OT: organophosphate(OP) insecticide

[Guest guest]

> " Insecticide Causes Mad Cow Disease "

 

http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/17/bovine_spongiform_disease.htm

 

This is a very controversial theory, but I recommend taking a look at it and

considering the possibility. It states that pollutants in the environment -

in particular organophosphate (OP) insecticides - can trigger spongiform

encephalopathies by damaging prions and perhaps even triggering mutations

in prion genes.

 

A prion is a very small bit of protein. Prions have been known about for

decades but still aren't understood as well as they need to be. A brief

Internet search for material on prions revealed contradictory information

about them. So I'm going to try to give information that there's some

agreement on.

 

Prions are found in vertebrae. Vertebrates are all animals with a spine,

including humans. Spongiform encephalopathies are found in many

vertebrates. Some of the more common and more familiar ones are scrapie in

sheep, Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle, and CJD in humans. In addition

there are SEs which affect deer and elk and a SE which affects cats as well

as other SEs which affect other species of vetebrates.

 

Prions are not viruses though some researchers are looking at the

possibility of the two influencing each other. Prions resist inactivation

by procedures which affect nucleic acids, and to date no detectible nucleic

acid has been found in prions. Viruses have a nucleic acid genome.

 

Prions have been thought to be infectious. Cattle which eat the ground up

carcasses of other cattle or sheep who had SEs catch the SE infection.

Humans who eat infected cattle catch vCJD, a human form of Mad Cow Disease.

Cannibalistic natives of New Guinea caught kuru from eating the brains of

other humans who had kuru. This model of infection has been the model of

transmission between individual animals and between species. These SEs were

called Transmittable Spongiform Encephalopathies or TSEs.

 

In addition to the possibility of prions being infectious, it has been

recognized that there are hereditary forms of SEs. There is a familial form

of CJD which is passed by an autosomal dominant gene. There is a gene in

vertebrates which is responsible for prions. This normal PrP gene is called

PrPC. People with hereditary SE are born with a defective gene which turns

out defective prions.

 

The theory which is looking at pollutant causes of SEs says that an animal

can be born with a normal prion gene but the gene or the prions may be

damaged by OP insecticides, particularly when the individual also is exposed

to manganese along with the OP insecticide. The individual animal then

develops a SE which is not hereditary and which has not been transmitted by

infection. It has been caused by damage due to OP substances and manganese.

 

In any event, OPs are very nasty chemicals. They originally were developed

by the Nazis as part of their chemical warfare arsenal. After the war OP

insecticides were developed.

 

OPs may be implicated in a variety of medical conditions, including some

cases of Gulf War Syndrome and CFIDS. Years ago Australian researchers

found a chemical in the urine of people with CFIDS which most resembles an

OP insecticide.

 

Manganese miners in the last century developed a condition called " Manganese

Madness " . The symptoms of Manganese Madness are the symptoms of SEs.

 

Victoria

 

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