IN CONFIDENCE PERCEPTIONS OF UNCONVENTIONAL SLOW VIRUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS IN THE USA
http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf
3.56 A further difference in the transmission properties of the two diseases was the pattern of disease caused in the brains of experimental animals. Mice inoculated with scrapie material from geographically and temporally distinct sources were found to have variable brain lesions, whereas mice inoculated with BSE material similarly derived from different sources all had very similar patterns of disease. 30 These results showed that, unlike scrapie, only one strain of BSE was present in the inocula derived from different sources. As the current hypothesis suggested that scrapie had transmitted to cattle at a number of geographically separate sites, it might have been expected that several strains of BSE would have been evident, given that over 20 strains of scrapie were known. Since 1996, strain-typing studies in mice have shown that the lesion profile produced by BSE is different to all known scrapie strains. 31
3.57 The experiment which might have determined whether BSE and scrapie were caused by the same agent (ie, the feeding of natural scrapie to cattle) was never undertaken in the UK. It was, however, performed in the USA in 1979, when it was shown that cattle inoculated with the scrapie agent endemic in the flock of Suffolk sheep at the United States Department of Agriculture in Mission, Texas, developed a TSE quite unlike BSE. 32 The findings of the initial transmission, though not of the clinical or neurohistological examination, were communicated in October 1988 to Dr Watson, Director of the CVL, following a visit by Dr Wrathall, one of the project leaders in the Pathology Department of the CVL, to the United States Department of Agriculture. 33 The results were not published at this point, since the attempted transmission to mice from the experimental cow brain had been inconclusive. The results of the clinical and histological differences between scrapie-affected sheep and cattle were published in 1995. Similar studies in which cattle were inoculated intracerebrally with scrapie inocula derived from a number of scrapie-affected sheep of different breeds and from different States, were carried out at the US National Animal Disease Centre. 34 The results, published in 1994, showed that this source of scrapie agent, though pathogenic for cattle, did not produce the same clinical signs of brain lesions characteristic of BSE.
3.58 There are several possible reasons why the experiment was not performed in the UK. It had been recommended by Sir Richard Southwood (Chairman of the Working Party on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) in his letter to the Permanent Secretary of MAFF, Mr (now Sir) Derek Andrews, on 21 June 1988, 35 though it was not specifically recommended in the Working Party Report or indeed in the Tyrrell Committee Report (details of the Southwood Working Party and the Tyrell Committee can be found in vol. 4: The Southwood Working Party, 1988-89 and vol. 11: Scientists after Southwood respectively). The direct inoculation of scrapie into calves was given low priority, because of its high cost and because it was known that it had already taken place in the USA. 36 It was also felt that the results of such an experiment would be hard to interpret. While a negative result would be informative, a positive result would need to demonstrate that when scrapie was transmitted to cattle, the disease which developed in cattle was the same as BSE. 37 Given the large number of strains of scrapie and the possibility that BSE was one of them, it would be necessary to transmit every scrapie strain to cattle separately, to test the hypothesis properly. Such an experiment would be expensive. Secondly, as measures to control the epidemic took hold, the need for the experiment from the policy viewpoint was not considered so urgent. It was felt that the results would be mainly of academic interest. 38 3.59 Nevertheless, from the first demonstration of transmissibility of BSE in 1988, the possibility of differences in the transmission properties of BSE and scrapie was clear. Scrapie was transmissible to hamsters, but by 1988 attempts to transmit BSE to hamsters had failed. Subsequent findings increased that possibility.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010224062436/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/report/volume2/chaptea3.htm#820550
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
SEAC EFFECT OF AGE ON THE PATHOGENESIS OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES SEAC 103/2 (USDA CERTIFIED DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM)
http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/11/seac-effect-of-age-on-pathogenesis-of.html
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
SEAC NEW RESULTS ON IDIOPATHIC BRAINSTEM NEURONAL CHROMATOLYSIS (IBNC) FROM THE VETERINARY LABORATORIES AGENCY (VLA) SEAC 103/1
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2009/11/seac-new-results-on-idiopathic.html
2009 UPDATE ON ALABAMA AND TEXAS MAD COWS 2005 and 2006
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2006/08/bse-atypical-texas-and-alabama-update.html
Monday, October 19, 2009
Atypical BSE, BSE, and other human and animal TSE in North America Update October 2009
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2009/10/atypical-bse-bse-and-other-human-and.html
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Surveillance On the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and rabies in Taiwan and USA
http://usdavskorea.blogspot.com/2009/11/surveillance-on-bovine-spongiform.html
Monday, November 16, 2009
CANADA, USA, specified risk materials (SRMs), Environment, Fertilizer, AND Politics, just more BSe
http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2009/11/canada-usa-specified-risk-materials.html
Friday, September 4, 2009
FOIA REQUEST ON FEED RECALL PRODUCT 429,128 lbs. feed for ruminant animals may have been contaminated with prohibited material Recall # V-258-2009
http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/09/foia-request-on-feed-recall-product.html
Saturday, August 29, 2009
FOIA REQUEST FEED RECALL 2009 Product may have contained prohibited materials Bulk Whole Barley, Recall # V-256-2009
http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/08/foia-request-feed-recall-2009-product.html
----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/11/re-foia-request-on-feed-recall-product.html
MADCOW DISEASE USA SPONTANEOUS OR FEED ?
http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/
USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH CODE
OIE Scrapie Chapter Revision • Current draft recognizes Nor98-like scrapie as a separate disease from classical scrapie • USDA provided comments on the draft to OIE
http://www.animalagriculture.org/Solutions/Proceedings/Annual%20Meeting/2009/Sheep%20&%20Goat/Myers,%20Thomas.pdf
Atypical scrapie/Nor 98 October 2009
Last year, after examining member country submissions and investigating rigorous scientific research, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) decided that Nor 98 should not be listed in its Terrestrial Animal Health Code. The Code sets out trade recommendations or restrictions for listed diseases or conditions, and the OIE determined there was no need for such recommendations around Nor 98.
http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/publications/ce-column/ce-web-nor98.htm
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files/pests/atypical-scrapie/atypical-scrapie-faq-oct09.pdf
Sutton reported that USDA has urged the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to categorize Nor98-like scrapie as a separate disease from classical scrapie. Currently, the OIE has proposed a draft revision of their scrapie chapter that would exclude Nor98-like scrapie from the chapter. USDA will be submitting it's comments on this proposal soon.
http://www.ohiosheep.org/Events/ScrapieNewsletterMarch09.pdf
see full text ;
Monday, November 30, 2009
USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH CODE
http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/11/usda-and-oie-collaborate-to-exclude.html
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 Susceptibilities of Nonhuman Primates to Chronic Wasting Disease
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/susceptibilities-of-nonhuman-primates.html
Sunday, April 12, 2009
CWD UPDATE Infection Studies in Two Species of Non-Human Primates and one Environmental reservoir infectivity study and evidence of two strains
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/04/cwd-update-infection-studies-in-two.html
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Detection of CWD Prions in Urine and Saliva of Deer by Transgenic Mouse Bioassay
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/detection-of-cwd-prions-in-urine-and.html
Thursday, July 23, 2009
UW Hospital warning 53 patients about possible exposure to rare brain disease
http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/07/uw-hospital-warning-53-patients-about.html
10.3201/eid1505.081458 Suggested citation for this article: Angers RC, Seward TS, Napier D, Green M, Hoover E, Spraker T, et al. Chronic wasting disease prions in elk antler velvet. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009 May; [Epub ahead of print]
Chronic Wasting Disease Prions in Elk Antler Velvet
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/chronic-wasting-disease-prions-in-elk.html
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Noah's Ark Holding, LLC, Dawson, MN RECALL Elk products contain meat derived from an elk confirmed to have CWD NV, CA, TX, CO, NY, UT, FL, OK RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: FOODS CLASS II
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/noahs-ark-holding-llc-dawson-mn-recall.html
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/02/exotic-meats-usa-announces-urgent.html
NOT only muscle, but now fat of CWD infected deer holds infectivity of the TSE (prion) agent. ...TSS
just follow the different topics and urls to the science and transmission studies. the transmission studies do not lie. only the politicians do. ...
and you don't even want to go to the mad cow issue and or the scrapie issue, and why should you $$$ your a sports writer, and this is much bigger than any of us will ever be, it was said long ago BSE would never be found in the USA. and due to the incubation period, it probably will not. but the BSE issue is just one phenotype. h and l and c BSE have all been found in North America.......... it's a damn political foot ball game, and we loose, and the animals loose $$$
Monday, July 13, 2009
Deer Carcass Decomposition and Potential Scavenger Exposure to Chronic Wasting Disease
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/07/deer-carcass-decomposition-and.html
CWD, GAME FARMS, BAITING, AND POLITICS
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/01/cwd-game-farms-baiting-and-politics.html
Monday, July 06, 2009
Prion infectivity in fat of deer with Chronic Wasting Disease
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/07/prion-infectivity-in-fat-of-deer-with.html
Friday, February 20, 2009
Both Sides of the Fence: A Strategic Review of Chronic Wasting Disease
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/02/both-sides-of-fence-strategic-review-of.html
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Chronic wasting disease in a Wisconsin white-tailed deer farm 79% INFECTION RATE
Contents: September 1 2008, Volume 20, Issue 5
snip...see full text ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2008/11/commentary-crimes-hurt-essence-of.html
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Chronic Wasting Disease found in a farmed elk from Olmsted County ST. PAUL, Minn. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, January 26, 2009
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/01/chronic-wasting-disease-found-in-farmed.html
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Research Project: Detection of TSE Agents in Livestock, Wildlife, Agricultural Products, and the Environment Location: 2008 Annual Report
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2009/01/research-project-detection-of-tse.html
2008 CWD Laboratory Testing for Wild White-tailed Deer
http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25806-202922--,00.html
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
CWD to tighten taxidermy rules Hunters need to understand regulations
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/01/cwd-to-tighten-taxidermy-rules-hunters.html
Thursday, December 25, 2008 Lions and Prions and Deer Demise
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2008/12/lions-and-prions-and-deer-demise.html
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 24, 2009
Third International CWD Symposium July 22-24, 2009 - Park City, Utah ABSTRACTS
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/third-international-cwd-symposium-july.html
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Transmissible mink encephalopathy - review of the etiology
http://transmissible-mink-encephalopathy.blogspot.com/
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Phenotypic Similarity of Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy in Cattle and L-type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in a Mouse Model
http://transmissible-mink-encephalopathy.blogspot.com/2007/12/phenotypic-similarity-of-transmissible.html
http://transmissible-mink-encephalopathy.blogspot.com/
PORCINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY PSE
http://madporcinedisease.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Transmissibility studies of vacuolar changes in the rostral colliculus of pigs
http://madporcinedisease.blogspot.com/2009/10/transmissibility-studies-of-vacuolar.html
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
MARCH 26, 2003
RE-Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States
Email Terry S. Singeltary:
flounder@wt.net
I lost my mother to hvCJD (Heidenhain Variant CJD). I would like to comment on the CDC's attempts to monitor the occurrence of emerging forms of CJD. Asante, Collinge et al [1] have reported that BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD. However, CJD and all human TSEs are not reportable nationally. CJD and all human TSEs must be made reportable in every state and internationally. I hope that the CDC does not continue to expect us to still believe that the 85%+ of all CJD cases which are sporadic are all spontaneous, without route/source. We have many TSEs in the USA in both animal and man. CWD in deer/elk is spreading rapidly and CWD does transmit to mink, ferret, cattle, and squirrel monkey by intracerebral inoculation. With the known incubation periods in other TSEs, oral transmission studies of CWD may take much longer. Every victim/family of CJD/TSEs should be asked about route and source of this agent. To prolong this will only spread the agent and needlessly expose others. In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?
http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535
Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States 2003 revisited 2009
August 10, 2009
Greetings,
I would like to submit a review of past CJD surveillance in the USA, and the urgent need to make all human TSE in the USA a reportable disease, in every state, of every age group, and to make this mandatory immediately without further delay. The ramifications of not doing so will only allow this agent to spread further in the medical, dental, surgical arena's. North America seems to have the most species with documented Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy's, most all of which have been rendered and fed back to food producing animals and to humans for years. If you look at the statistics, sporadic CJD seems to be rising in the USA, and has been, with atypical cases of the sCJD. I find deeply disturbing in the year of 2009, that Human Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy of any strain and or phenotype, of all age groups, and I stress all age groups, because human TSE's do not know age, and they do not know borders. someone 56 years old, that has a human TSE, that has surgery, can pass this TSE agent on i.e. friendly fire, and or passing it forward, and there have been documented nvCJD in a 74 year old. Remembering also that only sporadic CJD has been documented to transmit via iatrogenic routes, until recently with the 4 cases of blood related transmission, of which the origin is thought to be nvCJD donors. However most Iatrogenic CJD cases are nothing more than sporadic CJD, until the source is proven, then it becomes Iatrogenic. An oxymoron of sorts, because all sporadic CJD is, are multiple forms, or strains, or phenotypes of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, that the route and source and species have not been confirmed and or documented. When will the myth of the UKBSEnvCJD only theory be put to bed for good. This theory in my opinion, and the following there from, as the GOLD STANDARD, has done nothing more than help spread this agent around the globe. Politics and money have caused the terrible consequences to date, and the fact that TSEs are a slow incubating death, but a death that is 100% certain for those that are exposed and live long enough to go clinical. once clinical, there is no recourse, to date. But, while sub-clinical, how many can one exposed human infect? Can humans exposed to CWD and scrapie strains pass it forward as some form of sporadic CJD in the surgical and medical arenas? why must we wait decades and decades to prove this point, only to expose millions needlessly, only for the sake of the industries involved? would it not have been prudent from the beginning to just include all TSE's, and rule them out from there with transmission studies and change policies there from, as opposed to doing just the opposite? The science of TSE's have been nothing more than a political circus since the beginning, and for anyone to still believe in this one strain, one group of bovines, in one geographical location, with only one age group of human TSE i.e. nvCJD myth, for anyone to believe this today only enhances to spreading of these human and animal TSE's. This is exactly why we have been in this quagmire.
The ones that believe that there is a spontaneous CJD in 85%+ of all cases of human TSE, and the ones that do not believe that cattle can have this same phenomenon, are two of the same, the industry, and so goes the political science aspect of this tobacco and or asbestos scenario i.e. follow the money. I could go into all angles of this man made nightmare, the real facts and science, for instance, the continuing rendering technology and slow cooking with low temps that brewed this stew up, and the fact that THE USA HAD THIS TECHNOLOGY FIRST AND SHIPPED IT TO THE U.K. SOME 5 YEARS BEFORE THE U.S. STARTED USING THE SAME TECHNOLOGY, to save on fuel cost. This is what supposedly amplified the TSE agent via sheep scrapie, and spread via feed in the U.K. bovine, and other countries exporting the tainted product. BUT most everyone ignores this fact, and the fact that the U.S. has been recycling more TSE, from more species with TSEs, than any other country documented, but yet, it's all spontaneous, and the rise in sporadic CJD in the U.S. is a happenstance of bad luck ??? I respectfully disagree. To top that all off, the infamous BSE-FIREWALL that the USDA always brags about was nothing more than ink on paper, and I can prove this. YOU can ignore it, but this is FACT (see source, as late as 2007, in one recall alone, some 10,000,000 MILLION POUNDS OF BANNED MAD COW FEED WENT OUT INTO COMMERCE TO BE FED OUT, and most was never recovered. This was banned blood laced, meat and bone meal. 2006 was a banner year for banned mad cow protein going into commerce in the U.S. (see source of FDA feed ban warning letter below). I stress that the August 4, 1997 USA mad cow feed ban and this infamous BSE firewall, was nothing more than ink on paper, it was never enforceable.
I propose that the current diagnostic criteria for human TSEs only enhances and helps the spreading of human TSE from the continued belief of the UKBSEnvCJD only theory in 2009. With all the science to date refuting it, to continue to validate this old myth, will only spread this TSE agent through a multitude of potential routes and sources i.e. consumption, medical i.e., surgical, blood, dental, endoscopy, optical, nutritional supplements, cosmetics etc. I propose as with Aguzzi, Asante, Collinge, Caughey, Deslys, Dormont, Gibbs, Gajdusek, Ironside, Manuelidis, Marsh, et al and many more, that the world of TSE Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy is far from an exact science, but there is enough proven science to date that this myth should be put to rest once and for all, and that we move forward with a new classification for human and animal TSE that would properly identify the infected species, the source species, and then the route. This would further have to be broken down to strain of species and then the route of transmission would further have to be broken down. Accumulation and Transmission are key to the threshold from sub- clinical to clinical disease, and key to all this, is to stop the amplification and transmission of this agent, the spreading of, no matter what strain. In my opinion, to continue with this myth that the U.K. strain of BSE one strain TSE in cows, and the nv/v CJD one strain TSE humans, and the one geographical location source i.e. U.K., and that all the rest of human TSE are just one single strain i.e. sporadic CJD, a happenstance of bad luck that just happens due to a twisted protein that just twisted the wrong way, IN 85%+ OF ALL HUMAN TSEs, when to date there are 6 different phenotypes of sCJD, and growing per Gambetti et al, and that no other animal TSE transmits to humans ??? With all due respect to all Scientist that believe this, I beg to differ. To continue with this masquerade will only continue to spread, expose, and kill, who knows how many more in the years and decades to come. ONE was enough for me, My Mom, hvCJD i.e. Heidenhain Variant CJD, DOD 12/14/97 confirmed, which is nothing more than another mans name added to CJD, like CJD itself, Jakob and Creutzfeldt, or Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, just another CJD or human TSE, named after another human. WE are only kidding ourselves with the current diagnostic criteria for human and animal TSE, especially differentiating between the nvCJD vs the sporadic CJD strains and then the GSS strains and also the FFI fatal familial insomnia strains or the ones that mimics one or the other of those TSE? Tissue infectivity and strain typing of the many variants of the human and animal TSEs are paramount in all variants of all TSE. There must be a proper classification that will differentiate between all these human TSE in order to do this. With the CDI and other more sensitive testing coming about, I only hope that my proposal will some day be taken seriously. ...
please see history, and the ever evolving TSE science to date ;
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States 2003 revisited 2009
http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/06/monitoring-occurrence-of-emerging-forms.html
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Incidence and spectrum of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease variants with mixed phenotype and co-occurrence of PrPSc types: an updated classification
http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/11/incidence-and-spectrum-of-sporadic.html
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Characteristics of Established and Proposed Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Variants
Brian S. Appleby, MD; Kristin K. Appleby, MD; Barbara J. Crain, MD, PhD; Chiadi U. Onyike, MD, MHS; Mitchell T. Wallin, MD, MPH; Peter V. Rabins, MD, MPH
Background: The classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Heidenhain, and Oppenheimer-Brownell variants are sporadic CJD (sCJD) phenotypes frequently described in the literature, but many cases present with neuropsychiatric symptoms, suggesting that there may be additional sCJD phenotypes.
Objective: To characterize clinical, diagnostic, and molecular features of 5 sCJD variants.
Design: Retrospective analysis.
Setting: The Johns Hopkins and Veterans Administration health care systems.
Participants: Eighty-eight patients with definite or probable sCJD.
Main Outcome Measures: Differences in age at onset, illness progression, diagnostic test results, and molecular subtype.
Results: The age at onset differed among sCJD variants (P=.03); the affective variant had the youngest mean age at onset (59.7 years). Survival time (P.001) and the time to clinical presentation (P=.003) differed among groups. Patients with the classic CJD phenotype had the shortest median survival time from symptom onset (66 days) and those who met criteria for the affective sCJD variant had the longest (421 days) and presented to clinicians significantly later (median time from onset to presentation, 92 days; P=.004). Cerebrospinal fluid analyses were positive for 14-3-3 protein in all of the affective variants, regardless of illness duration. Periodic sharp-wave complexes were not detected on any of the electroencephalography tracings in the Oppenheimer-Brownell group; basal ganglia hyperintensity was not detected on brain magnetic resonance imaging in this group either. All of the Heidenhain variants were of the methionine/ methionine type 1 molecular subtype.
Conclusions: The classic CJD phenotype and the Heidenhain, Oppenheimer-Brownell, cognitive, and affective sCJD variants differ by age at disease onset, survival time, and diagnostic test results. Characteristics of these 5 phenotypes are provided to facilitate further clinicopathologic investigation that may lead to more reliable and timely diagnoses of sCJD.
Arch Neurol. 2009;66(2):208-215
snip...
COMMENT
snip...see full text ;
http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/characteristics-of-established-and.html
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Incidence and spectrum of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease variants with mixed phenotype and co-occurrence of PrPSc types: an updated classification
http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/11/incidence-and-spectrum-of-sporadic.html
BSE (Mad Cow) Update: Do Reports of sCJD Clusters Matter?
snip... see full text ;
http://cjdtexas.blogspot.com/
Friday, October 23, 2009
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Texas Data for Reporting Years 2000-2008
http://cjdtexas.blogspot.com/2009/10/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-surveillance.html
Sunday, August 10, 2008
A New Prionopathy OR more of the same old BSe and sporadic CJD
http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-prionopathy-or-more-of-same-old-bse.html
Research Project: Detection of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Agents in Livestock, Wildlife, Agricultural Products, and the Environment Location: Foodborne Contaminants Research
Project Number: 5325-32000-008-00 Project Type: Appropriated
Start Date: Apr 07, 2008 End Date: Apr 30, 2012
Objective: We will develop highly sensitive diagnostic tests to detect transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) in livestock and wildlife animal species prior to the onset of clinical disease. We will also develop tests to confirm the presence or absence of TSE disease agents in ingredients of animal origin and decontaminated environments.
Approach: The threat of BSE continues to affect export economics for US meat. Meanwhile scrapie continues to influence sheep profits and herd biosecurity, and CWD is spreading throughout North America. Thus U.S. animal industry stakeholders have identified detection of the TSE infectious agent (prions) as a priority biosecurity research issue essential for prevention of TSE diseases. We will build on our previous successes using mass spectrometry (MS) for high-sensitivity and specificity in detection of PrPsc as a marker for TSE infectivity in blood using a hamster scrapie model. We will also develop a novel PrP-null mouse strain and related myeloma cell culture system for production of monoclonal antibodies (MAb), which may be specific for PrPsc. We will then choose MS or MAb and validate our novel diagnostic for preclinical diagnosis of scrapie in sheep blood. Whereas MS and MAb methods rely on dissolved samples, contamination of agricultural products and environmental surfaces is associated with solid samples. So we will produce a cell culture based assay for TSE infectivity that is surface-adsorbed. After using the relatively convenient hamster model for early development, we will validate this technology for detection of scrapie in sheep brain on meat-and-bone meal and stainless steel. All work with infectious material will take place within our APHIS-approved BL2 biocontainment facilities labs at the Western Regional Research Center (WRRC), while mass spectrometry will be performed on non-infectious material under BL1 containment. Replacing 5325-32000-007-00D (3/19/2008).
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=413072
2008 Annual Report
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?ACCN_NO=413072&showpars=true&fy=2008
WE MUST TEST ALL LIVESTOCK PRODUCING ANIMALS FOR HUMAN AND ANIMAL FOOD FOR TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY.
WE MUST MAKE CJD AND ALL HUMAN TSE A REPORTABLE DISEASE OF ALL AGE GROUPS, IN EVERY STATE, AND INTERNATIONALLY.
and foremost, we must do these things properly. ...
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
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