Hot Topics - Diseases and vaccines - Mad Cow Disease/CJD
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Diseases and vaccines - Mad Cow Disease/CJD
March 1-7, 2004
►Mad Cow Disease, Mad Deer Disease - Chronic Wasting Disease, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - feature articles - Organic Consumers Association
February 23-29, 2004
►February 27, 2004 - Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
(update) - Questions and Answers on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - CBER via
FDA
►February 26, 2004 - Whence the Beef?
- The gruesome trip from pasture to platter (and how to ensure that it's not so
bad). - http://slate.msn.com
►February 25, 2004 - Science,
policy forum focuses on 'mad cow' and related diseases - Virginia Tech via
www.eurekalert.org
►February 25, 2004 -
IDEXX
test for mad cow disease takes next step - Portland Press Herald
February 16-22, 2004
►February 19, 2004 - Letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman concerning false or misleading government reassurances on mad cow disease (HRG Publication #1690) - Public Citizen’s Health Research Group
►February 19, 2004 - Mad Cow remains mystery, scientist tells Missoula crowd - www.missoulian.com
►February 2004 - Safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of a live, quadrivalent human-bovine reassortant rotavirus vaccine in healthy infants - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)
Comment: I wonder about the advisability of using bovine derived vaccine.
►February 18, 2004 - How Now, Mad Cow? - Common Dreams News Center - "Common Courage Press has just released the first paperback version of our 1997 book Mad Cow USA, the book that predicted the emergence of the deadly human and animal dementia disease in the United States. When Mad Cow USA was first published in November 1997, it bore the subtitle, 'Could the Nightmare Happen Here?' We used a question mark because we thought mad cow disease was possible but still preventable in the United States, if the meat industry and government regulators adopted adequate safety measures...Our book received favorable reviews at the time from some interesting publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, New Scientist, and Chemical & Engineering News. Otherwise, it went largely ignored and unheralded. It sold briskly but briefly during the infamous Texas trial of Oprah Winfrey for the alleged crime of "food disparagement," and then slid into obscurity until December 2003, when the 'nightmare' in our subtitle arrived and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman announced that mad cow disease has been found in the United States."
►February 18, 2004 - New BSE form identified - Evidence of disease in 'healthy' cows points to the discovery of a novel prion strain - The Scientist
►February 16, 2004 - New mad cow strain similar to human CJD - UPI - "Italian researchers said Monday they have discovered a new strain of mad cow disease that is very similar to a spontaneously occurring form of a deadly human brain disorder called sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease...Scientists previously thought the consumption of meat infected with the mad cow pathogen could only cause a specific form of the fatal disorder known as variant CJD...The new finding, which appears in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, increases the possibility some cases of sporadic CJD also could be due to mad cow-infected meat, said Salvatore Monaco, a co-author of the study and a professor in the department of Neurological and Visual Science at Policlinico G.B. Rossi in Verona, Italy"
February 9-15, 2004
Federal Panel Recommends More Testing for Mad Cow (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Joining a growing chorus, federal advisers on Friday urged the government to increase testing for mad cow disease greatly to better gauge if the United States has a problem, and if so, how widespread it is...The panelists said that without that data, there was no way to minimize the risk to humans who might be exposed by eating meat, or through drugs, vaccines, cosmetics and dietary supplements that contain raw materials from cattle."Comment: For more on the problem of vaccine contamination with bovine viruses, go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines....
►February 10, 2004 - BSE Advisory Group Recommends Further Ban on Risk Materials - Also suggests USDA approve more labs to do testing - http://usinfo.state.gov
January 26 - February 8, 2004 (2 weeks combined due to illness)
►February 5, 2004 - Should U.S. follow U.K. on mad cow? - The Seattle Times
►January 30, 2004 - Caution over prion therapy - Study reveals antibodies can kill brain cells. - Nature - "Antibody therapies designed to treat the human form of mad cow disease could backfire, warn US scientists...Williamson urges caution for researchers working on antibody therapies targeted against prions, in case they cause brain damage, rather than prevent it."
►January 28, 2004 - Blood Transfusion Suspected in New Mad Cow Case in Britain (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "A Food and Drug Administration policy announced on Monday banning the feeding of cattle blood to calves was partly based on a new case of mad cow disease in which a Briton may have been infected through a blood transfusion, a Food and Drug Administration official said on Tuesday...At a Senate hearing, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, questioned why the food agency had instituted the ban when, he said, scientific evidence indicated that infectious particles that are believed to cause mad cow disease, misfolded proteins called prions, had never been found in blood."
January 19-25, 2004
►January 22, 2004 - CDC investigating CJD cluster in N.J. - UPI via http://interestalert.com
►January 20, 2004 - Brain-wasting diseases date to 18th century - Ailments like mad cow disease are believed to be caused by rogue proteins that have been defying medical sleuths. - The Miami Herald
►January 21, 2004 - Farm Scene: Virginia Tech researchers cloning cattle to be 'mad cow-free' - AP via The Charleston Gazette
Comment: In spite of publicity and claims to the contrary, it has not been established that prions cause mad cow disease. (For more on this, go to the Online Mad Cow Disease Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com .) So isn't cloning for for mad cow free cattle a bit premature? And if prions have positive aspects (see Proteins 'may help memories form'), might not this effort also be misguided?
►January 18, 2004 - Unknowns about meat linger in study of mad cow, related diseases - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via www.sanluisobispo.com
►January 20, 2004 - The Whole Cow and Nothing but the Whole Cow (requires registration or subscription) - editorial observer - The New York Times - "In fact, the list is nearly endless. Vaccines are often prepared in media that may contain byproducts from slaughtered cattle. Until recently, heparin, a widely prescribed anticoagulant, was made from bovine mucosa and lung, and steroids come from adrenal glands. Chemicals derived from bovine tissue appear in plastics, paper coatings, rubber and asphalt. Glycerin appears in countless products. Collagen is a bovine byproduct...Some of these products — vaccines, for instance — are strictly regulated, and many of the industrial uses of cattle parts derive from cow parts that are not associated with mad cow disease."
Comment: Forgive me if I don't believe that vaccines are regulated in a way that prevents animal diseases, including bovine ones, from getting into vaccine cell cultures. For more on this go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines....
►January 19, 2004 - Proteins 'may help memories form' - Proteins which behave like those linked to vCJD and BSE may play a role in forming memories, scientists claim. - BBC - "Prions, abnormal proteins which change normal proteins into copies of themselves, are thought to cause neurodegenerative diseases...But researchers at New York's Columbia University say a protein which behaves in the same way may help make memories...Writing in Nature magazine, they say prions may perform other beneficial roles in the body."
Comment: How much do we really know about these prions? Might we be barking up the wrong tree and in an effort to neutralize the alleged negative effect of prions end up doing some damage instead?
January 12-18, 2004
►January 17, 2004 - The Mad Cows Finally Come Home - Family Farm Defenders via www.infoshop.org
►January 16, 2004 - Action Needed To Prevent Spread Of vCJD - BMJ via www.intelihealth.com - "Dr Sheila Bird argues that the death of the first probable victim of vCJD from a blood transfusion means that steps must be taken to define the rights and responsibilities of those at risk, as well as the general public...Because there is no way of testing blood for vCJD, people who have received products that may be contaminated need to be managed as if the disease had been diagnosed."
Comment: If this assessment is correct, doesn't it imply that anyone who has had a blood transfusion should not be allowed to donate blood?►January 15, 2004 - Mad cow as bioterrorism? - Scientists worry that US gov't classification of BSE prions as 'select agents' could hinder research - The Scientist
►January 16, 2004 - Mad People Disease (opinion) - The Jewish Journal - "In the Torah’s story about Joseph, Pharaoh has a dream in which seven sickly cows consume seven healthy cows. Joseph interprets this, and Pharaoh’s other dream of seven withered ears of corn consuming seven full ears of corn, to indicate that there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of severe famine...Today, we do not have a Pharaoh’s dreams to warn us of impending dangers, but we have a somewhat comparable situation in which cows with 'Mad Cow Disease' in England, Canada, the United States and other countries are having devastating effects on cattle industries in these countries."
►January 15, 2004 - NU professor advocates testing of all cows for mad cow disease - www.vidyya.com
►January 15, 2004 - Public Citizen Press Releases - 1. Mad Cow Disease an Accident Waiting to Happen; 2. Public Citizen Report Describes Some of Maryland's Dangerous Doctors as Physicians Gear Up for a March on Annapolis
►January 14, 2004 - Mad cow's untold story - Studies quietly raise questions about threat to humans - Rocky Mountain News - "from government and the cattle industry that mad cow disease poses no threat to public health, a small universe of scientists working on a family of related illnesses are finding disturbing evidence to the contrary...Several little-publicized studies, as well as ongoing research at a government laboratory in Montana, continue to spark questions about human susceptibility not only to mad cow, but to sister diseases such as chronic wasting disease that mainly affects deer and elk, and to scrapie, which infects sheep."
Comment: For more on the mad cow story, go to the Online Mad Cow Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com
►January 13, 2004 - Cow and A: What's the Chance of Finding a Mad Cow Burger on Your Plate? - Washington Post
►January 13, 2004 - An Ecodetective's Journey Into the Center of Neurodegenerative Disease - by RFD Columnist, Mark Purdey in the Online Mad Cow Disease Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com
►January 13, 2004 - Nonfood use of cow parts faces review - www.sacbee.com - "Now that the United States has mad cow disease, federal regulators are reconsidering long-held policies aimed at prohibiting importation of products or ingredients with bovine tissue or blood from countries with documented cases of the illness...The products include vaccines, nutritional supplements and cosmetics, all of which can contain ingredients derived from cows."
Comment: For more on the presence of bovine products in vaccines, go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines....
►January 12, 2004 - Doctors don't refer possible cases of CJD - Human form of mad cow disease may go undetected until surveillance improves - Akron Beacon Journal
►January 12, 2004 - Serologicals Patents Process That Inactivates 'Mad Cow' Prions - Business Wire via http://money.iwon.com
►January 12, 2004 -
Guess what's coming in dinner - Mad cow disease scare, salmon warning have consumers wondering what on their plates is safe to eat - Tri-Valley Herald OnlineComment: As well they should. But what about showing the same concern for what is injected into their bodies?
January 5-11, 2004
►January 19, 2004 - The good news about prions - www.usnews.com - "Last month's discovery of mad cow disease in the U.S. food supply has elevated prions from an obscure biological curiosity to topic A on the talk shows. But just as these villainous, twisted proteins are becoming notorious, researchers are saying: Hold up; they might not be so bad after all. Indeed, prions and their cousin proteins may prove to be benign--even helpful--in normal mental functions like memory."
►January 9, 2004 - State cow farm ID bill attacked by ag groups - AP via GazetteXtra - "Agriculture groups balked Thursday at a bill that would make livestock farmers pay $30 to register their addresses in an electronic farm locater system designed to help trace sick animals and control disease."
Comment: For more on how short-sightedness re: the "bottom line" has been affecting regulation of the industry, go to Vote blocked ban on ill cows - Analysis Finds Link To Industry Funds - The Mercury News - "Five months before the discovery of ``mad cow'' disease in the United States, Congress narrowly voted to let sick and injured cattle stay in the nation's food supply. Among California representatives, the more money a lawmaker received from the dairy and livestock industry, the more likely he or she was to support the controversial practice of turning so-called ``downer animals'' into hamburger, steak and other meat, a Mercury News analysis has found."
►January 9, 2004 - Mad Cow Disease Transmission Risk For Medical Products To Be Discussed At Feb. 12-13 Meeting - FDAAdvisoryCommittee
Comment: For a look at the use of bovine products in vaccines, go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines....
►January 8, 2004 - An Issue Comes to a Head - www.commondreams.org - "One mad cow is messy; two are messier. And in the next few months, if and when North American regulators actually begin to gather some real science by testing thousands of cows, the picture will likely get even dirtier...Many experts on bovine spongiform encephalopathy now suspect that BSE/mad cow has been in North America for at least a decade, that the beef industry and regulators have fought proper regulation from day one, that the current surveillance system is a don't-look-don't-find model and that the public-health risk from contaminated meat could be greater than most are prepared to admit."
►January 7, 2004 - Could Mad Cow Disease Already be Killing Thousands of Americans Every Year? - by Michael Greger, MD - www.commondreams.org - "Michael Greger, M.D., has been the Chief BSE Investigator for Farm Sanctuary since 1993 and the Mad Cow Coordinator for the Organic Consumers Association since 2001."
►January 5, 2004 - Priorities for Research Into Mad Cow - AP via www.kentucky.com
►January 6, 2004 - Don't Have A Cow - Los Angeles Times via The Tampa Tribune - "The `mad cow'' disease diagnosed in a U.S. cow has set off a new round of predictable but groundless panic...Foreign governments promptly banned imports of U.S. beef. Investors dumped the stocks of beef-related companies. And, of course, what health scare would be complete without hyperventilating calls for even more government oversight of an already highly regulated industry?...There's no question that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE - commonly called mad cow disease - is a neurological disease in cattle. But the notion that people can contract a human form of mad cow by eating beef from infected cattle is more bun than burger."
►December 30, 2003 - Invasion of the Virtually Indestructible Protein - Newsday - "Mad cow disease belongs to a small group of lethal disorders, caused by an infectious agent that is impervious to heat, ultraviolet light and an array of caustic chemical compounds...These agents, bizarre proteins known as prions, have been the subject of two major government investigations within the past year. Just last month, the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academies, released a report and recommended increased government funding to study these disorders."
Comment: Not everyone agrees that mad cow is caused by prions. (For more on this, go to the Online Mad Cow Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com.)
►January 5, 2004 - Prions: More reason to eat organic meat - by Randal Neustaedter OMD - The Natural Health Newsletter
►January 5, 2004 - No bovine vaccines coming from U.S. - http://calgary.cbc.ca - "The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has temporarily suspended the importation from the United States of any vaccines made from ruminant protein. It wants to make sure that there is no risk of them carrying bovine spongiform encephalopathy."
Comment: Human vaccines routinely use bovine serum. For more on this go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines....
►January 5, 2004 - Mad Cow Forces Beef Industry to Change Course (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "The financial motive that drove the industry to defend practices like selling downers has been turned on its head by the discovery of mad cow disease. Now, in an attempt to rescue the market for American beef, the industry is being forced to accept regulation it has long fought."
Comment: They were clearly "penny-wise, but pound foolish".
►January 4, 2004 - Government says feed restrictions are enough to protect consumers, but some leading scientists disagree - The San Diego Union-Tribune
December 29, 2003 - January 4, 2004
►January 4, 2004 - Is It Safe? - New beef rules aim to stop mad cow disease. But they may not be enough--and there's too much we don't know - www.usnews.com
►January 3, 2004 - Mad cow testing questioned by disease experts - AP via Billings Gazette
►January 4, 2004 - Food culprits that dwarf mad-cow toll - Knight Ridder via The Seattle Times - "In the days since mad-cow disease was announced in the United States, more than 1 million Americans were sickened by food they ate. About 6,000 became so ill they were hospitalized and nearly 100 died, according to federal health estimates...But mad-cow disease wasn't the culprit. Indeed, not a single American is known to have contracted the human form of the disease from eating food in this country...Instead, salmonella, E. coli, listeria and other dangerous bacteria routinely take a huge toll on public health, yet receive little of the attention now focused on the beef from one Washington state Holstein found infected with mad-cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE."
►
January 2, 2003 - Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines.... - by Sandy Mintz►December 29, 2003 - Mad Cow: Prion research misguided? - UPI via The Washington Times - "The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., openly acknowledges prions have not been established fully as a cause of any disease. Yet nearly all of the $27 million the agency doled out last year for studies on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs -- a group of diseases that includes mad cow, chronic wasting in deer and elk, scrapie in sheep and vCJD in humans -- went toward studies focusing on the prion hypothesis."
►December 30, 2003 - Scientists disagree on cause of infection - Seattle PI - "Drowned out by calls for more testing and regulation to protect against mad cow disease are major disagreements over what causes the illness, how it is transmitted and even what parts of a contaminated cow may be unsafe to eat."
►Bizarre Mad Cow Games - Even a child would understand that the official explanation of the cause of the disease is irrational - by Mark Purdey at the Online Mad Cow Disease Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com
►2003 - Transmissable Encephalopathies: Speculations and Realities (pdf) - by Dr. Laura Maneulidis - journal article (Viral Immunology) via www.redflagsdaily.com
►December 30, 2003 - Agriculture Secretary Announces New Rules for Safety of Beef - The New York Times - "Effective immediately, she said, the Agriculture Department will ban all sick, or "downer," cattle from the human food chain. She also announced bans on the use of small intestines and head and spinal tissue from older cattle for human consumption."
Comment: Better late than never....
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