Info on the disease that has been "in the news".

INFORMATION RESOURCES ON BSE (mad cow disease)

BSE, CJD, mad cow disease, disease information, NCID, CDC
Infectious Disease Information. BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, known as "mad cow" disease) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, CJD) ...
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/submenus/...

Food and Drug Administration Mad Cow Information
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease is a chronic, degenerative disorder affecting the central nervous system of cattle.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/bse.html

In addition to the CDC.gov and FDA.gov sites in the US (above), here are some other links from a Google search:

Mad Cow Disease - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: BSE Facts
A project of the Center for Global Food Issues, Mad-Cow-Facts presents the latest information, news and analysis on mad cow disease, also known as bovine ...
http://www.mad-cow-facts.com/

Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page
By far the Internet's largest site for mad cow disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD) prion disease, ...
http://www.cyber-dyne.com/~tom/...

CBC News Indepth: Mad Cow
In August 2002, doctors confirmed a man in Saskatchewan died from new variant CJD – the human counterpart to mad cow disease. He had spent some time in the ...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/

MAD COW DISEASE: THE BSE EPIDEMIC IN GREAT BRITAIN
UK- Institute for Food Health and Technology · The Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page (Many Links). Mad Cow: The Science and the Story ...
http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/NM/...

Insecticide Causes Mad Cow Disease 12/17/00
Research that shows insecticide used in the UK government warble-fly campaigns triggered the UK surge of 'Mad Cow' disease. Latest experiments by Cambridge ...
http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/17/.

UK recalls Polio Vaccine due to concerns of BSE contamination.

2000 article. In 1999 the EU published guidelines for the use of animal products in vaccines and other items that this manufacturer violated. http://www.mercola.com/2000/oct/29/polio_vaccine_recall.htm

More Info on this issue in the US at:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefaq.html

Could Mad-Cow Disease Happen Here? - 98.09
Is the US govt. doing enough to prevent mad-cow disease?
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98sep/madcow.htm - Similar pages
This is a subscription only article; however interesting that it is covered. See www.newstarget.com for some views on this.

Mad Cow Disease
Mad-cow-facts presents the latest information, news and analysis on mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
http://www.mad-cow-facts.com/about.htm

US FDA/CFSAN - Commonly Asked Questions About BSE in Products ...
What is "Mad Cow Disease" (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy/BSE)? Mad Cow Disease is the commonly used name for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), ...
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefaq.html

The above article is: Commonly Asked Questions About BSE in Products Regulated by FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)

Some of the more pertinent information from that article is:

In light of the June 24, 2005 announcement of the second case of BSE in a cow in the United States, CFSAN has reviewed the products it regulates to ensure their safety.

First outbreak in England in 1986.

Does BSE affect people?

There is a disease similar to BSE called Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD) that is found in people. A variant form of CJD (vCJD) is believed to be caused by eating contaminated beef products from BSE-affected cattle. To date (as of June 24, 2005), there have been 155 confirmed and probable cases of vCJD worldwide among the hundreds of thousands of people that may have consumed BSE-contaminated beef products. The one reported case of vCJD in the United States was in a young woman who contracted the disease while residing in the UK and developed symptoms after moving to the U.S.

NOTE: Interestingly, milk from BSE infected cows is not considered contaminated. So dairy products are safe even in contaminated areas. See above article for full information.

NOTE THAT THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS DATED SUMMER 2005

NEWS UPDATES ON BSE:

www.newscience.com

www.sciencedaily.com

www.cdc.gov

www.who.org

NEWS FROM BEEF PRODUCERS:

R-CALF USA--

Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on domestic and international trade and marketing issues. R-CALF USA, a national, non-profit organization, is dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry.

Addresses all issues on trade such as labeling for the country of origin, BSE topics, international trade, animal ID program, etc.

http://r-calfusa.com/BSE/bse_fmd.htm

For the legal rulings and opinions on BSE of the R-Calfusa Cattle Association.

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NATIONAL CATTLEMANS ASSOCIATION

http://www.beef.org/

On their homepage you will find a link for the “BSE LATEST” and you will get to

BSEinfo.org

Welcome to BSEinfo.org, an information resource on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as "mad cow disease"). This site includes up-to-date information about the USDA expanded BSE surveillance program as well as background information about the beef industry and about BSE. The goal of this Web site is to share scientific information about BSE and the systems in place to ensure U.S. beef remains the safest in the world.

This site is funded in part by America's Beef Producers through the Beef Checkoff Program and managed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association on behalf of the Cattlemen's Beef Board and State Beef Councils. This site is funded in part by National Cattlemen's Beef Association member dues.

In Dec, 2005 Japan and the North American countries of Canada and US agreed to end the ban on importations of beef from each others countries in a specified manner. The above sites have further information.

This was widely reported in the National and International media, and information can be accessed at those sites as well as usda.gov

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March, 2006

The USDA reported that one cow had been found to have BSE in Alabama. The cow was put down before entering the food chain. The USDA is quoted as saying that they continue to have confidence that the food chain in the US is safe.

The full text of remarks can be found at:

www.usda.gov

link on the front page

Direct page link is: aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content/2006/03/bsestatement3-13-06.shtml

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CONCLUSIONS:

BSE can be contracted by humans by eating affected cattle meats. The US and EU have laws and regulations in place to contain this aspect of the problem. There are varying opinions on how effective these are and/or their actual enforcement.

However, there have been 155 cases in the world, and only one in the US (from a woman that had lived in the UK for a while.) Blood donations are not accepted from persons that have lived in countries with BSE and those living over six months in certain areas. The two US cases, in Washington State and Texas, are considered "isolated". Cooking at high temps DOES NOT destroy BSE. The only ways to completely avoid possible contamination is to be very certain of the origin of the beef and/or avoid beef products altogether. Note that many products including cosmetics, vaccines and so on use cattle products. Horses are not affected at this time.

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L.Robinson, agent

L.Robinson is a professional equine agent that markets horses for breeders and owners and finds horses for those looking for them.

For info on horses listed for sale link to:

http://eqagent.tripod.com

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