Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Mad Cow threat


pam claughton

Recommended Posts

I have a good friend who's been struck twice by lightning,

Yes, but were they "in the same place" both times?

SB (lightning harbors no personal grudges)

Nope, once in Virginia as a child, & once atop the Matterhorn when he was in his late 20s.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea!

- Sydney Smith, English clergyman & essayist, 1771-1845

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a good friend who's been struck twice by lightning,

Yes, but were they "in the same place" both times?

SB (lightning harbors no personal grudges)

Nope, once in Virginia as a child, & once atop the Matterhorn when he was in his late 20s.

Well they certainly traveled a long way just to disprove an old adage! It might have been easier just to play golf in the rain?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only thing I can think of that has not been proven harmful to those who eat it, is chocolate.

.

.

.

.

.

.

. . .which, if you believe what you read in the papers, is often harvested by child slaves.

Virtually nothing, if you look extensively at the issues surrounding it, is free from all harm. Choose your poison. :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BSE is spread by contact with brain or other nervous-system tissue from an infected individual. Contact can be from eating food or food by-products that have been contaminated with nervous tissue, or from instruments that have contacted diseased nervous tissue. Once the infectious agent enters the brain, it can lie dormant for several years (even as long as 10 to 15 years). When activated, the agent kills brain cells, leaving large areas of spongy holes. Also, large clumps of abnormal prion proteins (plaques) are found in brain cells. Once the agent is activated, the disease runs its course in less than one year, and ultimately results in death.

Though Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease is not pretty, I would also consider the fact that eating a great deal of beef will lead to a much higher risk of heart disease and colon cancer.

To date, only 155 cases of vCJD have been confirmed worldwide. In contrast, 1 in 3 Americans die from heart disease every year.

My motto - eat whatever you like in moderation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgot to mention that my eschewing of cow is more of a boycotting of the beef industry and what I see as its deplorable attempts to cover up the whole mad cow issue, rather than a personal, overwhelming fear of tainted meat.

It won't make much of a dent in the beef industry's pockets, I'm well aware, but that's how I chose to voice my opinion with my dollars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As the anticipated epidemic of human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease has not materialized, it seems evident that the consumption of beef contaminated by Mad Cow may not be a risk factor. As was reported at the beginning of this episode, there should be tens of thousands of individuals infected with CJD, not the current 150 or so. At worst, it would seem that some sort of genetic sensitivity to the prions is required if one is going to be susceptible. The connection between Mad Cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease may need to be re-evaluated.

Oh, and I still eat US beef.

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mad-cow test cut

President Bush's budget proposal for the next fiscal year will slash the number of US cattle tested for BSE by 80 per cent. Since June 2004, the US has tested more than 220,000 cattle. Three showed "inconclusive" results, and they were eventually declared negative. Under the new plan, due to start in October, only 40,000 per year will be tested.

New Scientist Source of the above, which is all there is to it.

Not seeking to turn this political, simply passing along another piece of information.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea!

- Sydney Smith, English clergyman & essayist, 1771-1845

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As the anticipated epidemic of human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease has not materialized, it seems evident that the consumption of beef contaminated by Mad Cow may not be a risk factor.  As was reported at the beginning of this episode, there should be tens of thousands of individuals infected with CJD, not the current 150 or so.  At worst, it would seem that some sort of genetic sensitivity to the prions is required if one is going to be susceptible.  The connection between Mad Cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease may need to be re-evaluated.

Oh, and I still eat US beef.

Hello,

I'm not a doctor, nor am I an expert in Prion disease. However, I do IT support for a research lab whose primary research focus is Prion disease and have listened to plenty of presentations about it.

At worst, it would seem that some sort of genetic sensitivity to the prions is required if one is going to be susceptible.

This is something of a mis-statement; but, it may be somewhat accurate. A more accurate way to put it would be, "some sort of genetic inability to efficiently clear mis-folded proteins in the brain".

One of the current hypotheses is that the BSE protein acts as a sort of catalyst to cause certain naturally occurring proteins (PrP) in the human brain to mis-form into a pathological form (PrPSc), which also converts other PrP molecules into the mis-folded form, eventually building to a sort of cascade reaction, where your brain no longer has the ability to remove the malformed proteins impeding your brain's ability to do its normal work.

Dieing from or losing someone to Mad Cow (New Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob) disease is, uh, wrenching. For those of you, like myself, who are old enough to have lost a parent or grand parent to Alzheimer's disease, it is similar, except it takes place over the course of months instead of years and potentially when the person is in the prime of their life.

That said, some researchers speculate some past event or process in human evolutionary history, may have "inoculated" a good percentage of the human race against Prion disease. I'm not going to go into it; but, I will say that in the 20th century a form of Prion disease called Kuru was still occurring among cultures which practised cannibalism.

I still eat beef; but, am lucky enough to live somewhere it is easy to come by grass fed or organic beef. Honestly, there are a whole host of reasons not to eat the beef from McDonalds, Safeway, or Carl's Jr. Mad-Cow is probably somewhere around 6 or 10 in my thinking.

This post is already too long, and probably technical, one more thing though.

I grew up in the midwest in the 60s and 70s, and my parents got most of their beef from a local butcher. One thing I noticed when I started eating grass fed beef recently, was that it tasted like the beef I grew up with!

Regards,

Erik

Edited by eje (log)

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...