Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

[Richard Myers]

We are all aware of the danger of being exposed to the blood of someone infected with AIDS. But, how many are concerned about being exposed to the blood of someone infected with CJD (human mad cow)? The danger appears to be more of a concern as I view the situation. Not only do we have to be concerned about the blood of humans, but also the blood of animals that have been infected with a multitude of spongiform diseases. Pet food many times is made with bone and blood from animals that could be infected.

Why do we believe blood is a viable threat to human health?

The following is current from the United States FDA....

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Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

Advisory Committee Meeting

February 8, 2005

Silver Spring, MD

Topic 3:            Deferral of Blood and Plasma Donors for History of Transfusion in European Countries

Issue:
In January 2002, FDA recommended deferral of blood and plasma donors who received blood transfusions in the U.K. since 1980 as an additional safeguard against potential transmission of vCJD by blood products.  FDA seeks the advice of the Committee whether this deferral now should be expanded to include history of transfusion in other European countries.

Background
At the October 14, 2004 meeting of the TSE Advisory Committee, FDA asked the Committee to consider whether any modifications of protective measures for the US blood supply were indicated. These discussions were prompted by the recent observation of two cases of vCJD in individuals who received transfusions derived from asymptomatic blood donors who later developed vCJD. One of these cases was heterozygous for met/val at codon 129 and neurologically asymptomatic at the time of death, but exhibited prion protein in the lymphoid tissues. This scenario potentially reflects longer-incubation vCJD infection in met/val heterozygous individuals who may have been exposed to the vCJD agent. The committee did not recommend additional donor deferral actions at the October, 2004 meeting. However, there was discussion in two areas: a) the predictive value of the donor travel/residence eligibility questions, and b) the possibility that deferral for transfusion in other European countries outside of the UK may be worthy of additional consideration.  

French Health authorities recommended deferral of donors that had previously been transfused in 1998.  In December 2004 the Dutch Health Ministry announced that individuals who had received any blood transfusion since 1980 would no longer be eligible as blood donors. This policy resulted in an estimated 8% loss of the Dutch donor base.

[Richard Myers]

The NIH is about to destroy their collection of CJD brains. This is not good. Because the medical profession and governments have decided to tell us that there are forms of CJD that just appear out of nowhere, the research on these brains is very important. To destroy them would be a very big mistake.  There is more than one form of CJD that comes from eating infected animals. The problem is not just in Europe, but it exits in the U.S. and the brains from these victims will one day prove that they got their fatal disease from animals or other people infected with CJD. Sad, but soon the world will see.   Washington Times

[Bill Wennell]

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/school3405.cfm

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/ominous030205.cfm

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050323-053919-8481r.htm

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm

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Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[Richard Myers]

Marjorie Skinner died Sunday from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. She was the fifth south-central Idaho woman since January to die from the disease. Times News

[WendyForsyth]

Shades of Soylent Green...yuck!

Cultured meat could also be tailored to be healthier than farm-raised meat, while satisfying the increasing demand for protein by the world's growing population, proponents say.

Industrializing the process could involve growing muscle cells on large sheets or beads suspended in a growth medium.

Once the cells have grown enough, they could be scraped off and packaged. If edible sheets or beads are used, all of it could be eaten.

test-tube meat

[WendyForsyth]

WASHINGTON -- Inspectors have found more than 1,000 violations of rules aimed at preventing mad cow disease from reaching humans, the Agriculture Department said Monday. No contaminated meat reached consumers, the agency said.

The rules were created in response to the nation's first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. They require that brains, spinal cords and other nerve parts _ which can carry mad cow disease _ be removed when older cows are slaughtered. The at-risk tissues are removed from cows older than 30 months because infection levels are believed to rise with age.

The Agriculture Department said Monday it had cited beef slaughterhouses or processing plants 1,036 times for failing to comply with rules on removing those tissues, which are commonly called specified risk materials or SRMs. The violations occurred over 17 months, ending in May.

The number of violations amounts to less than 1 percent of all citations at those plants, said USDA spokeswoman Lisa Wallenda Picard.

"At no point in time did SRMs get to consumers," Picard said. "There was not one example of that."

link

[Bill Wennell]

When you read between the lines though, what they are saying is that it is evident that numerous plants are violating the rules and, of the ones they caught, nothing has entered the food chain. But what about the ones they didn't catch?

Thanks for the information, as I was wondering why I got a call at home last week for any documentation that I had regarding violations pertaining to madcow. To get a call at home is so rare that it caught me as very unusual and the fact that Washington needed it was even more unusual. I guess they felt they had to prepare a report to state that all is "peace and safety." (Where did we read that from?)

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Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[Bill Wennell]

CJD in Spain:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29677323.htm

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Bill Wennell
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspector
BiblicalTruths2000@Juno.com

[Richard Myers]

Since January, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has received nine reports of people -- seven women and two men -- diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- or CJD. The Times News

[WendyForsyth]

Amazing the lack of logic here. They only are ruling that it's the Classic form of the disease because of the age of the victims. They are completely ignoring the fact that it's highly unusual to have that many cases in such a short period of time in such a small area.

quote:Because of their ages -- all of the victims except one were over the age of 60 -- health officials suspect they died of Classic CJD, and not the variant. However, the only way to confirm CJD is by testing brain tissue, according to the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center.

[This message has been edited by WendyForsyth (edited 12-02-2005).]

[Richard Myers]

Have you ever wondered if science could predict how many or who will come down with CJD? In England they have a way to estimate. It is a very good idea.

From listening to the meat industry and the government we think that only the brain and very little tissue has "mad cow" in it. But, when researchers take a sample of tonsils or appendixes that have been removed they can spot the prions responsible for CJD. By this they can find out who will come down with CJD and use this to estimate the amount of disease in the population. Mad Cow Org

[Richard Myers]

Bad news! One day we all, no matter wich country we live in will hear the same thing.

Regarding CJD in England: "One possibility is that the incubation periods are very, very long and so they may occur at a later date. The worst-case scenario is that these individuals could infect other people through blood donation or surgery and we could get into a situation where vCJD is self-sustaining." - Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD Surveillance Unit

[Richard Myers]

A 20-year-old Irish man diagnosed with variant CJD a year ago has died. He is the third Irish victim of the human form of mad cow disease. Ireland Online

[Richard Myers]

There is important information regarding CJD in the topic  Missing Link to Alzheimer's?

[Liane H]

It is clear that in the United States until there is a human case that can be linked to Mad Cow Disease people are going to eat beef until it happens.

Until then we will not really see a major drop in meat eating or even with the Bird Flu situation until then.

Unfortunately many people still trust the USDA that they are being honest and doing their job. We are fortunate here to have a good one on our forum, but in the big picture many I believe look the other way.

Soon though I believe there will be an outcry and lawsuits and a lot of other things that will come out from the first death of a human in the US. It is not enough that we have been given a warning from other countries.

Sad indeed.

Liane, the Zoo Mama  

[Esther 7]

There was a human case, publicized even, and no wake up sadly enough.

[Liane H]

Hi Esther:

I have not come across there being a case of human link to the disease of Mad Cow. Can you bring it up?  I know there has been cows, but not a human.

Liane, the Zoo Mama

[Richard Myers]

Since the mad cows in the US do not have the same strain of BSE as the ones in England, why would people not believe that our human form of mad cow is also different. That is to say that we may never see vCJD in the U.S. It may be that sporadic CJD is what comes from the American mad cows. To believe that sporadic CJD does not come from eating animals with TSEs is rather naive. To believe the story we have been told that it just appears, is rather amazing. But then look around us and many things are rather amazing.

[Richard Sherwin]

Even if a human case (or a hundred cases) of mad cow is found in the US I doubt very much that consumers will alter their eating habits. There are many things that the general public does, or does not do, that are bad but the behavior still continues. For instance, obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, not wearing seat belts, eating foods high in cholesterol, not getting enough sleep, etc. These are all things that 99.9% of the people know to be bad for them and yet continue in their ways.

Brother Sherwin

[Richard Myers]

Jeffrey O. Hanson, former state representative for Minnesota's District 56A, died Friday of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is related to mad cow disease.

He was 48 and died at Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury.