Nando Times

Health organization warns cow disease may have spread

More cases of mad cow disease reported in Germany

The Associated Press

GENEVA (December 22, 2000 2:55 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - The World Health Organization said Friday that meat and animal feed infected with mad cow disease may have been sold across the globe, raising the possibility of outbreaks beyond Europe.

Maura Ricketts, a physician and WHO specialist, said it was almost impossible to trace where suspect meat or feed might have gone since mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was first identified in Britain in 1986.

The disease is considered the likely cause of a new variant of the human brain-wasting ailment, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. So far, 87 cases of variant CJD have been identified in Britain, three in France and one in Ireland.

Governments were slow to impose bans on the import of meat and bone meal and other potentially risky animal products, and the goods were exported for a long time after the disease was identified, she said.

"We may have to sensitize countries to the fact that they are at risk," she added.

Britain has spent $7.5 billion on containing the disease. If the disease were discovered in a developing country, the economic effects could be even more disastrous, she said.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), December 22, 2000

Answers

Then again, maybe Mad Cow Disease is actually caused by the application of pesticides directly to cows, as these web pages suggest. If so, it will be found wherever organophosphates have been used. Should be easy enough to figure out... =========== Insecticide Causes Mad Cow Disease - In another article on the same topic as the previous one, we learn that pharmaceutical interests in the UK are ignoring new scientific research that shows the insecticide used in the UK government's own warble-fly campaigns triggered the UK surge of 'Mad Cow'disease, according to this report from http://www.eionews.com/>eionews..

Latest experiments by Cambridge University prion specialist, David R. Brown, have shown that manganese bonds with prions. Other researchers work shows that prions in the bovine spine - along which insecticides are applied - can be damaged by organophosphate (OP) insecticides - causing the disease.

Myths & Truths About Mad Cow Disease - As an organic farmer, Mark Purdey resisted the order to spray his cattle with organophosphate pesticides for warble fly and went to court for a judicial review. He won and was exempted from using the spray. No cows born in his herd developed BSE (mad cow disease).

Read about his fascinating alternative theory of this disease which continues to spread fear across Europe.

Copyright Dr. Joseph Mercola, 2000. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, as long as copyright, contact, and creation information is given, only if used only in a not-for-profit format. "Dr. Mercola"

-- Neil Ruggles (nmruggles@earthlink.net), December 23, 2000.

Thanks for this info, Neil. Care to provide some links? I'm very curious that we've heard nothing about this disease being in North America to date.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), December 23, 2000.