Mad
Cow/Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Reference Resource List
Compiled by Emerson Library
Staff
2001-2005
2001 Journal Citations:
Bren, L. “Trying To
Keep “Mad Cow Disease” Out of U.S. Herds.”
(2001) FDA Consumer (35)
2:12-14.
The author discusses the little girl in England who contracted
the mad cow disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The author discusses how BSE spreads within cattle herds, two forms of CJD, and the
U.S. response to the disease.
Ennen, Steve. “The
Battle for Cattle Sanity.” (2001) Food
Processing (62) 3:14-18, 20.
The United States has not
discovered any cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy yet but there is always a chance
that the disease could reach this country. The
United States has taken several steps to eliminate the possibility of an occurrence of the
disease. Since the disease is protein based
it cannot be destroyed by the usual methods which including irradiation, heat or freezing. Since, 1,222 cattle in Texas were quarantined
after it was found they had been given feed containing ruminant material, 5,584 FDA
licensed and non-licensed feed mills have been inspected with 1,940 of the mills found to
be "handling prohibited material." Includes a timeline of efforts to prevent the
spread of the disease in the United States.
Two websites are given as
sources for further information on BSE: www.fda.gov/cvm
and www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/bse/
Fox, Maggie. “Scientist Says Anti-Mad Cow Measure
Ignored. “ (2003) Yahoo News – Reuters Science.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031230/sc_nm/madcow_treatment_dc_1
Dr. Paul Brown of the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke claims to have developed a high-pressure
method that inactivates the prions in meat that cause the disease. Dr. Brown says that
U.S. officials have not been interested in implementing the method.
Includes links to other website with information on Mad Cow disease.
CBS
News. “Indepth: Mad Cow Disease”.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/
CDC
National Center for Infectious Diseases. “ Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and
Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease”
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/cjd/cjd.htm
FDA
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)”
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/bse.html
National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “BSE
Info.Org Your Source for the latest information.”
http://www.bseinfo.org/
USDA.
“Consumer Questions and Answers About BSE.” (May 2003) http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefaq.html
USDA.
“Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html
Organic
Consumers Association. “Mad
Cow Disease and Deer Disease Chronic
Wasting Disease, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy”
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm
World Health
Organization. “Communicable Disease Surveillance & Response (CSR): Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy.”
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/bse/en/
Giese, James. “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Cow
Test.” (2001) Food Technology (55)
6:60-62.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is known as
mad cow disease. To date, there has been more
than 178,000 cases worldwide. The first
diagnosis was in 1986 in Great Britain and 95% of the cases have occurred in the United
Kingdom. Other cases have been reported
around Europe, while no cases have been reported in the United States. The article discusses the difficulty of testing
cows for the mad cow disease. In order to
test, the cow has to be dead. There are no
tests yet the can occur while the cow is still alive.
Kindle, Lauryn. “Tracing
the Trails of Livestock.” (2001) Food
Processing (62) 9:76.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known
as mad cow disease, is currently a concern for food safety.
Intentia, Stockholm, Sweden and Scase, Bergen, and Norway have developed a new
system. This system will help track
livestock from the farm to the supermarket. This
will help increase consumer confidence in the safety of their meat and help governments
when meat has to be recalled. The program
will use the cow’s tag as its identifier and will include its fat contact, which
farmer the livestock comes from, meat quality, veterinary history, where the animal had
been, and etc.
Powell, Tracy. “A
Threat Yet?” (2001) Pizza Today
(19) 8:40-42.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a brain-wasting
disease that comes from eating the contaminated meat from a cow that has bovine spongiform
encephalopathy. The human disease is fatal
and untreatable. The author includes many
helpful web sites both in the United States and Internationally. In the United States, one can go to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and APHIS Veterinary Services at www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/bse, the National Prion
Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at www.cjdsurvelliance.com,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.fda.gov/cvm/index/bse/bsetoc.html,
and the Council for Agriculture Science and Technology TSE Report at www.cast-science.org. Internationally, one can go to the World Health
Organization fact sheets at www.who.int/inf-fs/en,
the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at www.maff.gov.ukk/animal/bse/index.html,
the Office of International Epizootics/World Organization for Animal Health at www.oie.int/eng/info/en_esb.htm, the UK
Department of Health, Monthly CJD statistical figures at www.doh.gov.uk/cjd/cjd_stat.htm, and the
UK BSE injury report at www.bseinquiry.gov.uk. The author includes quick fact sheets
too.
2002 Journal Citations:
Ashby, John K. “A
New Twist on Mad Cow: Are Organic Cattle BSE-free?” (2002) Food Illness’s
Wellness Letter 18, 19, 22, 23.
Some people believe that if they raise
“organic” cattle, that they can reduce the risk of spreading the mad cow
disease. One group who has put this into
practice is the Soil Association in the UK where the mad cow disease broke out heavily
there in 1986. The Soil Association says that
they have not found one cow with the disease that was raised organically. Before this study and others like it are declared
perfect, the definition of an organic cow must be made and what population the cow comes
from.
Bren, Linda. “FDA
Continues Work to Help Prevent Mad Cow Disease.”
(2002) FDA Consumer (36) 3:31-32.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration as
well as other government agencies have kept bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) a top
priority. BSE is known as mad cow disease and
is a chronic and degenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system of a cow. The disease can be transferred to humans by eating
certain tissues from the BSE-affected cattle. This
variant is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Both
variants are fatal. The United States has
never found the disease within its borders. The
FDA has an additional $13 million allocated to it for the year and will hire 115 more
people so that the BSE inspection efforts can be expanded.
Also being implemented is a new inspection-tracking database that will allow the
agency to record inspection results more effectively.
The latest up to date information can be found at www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/bse.html.
Mermelstein, Neil H. “Comprehensive
BSE Risk Study Released.” (2002) Food
Technology (56) 1:75-76.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released
a comprehensive study that was done by Harvard University.
This study claims that the risk of mad cow disease occurring in the United States
is very low. The study backs this statement
up by saying that the early protection systems that were installed by the USDA and U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services is one of the primary reasons that BSE has not
been found in the U.S. to date. There has
never been a case detected in the U.S. The
USDA will have a risk assessment reviewed by a peer team of outside experts to make sure
that this report’s integrity is scientific. Also,
the USDA will double the BSE tests in the U.S. and publish a policy options paper that
will outline additional regulatory actions that can be taken to reduce the chance of BSE
happening in the U.S. and to keep materials with BSE out of the U.S.
2003 Journal Citations:
Aldrich, Lester. “Holiday May Flag Mad-Cow Impact.” (2003) The Wall Street Journal (241) 102: C12. (Available by paid
subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
U.S. Meat Traders are concerned that the
news that a cow in Canada was found to have the chronic wasting disease known as "mad
cow" disease. Consumers were predicted
to consume over 250 million hamburgers over the Memorial Holiday weekend.
Baglole, Joel. “Canada
Growth Forecasts are Cut.” (2003) The Wall Street Journal (241) 101: A2. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Canada's economy is slowing down as mad-cow
disease, SARS, and a stronger currency take its toll.
Economic growth for 2003 has been projected at 2.6%, down from its earlier
projection of 3.1%.
“Beltway
Notebook.” (2003) Food Chemical News
(45) 29: 5 (pdf file available to subscribers at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com)
Notes that a 21-month-old Holstein Bull in
Hiroshima, Japan has been confirmed to have BSE, making it the youngest cow found with the
disease in the country. The United States has
introduced a new resolution that recommends not resuming cattle imports from Canada until
the country complies with the World Organization for Animal Health.
Binkley,
Alex “Canadian Beef Industry Welcomes USDA Action on Live Cattle Imports. (2003) Food Chemical News (45) 29: 7. (Pdf file available to
subscribers at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com)
Discusses a proposed rule issued
by USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service that would allow the "import of certain
low risk ruminants" from Canada into the United States. The proposal would place Canada on a list with
other countries and would allow cows under 30 months of age to be imported and would also
include sheep, goats and cervids. Comments
for the proposal will be accepted until Jan. 4. The
hope is that once the proposal is passed that the border to Canada will reopen.
Binkley, Alex. “Canadian
MP’s Call for Retail Beef Price Probe.” (2003) Food Chemical News (45)
29: 8. (Pdf file available
to subscribers at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
The Canadian Competition Bureau
has been asked to investigate why the retail price of beef did not drop as much as cattle
prices upon the announcement that a Canadian cow had been found with "mad cow"
disease.
Burton, Thomas M. and Fackler, Martin.
“Mad-Cow Testing on Trial.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (243) 1:B1, B2. (Available
by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The authors compare varying standards for
the U.S., Japan, and the European Union. When
Japan and the European Union found cows with BSE, they increased their testing and safety
measures. The U.S. still has not decided what
it will do completely to ensure the safety of the beef in the U.S. The authors also discuss the costs of what the
different tests done by the European Union and Japan were implemented in the U.S.
Carlisle, Tamsin. “Canada
Could Face Beef-Export Curbs for Years.” (2003)
The Wall Street Journal (242) 23: A7. (Available
by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Canada's beef and cattle shipments to the
U.S. last year were valued at $2.6 billion. There
have been many false reports that the U.S. will lift the ban on Canada meat importing in
the U.S. Canada had one cow that had the mad
cow disease and so far, it has been an isolated case.
Canada has also made huge efforts to make sure that it was an isolated case, but
the borders have not been reopened. Canadian
officials report that it is not because they do not have safe meat, but it is because of
politics that the borders have not been reopened.
Carlisle, Tamsin. “Canada Promises Quick Response Against
Mad-Cow.” (2003) The Wall Street
Journal (241) 126:B2. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Canadian officials have officially finished
their investigation into the finding of a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy
in a cow in Alberta. The investigation
was formally closed with the release of a report by a team of four international experts. Recommendations made in the report include the
development of a "save removal, collection and destruction plan" that should be
a national priority to Canada.
Carlisle, Tamsin. “Canadian
Mad-Cow Tests Turn Up No Diseased Animals.” (2003)
The Wall Street Journal (241) 102: C12. (Available
by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
One cow was found to have mad cow disease on
a farm near Wenham, Alberta. The diagnostic
tests on the rest of the herd have so far come back negative. The government has traced the origins of the cow,
the feed that it was fed, its offspring, and other cows that might have come in contact
with the it to see if any other traces of the mad cow disease or its origins are found.
The disease has an incubation period of two to eight years.
Carlisle, Tamsin. “Canadians
May Wrap Up Probe Into a Case of Mad-Cow Disease.”
(2003) The Wall Street Journal (241)112: B5. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
In a few days, Canadians may announce that
they have not found another disease-infected cow after slaughtering 1,050 cows and not
finding Mad Cow disease. This may reopen the beef trade bans that were imposed by
the U.S. and a few other countries. The infected cow lived in Canada four
years. Investigators believe that if the disease had spread in Canada, they would
have more cases with the slaughter cows.
2004 Journal Citations:
“A Few Words on Mad Cow.” (2004) Food
Processing (65) 2:14.
Because of the U.S. finding a cow with mad
cow disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture banned all downer cattle from human
consumption. About 60 countries have already
halted imports of U.S. beef also. Later, the
infected cow was found to have come from Canada. No
other infected cows have been found.
Adamy, Janet. “U.S.
Rejects Meatpacker’s Bid to Conduct Mad-Cow Testing.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243) 71:B6.
(Available
by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com)
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC asked the
FDA in February if they can conduct all of their own BSE testing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said no because
they have a policy on government control for testing the disease. The USDA also reported that they said no because
they did not want to cause a consumer panic about BSE and testing. Creekstone was hoping to be able to sell to Japan
again since Japan purchased about 20 percent of their beef.
Associated Press. “Says
Cattle From U.S., Canada Are Still Vulnerable.”
(2004) The Wall Street Journal (243) 13:A6. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
A Japanese government team came to the U.S.
to investigate U.S.’s first confirmed case of mad cow. They have warned that the U.S. is still
vulnerable to outbreaks of mad cow. Japan has
banned imports from the U.S. since December. The
Japanese team also reported that they could not say that there would not be another
outbreak of the disease in the U.S. Japan
tests all of the cattle it butchers for human consumption.
They are pressing that other nations do the same.
Associated
Press. “U.S. Has Begun A Criminal Probe
of Mad-Cow Case.” (2004) The Wall
Street Journal (243) 44:D5. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S. government has started
a criminal investigation of records that may have been falsified when the first case of
mad cow disease was found. There is a
noncriminal review of how the department responded to the case and changes made in how it
monitors and tests cattle. The investigation
is to find out if the cow was really a downer or not.
The department first said it was a downer that had the mad cow disease. Downers are at high risk for having the disease. Men who saw the cow said it was on its feet. The veterinarian saw it lying down and classified
it as a downer. The cow may have gotten back
up later.
Binkley,
Alex. “Canadian
Meat Packers Face Probe Over Cattle Prices.” (2004: February 23) Food Chemical News (46)
2: 14-15. Available by paid subscription at http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Discusses a probe by the
Competition Bureau in Canada into allegations that cattle producers have been responsible
for "gorging" beef prices since BSE was discovered in a cow in Alberta in the
Spring of 2003.
Burton, Thomas M. and Fackler, Martin.
“Mad-Cow Testing on Trial.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (243) 1:B1, B2.(Available
by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The authors compare varying standards for
the U.S., Japan, and the European Union. When
Japan and the European Union found cows with BSE, they increased their testing and safety
measures. The U.S. still has not decided what
it will do completely to ensure the safety of the beef in the U.S. The authors also discuss the costs of what the
different tests done by the European Union and Japan were implemented in the U.S.
Carlisle,
Tamsin. “Canada Identifies Possible
Source of Mad-Cow Cases.” (2004) The
Wall Street Journal (243) 57:B3. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Investigators in Canada determined that 68
cattle from Britain died or were slaughtered in Canada over ten years ago. This could be a possible source of the mad cow
disease now found in Canada and one case in the United States. This does mean that mad cow disease may be showing
up in more cattle in Canada who may have eaten contaminated feed before the 1997 feed ban
was implemented.
Clapp, Steven. “Beef Producers in Five Nations
Call For BSE Risk Assessment Changes.” (2004:
February 23) Food Chemical News (46) 2: 13. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Discusses a statement released by The Five
Nations Beef Group on changes in risk assessment and animal identification. The Group mentioned in their statement that there
are several countries that are not currently following guidelines established by the World
Trade Organization. The Group representing
cattle producers in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the United States, have
agreed to form a task force from their "respective governments". The task force will focus on issues involving
cattle identification systems.
Clapp,
Steven. “Japan Said to Acknowledge
Limitations in Universal BSE Testing.” (2004:July 5) Food Chemical News (46)21:12-13. (Available by paid subscription
at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Reports the difficulty of finding BSE in
young cows according to the Kyodonews service in Japan. Japan refuses to lift the
country's six month ban on U.S. beef until a universal testing system is implemented.
Clapp, Steven. “Senate Democrats Press Veneman on
Animal identification.”
(2004: February 23) Food Chemical News (46) 2: 13. (Available by paid subscription
at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Discusses a February 13th letter to the
Agriculture Secretary, from members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The letter voices concerns that members of the
committee have regarding a timeline for adopting measures for implementation of a
livestock identification system.
Clapp, Steven."USDA to Award Nearly $12
million to States for Animal ID." (2004: June 21) Food Chemical News .
(Available by paid subscription at http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
$11.64 million has been made available to
implement The Animal and Plant Inspection Service of USDA. The service is an
identification system for all livestock and poultry animals. Applications will be accepted
from state and tribal governments for the funds that are available. Applications are
available on the APHIS website at: www.aphis.usda.gov/mrpbs/fmd/agreements_announcements.htm
Clover, Dean O. “How
Now, Mad Cow?” (2004) Food
Technology (58) 1:100.
The U.S. became the 24th country
to have a cow found with mad cow disease in December 2003.
The previous 23 countries had embargos against them by the U.S. and now it
is our turn to have countries impose them against us.
The author discusses what has happened in other countries and what we had
done to prevent an outbreak in the U.S. The
outbreak of course is an economic and political disaster.
The priorities of the U.S. should be to feed everyone, fight against
foodborne agents, and deal with hypothetical risks like mad cow disease. If this is done right, it will minimize the damage
to the U.S. economy.
Cote, Jim. “Cattle
Prices Continue to Fall, But Drop Is Above Daily Limit.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal
(243) 1:B8. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
February live-cattle futures had huge losses
again on Wednesday but for the first time in five sessions, they did not fall to their
limit. February contracts fell by 2.64 cents
a pound to 73.52 cents a pound. Prices had
been falling because of the alleged case of a cow with mad cow disease was found in
Washington State before Christmas.
Cote, Jim. “Cattle
Prices Rise Daily Limit As Beef Consumption Continues.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243)
10:C5. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Cattle future rose to their daily limit on
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Packers
looked for supplies to meet the demand for beef. Packers
reported that they paid 78 cents a pound for live cattle.
February live cattle future rose by 1.50 cents to 76.35 cents a pound.
“Dispute Continues Over
‘Downer’ Designation of BSE-Infected Cow. (2004:
February 23) Food Chemical News (46) 2: 1, 10. (Available by paid subscription at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com)
A letter sent to the
Agriculture Department discusses the status of the BSE infected cow on the day it was slaughtered. The letter reports that witnesses from
Vern's Moses Lake Meats have indicated that the cow was noted a "downer cow"
because it walked on the day it was slaughter.
Congressman who sent an eleven page letter with 15 pages of affidavits
and other evidence to the Agriculture Secretary, indicate that the USDA's surveillance
system may not be "credible." The
current systems being used for finding effected cows are those animals that are
"downer cows or show symptoms of central nervous disease.
Dreyfuss, Ira. "U.S. may test more cattle for mad
cow." (2004: February 26): The Associated Press .
(Cited in the Food Institute Daily Update 02/26/04 and
printed on the Oregonian website at: http://www.oregonlive.com)
The article reports that Secretary
Ann Veneman as saying “the government
may expand its survey beyond the 40,000 animals now planned”. The planned tests will include animals that appear
to be healthy. Expanding the range of
animals to be tested would help to find the “unknown number of other animals might be
carrying BSE's infectious protein”.
Farsetta, Diane. “Where‘s
the (BSE-free) Beef?” (April/May 2005) Food
Quality (12) 2:88,86
The
idea for independent BSE testing has led to a major conflict between the USDA and the
consumers, meat packers, and producers who believe it is in the public and beef industry's
best interest. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef
of Kansas began the debate in early 2004 when it stated it wanted to build a private
testing lab so that they could independently test their product for mad cow disease, which
would enable them to sell it on the international market even though 50 countries had
previously banned U.S. beef in December 2003. The
USDA believes that independent testing would imply that eating untested meat would be
hazardous even though the USDA only tests a small minority of cattle, many already out of
the food chain due to mysterious deaths or symptoms.
The USDA does have the authority to keep independent testing from beginning
but a group of Montana ranchers may bring a lawsuit against the USDA stating that the ban
on independent testing is wrongly depriving them of overseas markets
“First Mad Cow Lawsuit Filed.” (2004) Food Processing (65) 4:15.
A family ate ground beef that was linked to
the country’s first mad cow case. They
sued the supermarket chain saying that the grocers did not remove the meat quickly enough. The QFC grocery chain also did not notify the
people who bought the meat. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture reported that BSE cannot be transmitted through muscle cuts of
meat used in consumer products.
Franco, Don A. DVM, MPH, DACVPM.
“BSE and the Safety of Beef: A Perspective.” (2004) Food Safety Magazine (10) 3:20, 22,
72, 74-75.
BSE was first diagnosed in cattle in the UK
in 1986. Since then, the U.S. has made
policies and regulations to address BSE. The
author goes on to explain all the different actions the U.S. has taken, assessing the risk
factors, and the state of BSE risk management after December 2003. Included is a table on the different tissues from
cattle and their risk in BSE infections. These
include brain, spinal cord, trigeminal ganglia, dorsal root ganglia, distal ileum, spleen,
and eyes.
FSIS to Begin Testing More Condemned Cattle for BSE."
(2004) Food Chemical News Daily (6) 99:1.(Available to subscribers at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
The USDA has announced that all
"antemortem condemned cattle" will be tested for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy or "mad cow" disease. Previously, only cattle that exhibited
"symptoms" of a nervous disorder were tested. The new ruling is part of USDA's
new expanded surveillance system for BSE. Mentions the recent incident of a
"condemned" cow in Texas that was not tested for the brain wasting disease. The
Food Safety and Inspection Service plans to train 75 new vets to take brain samples that
will be shipped to testing facilities. The new surveillance program is scheduled to begin
on June 1, 2004.
Fuyuno, Ichiko. “Japan
Restaurants Push to Resume U.S. Beef Imports.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (243) 15:A10. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S. health and agricultural officials
will try to get Tokyo to begin purchasing U.S. beef again.
The U.S. will find resistance from the government but will find support from
Japan’s $117 billion restaurant industry. Japan
had bought $900 million of American beef in 2002. Japanese
restaurants want the trade to begin again because U.S. beef is about half the price of
Japanese beef.
Giese, James. “Agriculture
Committee Questions BSE Actions.” (2004)
Food Technology (58) 2:17.
The U.S. House of
Representatives Agriculture Committee has questioned Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman for
the USDA’s action when the cow infected with mad cow disease was found in Washington
State in December. Veneman’s response
can be found at www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0031.04.html.
Giese,
James. “Testing for BSE.” (2004) Food Technology (58) 3:58-60, 66.
Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy is known as BSE and mad cow disease.
The author discusses what the disease is, the current testing methods for the
disease, and the ongoing research of the disease. More
information can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nvsl,
www.usda.gov, and www.cdc.gov
Giese,
James. “USDA Announces Safeguards
Against BSE.” (2004) Food Technology
(58) 1:17.
Several changes were announced
at the end of December to help guard against bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the
United States. Downer cattle are now banned
from the human food chain. Suspected animals
will be tested and held until test results are known.
No longer is air-injection stunning of cattle allowed or mechanically
separating meat. More information can be
found at www.usda.gov/new/releases/2003/12/0449.htm.
Giese,
James. “USDA Publishes New Policies on
BSE.” (2004) Food Technology
(58) 2:17.
The USDA published new policies
on January 12 for bovine spongiform encephalopathy to ensure the safety of the meat
supply. Details of the new policies can be
found in the Federal Register of January 12 (69 FR 1873-1891).
Giese,
James. “USDA to Greatly Expand BSE
Testing.” (2004) Food Technology
(58) 4:17.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture is increasing its testing for mad cow disease in the U.S. The USDA is attempting to test every cow that is
at risk for BSE. For more information visit
the following web site at www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/BSE_Surveil_Plan03-15-04.pdf.
Gilcrest,
Laura “Harvard Risk Analyst: No Strong
Disagreement with BSE Panel. (2004: February
23) Food Chemical News (46) 2:15. (Available
by paid subscription at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Comments are given by, George
Gray, the author of the Harvard Center of Risk Report on BSE Assessment. Mr. Gray discusses the differences between the
Harvard report and the recommendations of an international review team. Two points were agreed by both the report and the
review team was "BSE would not established in the United States" and a
compliance with the feed ban was needed. The
two parties disagreed on when BSE would be "eradicated." Notes that the 1997 feed rule only requires the
removal of "specific materials in rudiment feed."
Gregerson, John. “Without A Trace.” (2004) Food Processing (65) 3:22-24,
26-27.
The USDA is trying
to put together a nationwide animal-tracking program.
With the ideas that the USDA is thinking about, they could help all kinds of
processors. The author discusses how fruits
and vegetables could be traced, tightened processing regulations, vendors, and consumer
reaction.
Hallinan, Joseph T. and Carlisle, Tamsin. “Third Herd of Cattle is Quarantined.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243)
2:B3. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Investigators have found about 12 of the 82
cattle that crossed the Canadian border more than two years ago. The remaining 70 are yet to be found. Beef futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
did rise for the first time since December 23 when the announcement had been made that a
cow was found infected with mad cow disease. Downer
cattle are targeted in more testing and have been removed from slaughtering of human
consumption. Last year about 200,000 of the
35 million cattle that were slaughtered in the U.S. were downer cattle. Twenty thousand of the 200,000 were tested.
Harris, Chris. “Beef Ban Lifted.”
(posted: August 5, 2005) Meat News (article available on line at
http://www.meatnews.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Article&artNum=10003).
U.S. exports of beef to the
Philippines are being allowed again.
U.S. beef exports have been banned since a cow that tested positive for BSE
was found in early 2004. The U.S. will
be allowed to export beef products from cattle "not older than 30 months" to the Philippines.
Notes that in 2003 the United States shipped $2.5 million worth of beef to
the Philippines.
Hueston, Will
and Bryant, Cory M. “Understanding BSE
and Related Diseases.” (July 2005) Food
Technology (59) 7:46-48, 51.
The main points
from the Scientific Status Summary on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies,
frequently called TSEs, that occur in cattle, sheep, goats, deer, elk and humans.
The complete Summary can be viewed in the June/July 2005 issue of Journal of Food
Science or online at http://www.ift.org. Includes an easy to read and understand
graph of the different TSEs, a brief discussion of a new strain of mad cow disease called
BASE and where research in the future is heading to best combat TSEs.
“Incidents
of BSE Fall in Europe.” (July 8, 2005) FoodQualityNews.com: Breaking
News on Food Safety & Quality Control.
Reports that a second probable case of the
human form of Mad Cow disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) has been
reported in Ireland. Officials in Ireland
have also reported that the 37th case of BSE has been reported this year. Last year Ireland found 126 cases of BSE, a
decline from 191 cases reported in 2002 for the same time period. Includes a link to a table that lists the number
of cases of BSE reported in various European countries from 1989-2005 at:
http://www.oie.int/eng/info/en_esbru.htm. The United Kingdom has had the most cases reported
for the disease. The United Kingdom has
reported 66 cases so far this year. This
number is down significantly from the countries highest report of 37,280 cases in 1992.
Joy, David. “USDA
Reacts Swiftly to Mad Cow.” (2004) Food
Processing (65) 3:12.
Because of finding mad cow disease in the
U.S., there has been more attention on the regulatory safeguards in each area. The USDA’s safeguards have now been proven
ineffective since finding the disease. Now,
consumer confidence will decrease. The
testing program that USDA will develop will be driven by consumers and U.S. trading
partners to ensure the safety of the food.
Kahn, Chris. “Scientists Try for 'Mad Cow Free'
Clone.” (2004) January 21 Associated Press.
According to the Biotechnology Industry
Organization several scientists are trying to clone a cow cattle that "is genetically
engineered to resist the deadly brain-wasting illness” mad cow disease. A representative from the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association does not feel that cloning disease free cattle is a cost effective
solution. He feels that the logical solution
would be to "stop feeding contaminated feed to animals that they weren't meant to
have in the first place. Cows are vegetarians."
Kilman, Scott. “Bush’s Mad-Cow Testing Program Is
Questioned.” (2004) The Wall Street
Journal (244) 9:D3.
Government investigators are critical of the Bush’s administration expanded
program for mad cow disease. Investigators
have found several weaknesses in the testing program that could mislead the public and
trading partners.
Kilman, Scott. “Farm
Economy Seems to Absorb Impact of First Mad-Cow Case.”
(2004) The Wall Street Journal (243) 14:A2. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The farm economy had just emerged from a
recession when it was announced that the first case of mad cow disease was found in the
United States. So far, it appears that the
farm economy is absorbing the announcement. The
shock of the finding is slowing down, but some borders are still closed to U.S. beef. Cattle prices are not falling as much as what was
feared, partly because consumers are still eating beef.
Kilman, Scott. “Mad-Cow
Test Is Ruled by USDA As A False Positive.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (244) 1:A6.
The USDA ruled that a cow suspicious of
carrying mad cow disease was a false positive. The
government has also rejected calls from the ranchers to stop releasing preliminary test
results. This was the first false positive
since the USDA expanded their mad cow-screening program.
Kilman, Scott. “USDA
Investigates Possibility of Second U.S. Mad-Cow Case.”
(2004) The Wall Street Journal (243) 125:A4.
The Department of Agriculture is looking
into a possible case of mad cow disease in the U.S. This
is the first month of expanded screening for the disease.
In Ames, Iowa, the federal laboratory is doing further tests to see if the
case is actually positive for mad cow.
Kilman, Scott. “U.S.
Confirms A Failure to Use Mad-Cow Test.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (243) 87:A6. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported
that suspicious beef cow was not tested for mad cow disease as was required. This shows that there are holes in the system. They reported this after media reports showed
some testing was not being done in Texas after a cow fell down and was not able to walk. The cow was not tested for mad cow disease.
Kilman, Scott. “U.S.
Rejects Widespread Testing of Cattle at Slaughter for Now.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243)
1:A3, A4. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S. Agriculture Department has rejected
the call for widespread testing of cattle for BSE that are slaughtered for now. Tuesday, the Agriculture Department revealed its
overhaul package. The package includes a new
rule that meatpackers cannot slaughter cattle that are unable to walk.
Kilman, Scott. “U.S. Set to Begin Killing of Cattle Under
Quarantine.” (2004) The Wall Street
Journal (243) 3:A4. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com.)
The Agricultural
Department reported that it would start killing the 450 head of cattle that are
quarantined. Right now, there are thousands
of animals that are in quarantine related to the mad cow investigation. There are now 43 nations that have banned U.S.
beef. For the U.S., beef exports is a $3
billion a year industry. This could mean a
loss of jobs of about 50,500 if the bans continue through the year.
Kilman, Scott. “USDA
Permitted Firms to Import Canadian Beef.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (243) 102:A7. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com.)
Officials from
the Agricultural Department reported that they let U.S. companies import millions of
pounds of processed beef from Canada by accident. There
was a ban on Canadian beef at the time. The
Agricultural Department reports that the mistake does not put the public’s health at
risk. The U.S. rancher’s group found the
import mistake. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action
Legal Fund reports that the Agricultural Department let in 33 million pounds while the
officials say it about 7.3 million pounds
Kilman, Scott. “USDA
Prohibits Mad-Cow Tests by Outside Labs, Causing Outcry.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243)
47:A1, A8. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com.)
Some consumers and some people who supply
beef would like to have their beef screened for mad cow disease before eating it. The only problem is the USDA will not allow it
because they do not allow private testing for mad cow disease. Federal officials do not allow this because they
are afraid that private laboratories would report false positives.
Kilman, Scott. “USDA
to Expand Mad-Cow Testing on U.S. Cattle.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (243) 52:A3, A17. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S. Agricultural Department is
receiving complaints from oversea buyers and some Congress members about the limited
testing for mad cow disease that is now in the U.S. So,
they are going to attempt to screen hundreds of thousands of more cattle, which could cost
more than $70 million. The plans of the
testing are still vague.
Kilman, Scott. “Validity of Mad-Cow Tests Questioned.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243)
11:A5. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S.
Department of Agriculture is monitoring the cattle herds in the U.S. for possible mad-cow
disease. Under the testing program,
slaughterhouses got to choose what cattle could be tested.
Consumer groups are questioning this program and its methods. The administration would like to show that the
infected cow found in Washington State was an isolated case.
Kilman, Scott
and Carlisle, Tamsin. “Canada Mad-Cow
Origin Is Shown.” (2004) The Wall
Street Journal (243) 4:A6. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
A DNA test shows
that the Washington State cow infected with mad cow disease is from Canada. This lets the Bush administration shift the blame
for the disease being in the United States. Bush
did report that the U.S. has not had a native born disease yet. There have been 43 nations that have banned beef
from the U.S. since the finding.
Kilman, Scott
and Mathews, Anna Wilde. “U.S. Mad-Cow
Search May End Soon.” (2004) The
Wall Street Journal (243) 18:D3. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com.)
The U.S.
Department of Agriculture reported that it might close its mad cow investigation in a few
days or in a few weeks. They have not found
many of the cattle that are the highest risk of having mad cow disease. This might hurt the U.S.’s chance of getting
50 nations to lift their ban on U.S. beef. The
FDA has worked on closing some loopholes and has tightened rules in the mad cow
investigation.
Kilman, Scott
and Pierceall, Kimberly. “Panel Urges
More Mad-Cow Testing.” (2004) The
Wall Street Journal (243) 25:D5. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Scientists from
an international panel said that the more mad-cow disease instances are likely to be found
in the U.S. They are recommending that U.S.
adopt stricter safeguards and test more cattle. They
say that if stricter guidelines are not put in place, the disease will spread.
Klapthor,
James N. “Wall-to-Wall Mad Cow
Coverage.” (2004) Food Technology
(58) 2:91.
Only one cow was
infected with mad cow disease in the United States, but there has been almost endless
coverage on the topic. The author discusses
some of the different coverage that has taken place in the last couple of months.
Kolettis,
Helen. “It’s A Mad, Mad
World.” (2004) Food Product Design
(13) 11:21-22.
The USDA found
their first case of BSE on December 23, 2003. BSE
is also known as mad cow disease. The author
discusses how BSE is transmitted, the cattle market, restoring customer confidence in
beef, and new regulations from the USDA.
LaBudde, Robert A. PhD. “BSE in the USA Redux: How Mad Are We
Getting?” (2004) Food Safety Magazine
(10) 1:25-26, 28.
The author
discusses what happened to Canada when they found a cow infected with mad cow disease. The author lists what the U.S. reported to Canada
as appropriate steps to take. Then, the U.S.
found a cow infected in December with mad cow disease.
The author discusses the changes that the FDA has taken since discovery of
the infected cow, Australian advance BSE SRM removal, and testing challenges and
developments that the world is facing.
Leung,
Shirley. “Mad-Cow Disease Hasn’t
Set Panic.” (2004) The Wall Street
Journal (243) 14:D12.(Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com.
When mad cow
disease was found in Europe and Japan, beef consumption went down. When the disease was found in Canada and America,
the beef appetite did not decrease. Studies
have shown that American concerned about the brain wasting disease, but have not changed
their diet.
Lewis,
Sara. "EU Changes Rules for Culling BSE-Suspected Cattle." (2004: June 21) Food
Chemical News (46) 9: 12. (Available by paid
subscription at http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
The European
Union has changed its cull requirements to slaughter possible cases of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy to "cohorts" of the confirmed case. Cohorts are defined as
"those animals born in the same period on the farm and fed the same food."
Lewis, Sara.
"UK Risk Status for Mad Cow Disease Could Be Lowered." (2004) Food
Chemical News. (46) 15: 12. (Available by paid
subscription at http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Discusses the
possibility of lowering the risk level of mad cow disease in the UK to moderate. The risk
level had been high. Two reports by the European Food Safety Authority recommend
downgrading the risk level which would also reduce export controls.
“Life
After Mad Cow.” (2004) Food Quality
(11) 1:8.
The author
discusses how people do not seem to be concerned about mad cow disease in the United
States. Despite an increase in sales of
poultry and pork, beef sales have not decreased. Senator
Tom Daschle is still eating meat but he is pushing for the country of origin labeling to
take effect soon.
Mathews,
Anna Wilde. “FDA To Offer Tougher
Measures To Prevent Mad-Cow Disease.” (2004)
The Wall Street Journal (244) 6:B4. (Available by paid subscription at: http://www.wsj.com).
The Bush
Administration is looking at imposing tighter rules on animal feed to help reduce the risk
of mad cow disease occurring in the United States. This
will help close loopholes. This move will
also help the U.S. be more in line with recommendations from an international panel of
experts convened by the Agricultural Department.
Mathews, Anna
Wilde and Lueck, Sarah. “White House To
Tighten Rules on Animal Feed.” (2004) The
Wall Street Journal (243) 17:A2. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The Bush
administration is under pressure to reduce the risk of mad cow disease in the U.S. Because of this, they are expected to tighten the
rules on animal feed, human food, and dietary supplements.
The FDA is working to close several loopholes.
They will also ban the use of cow blood and blood products in poultry litter. New policies could be reported as early as next
week.
McCarthy,
Michael J. “Mad-Cow Scare Thins the
Herd At Cattle Auction.” (2004) The
Wall Street Journal (243) 6:A12. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Fort Pierre Livestock Auction
held the first big auction since the United States had found the first infected cow with
mad cow disease in December. It is a big
regional auction that people and suppliers plan for months for. But after the cow was found in Washington State,
many ranchers cancelled. The inventory went
down from 6.500 to 4,000 cattle. A few days
later, only 2,000 cattle were going to be at the auction.
The auction did go better than expected for ranchers.
Murphy, Joan. “Italian Researchers Find New Form
of BSE. (2004: February 23) Food Chemical
News (46) 2:18 (Available by paid
subscription at: http://www.foodchemicalnews.com).
Discusses a study that was
published in the Proceedings of the National Science Academy. The study reports that Italian researchers have
found a new version of BSE that "resembles the more common form of Creutzfeldt-Jacob
disease" in two healthy cows that were tested in Italy. The new disorder is called bovine amyloidotic
spongiform encephalopathy or the acronym BASE. The
difference in the brains of the two cows tested was the "presence of PrP
immunopositive amyloid plaques." The
study available for purchase from the National Science Academy at: http://www.pnas.org. The citation for the article is:
Mari
L. DeMarco and Valerie Daggett, "From conversion to aggregation: Protofibril
formation of the prion protein" PNAS 2004 101: 2293-2298; published online before
print as 10.1073/pnas.0307178101
Naik, Gautam. “Mad Cow Toll In U.K. Is Less Than
Feared.” (2004) The Wall Street
Journal (243) 7:B1. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
When the mad cow disease first
appeared in the U.K. in 1996, scientists were predicting that eventually Britain's
hospitals would be full of patients dying of the disease.
So far, only 139 people from Britain have died of the disease. The author includes a table that shows U.K. deaths
from the mad cow disease. It appears that the
deaths are decreasing.
Normile,
Dennis. “First U.S. Case of Mad Cow
Sharpens Debate over Testing.” (January
9, 2004) Science (303) 5655: 156-157.
The U.S. thought
by keeping tissues that have the potential to have the mad cow’s disease from
contaminating meat products that feed cattle that they could keep the disease out of the
U.S. Since the first case has been found in
the U.S., they were wrong. Included is a
table of Japan, the European Union, and the U.S. with the number of BSE cases, the testing
standard, the annual number tested, and the annual cost of the testing. Also included is a table of approved BSE screening
tests.
Pierceall,
Kimberly. “Canadian Beef to Keep Facing
Import Limits.” (2004) The Wall
Street Journal (243) 89:A6. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The U.S.
Department of Agriculture reported that restrictions on imported beef products from Canada
would continue. They will be lifted when
Canada completes their new rules. U.S.
cattlemen are happy because they want tighter restrictions on imports that could have
alleged health risks.
Regalado,
Antonio. “New Mad-Cow Variant is
Suspected.” (2004) The Wall Street
Journal (243) 32:D3. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
Italian
scientists at the University of Verona have found that cows may have a new form of mad-cow
disease. These findings raise more questions
about the safety of eating contaminated beef. The
scientists say that if humans eat the cattle with this strain, they will get the disease. This possibility of a second strain could mean
that people are contracting the disease but are being misdiagnosed.
Regalado,
Antonio. “U.S. Research Into Prion
Diseases is Limited.” (2004) The
Wall Street Journal (243) 1:B1, B2. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The National
Institute of Health in 2002 spent $27 million for research on prion diseases. These included mad cow, scapie in sheep, and the
human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The author
includes a table called medical mysteries. In
it, he compares diseases and deaths that are researched by the National Institute of
Health. They include Spongiform
encephalopathy, HIV/AIDS, Diabetes mellitus, breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and
prostate cancer.
Stecklow, Steve and Kilman, Scott.
“As U.S. Pleads Mad-Cow Case, Past Practices Are a Handicap.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243)
5:A6. (Available by paid subscription at http://www.wsj.com).
The United States was always quick to close
its borders to other countries that had found cattle infected with mad cow disease. Now, they are trying to ask others to lift the ban
against them since they have found a cow infected with the mad cow disease. A few days after the case was found in the U.S.,
U.S. delegates were in Tokyo asking for them to lift their ban. The bad thing about that is that the U.S. has
never lifted its ban from Tokyo on beef from since cases were found there two |
