Mad Cow, Mad Pigs, Mad World

[Guest guest]

What are you going to eat after the fast?

 

ad Cows, Pugnacious Pigs, Silent Chickens & Alzheimers

 

Avoiding hamburger or switching to chicken may not be enough to keep

you safe from Mad Cow disease, despite official assurances. As

reported by Michael Greger, MD, in Well Being Journal, March/April

2004, Mad Cow disease is more extensive than officially recognized,

and a variant of the disease is being misdiagnosed as Alzheimers.

 

" Mad Cow, " or Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD), is a tragic form of

brain wasting characterized by dementia, psychosis, paralysis, and

invariably death. One form of this disease is known to be spread by

eating beef from cows already infected with CJD.

 

However, it is not just infected beef that can cause problems.

Researchers have more recently acknowledged a connection between lamb

and pork. Hundreds of " mad sheep " were found in the U.S. in 2003, and

there is reason to suspect the pork and fowl supply, too. Cattle

remains are still boiled down and legally fed to pigs and chickens in

this country. Chickens, of course, are natural vegetarians!

 

Dr. Paul Brown, medical director for the U.S. Public Health Service,

believes that pigs and poultry could indeed be passing on Mad Cow

disease to humans. " It's speculation, " he says, " but I am perfectly

serious. "

 

The USDA may have actually recorded an outbreak of " mad pig " disease

in New York 25 years ago but still refuses to reopen the

investigation, despite petitions from the Consumer's Union. Sporatic

CJD has also been associated with the consumption of roast lamb,

veal, venison, brains in general, and in North America, seafood. Even

though chickens and turkeys themselves are not susceptible, they may

become " silent carriers " of Mad Cow and pass it on to human consumers.

 

Dateline NBC quoted D. Carleton Gajdusek, a Nobel Prize recipient for

his research in this field, as saying, " it's got to be in the pigs as

well as the cattle. It's got to be passing through the chickens. "

 

A number of autopsy studies have shown that a few percent of

Alzheimer's deaths may in fact be CJD. Thousands of Americans may

already be dying of Mad Cow disease every year. Gajdusek estimates

that 1% of people showing up in Alzheimer clinics actually have CJD.

 

The USDA considered various precautionary measures as far back as

1991 to protect the public but were overruled by cattle owners. The

Cattlemen's Association did not want to set a precedent of being

ruled by " activists. " Feeding plant protein to farm animals could

virtually eliminate the risk of CJD to consumers, but this would cost

up to 30% more than feeding cattle remains. " Activists " believe that

millions of Americans remain at serious risk.

 

Earth Island Journal, Summer 2004, reporting on this dilemma,

recommends banning all feeding of animal by-products to animals

intended for human consumption, the testing of all cattle for CJD at

the slaughterhouse (we're now testing only a fraction of one

percent), and point-of-origin labeling so consumers can make informed

choices. For us that means eating free range beef and poultry or, to

be completely safe, going totally vegetarian.

 

For more information read the book Mad Cow U.S.A. and log on to

www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm.

 

http://www.openexchange.org/archives/JAS04/JAS04_HLN.html