 What is mad cow disease?
Mad cow disease is officially known as bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE). BSE was dubbed “mad cow
disease” by the media, although some researchers believe
“sad cow disease” would be a more appropriate term.
The symptoms of the disease include a loss of physical
coordination and mobility, and eventual death for the animals it
infects. i
Since its first appearance in British dairy herds in
1986, BSE has affected roughly 200,000 cattle, but scientists
are still unclear about the disease’s origins and cause.ii
What is known for sure is the disease is a TSE (transmissible
spongiform encephalopathy), or a prion
disease, and has the potential to spread throughout a human or
animal’s brain. Infectious prions, which are kinds of
proteins, create tiny holes in the brain tissue, making it
appear sponge-like and resulting in severe brain damage and
eventual death.iii There is no cure for mad cow
disease or its human equivalent.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob
Disease
The human form of mad cow disease is called Variant
Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease, or vCJD. Like its bovine
counterpart, vCJD is also somewhat of a mystery, but most
scientists believe consumption of particular prio-infected
tissues from cattle cause the disease in humans.iv Most
scientist believe that eating infected brain and spinal cord
tissue is the most likely source of vCJD.v Because
prions are not destroyed by cooking, irradiation, or any other
type of disinfection, keeping these risky materials out of the
human food supply is vitally important.v
Roughly 150 people worldwide have died as a result of a
vCJD infection since the first case was identified in 1995.vi
It is possible for a person infected with vCJD to live for 30
years before showing any symptoms of the disease, and since it
is impossible at this point to diagnose vCJD before symptoms are
experienced, it is likely many more people are carrying the
disease completely unaware. vii With the onset of
symptoms a person will experience depression, psychosis,
debilitated motor skills and eventually complete immobility.
Those infected experience these increasingly dramatic symptoms
over the course of about 14 months in a downward spiral toward
death.viii
Although there is no cure for vCJD, scientists have
recently made progress toward the development of earlier
diagnostic tests. In July of 2006, researchers at the University
of Texas were able to identify infected prions in blood samples
taken from hamsters.ix This breakthrough could lead
to the development of a test able to discover vCJD in people
that are not yet experiencing symptoms of the disease,
potentially leading to preventative treatments for victims.
Public Health and Safety
Measures
When the first cases of mad cow disease were identified among
English dairy herds in the 1980’s, no one realized the
threat to public health. BSE was responsible for the deaths of
over 10,000 cattle by 1990, and only members of the beef
industry really feared the disease. Many countries banned live
cattle imports from the UK, but processed beef from the
BSE-infected nation continued to be exported around the world.x
It wasn’t until 1996 that a link between BSE in
cows and vCJD in humans was discovered and the general public
became aware of the true threat of mad cow disease.xi
Governments became responsible for protecting their citizens
against this mysterious and fatal disease, but, even with the
looming risk to public health, the British government’s
initial response was to calm the public’s fears so minimal
harm would be done to the beef industry (an industry worth 520
million pounds, or approximately one billion dollars, per year
at the time).xii It took nearly a decade before
European and North American governments would put regulations in
place in an attempt to stop this disease from entering the food
chain.
The
Offal Truth
Scientists generally agree that BSE is transmitted when cows
consume meat scraps from other cows.xiii Farmers in
the UK had been using slaughterhouse waste to supplement
cattle feed since the early part of the 20th century, and it
became common practice to feed offal (discarded animal parts) to
livestock throughout Europe and the U.S. within a few decades. xiv
A series of bans on the use of meat and bone meal in
cattle and other livestock feed have been enacted in various
countries since the first ban was put in place in the UK in July
of 1988.xv Over the course of almost a decade,
regulations were enacted to extend “feed bans” in
Europe and the U.S. to stop the spread of mad cow disease and
protect cattle and humans from its devastating effects.xvi
Unfortunately, loopholes and violations have meant offal
is still sometimes fed to cattle, and a few recent cases of mad
cow have been identified in cattle born after the feed bans.
This is a serious problem. It only takes a piece of infected
brain or spinal cord tissue about the size of a single grain of
rice (10 milligrams) to transmit BSE from one cow to another.xvii
Mad Cow in America
In response to the BSE outbreak in the UK, the United States
Department of Agriculture made some efforts to prevent a U.S.
outbreak by tightening import regulations, testing a relatively
small percentage of cattle, and implementing a feed ban in 1997.xviii
It eventually became clear these efforts were not enough and, in
2003, an American cow was discovered with the disease.
The USDA did increase the number of surveillance tests to
check one percent of all cattle slaughtered, but two new cases
were found in U.S.-born cows in 2006.xix Despite
these two new cases, USDA officials have proposed to cut back
their BSE surveillance program by 90 percent, meaning they
intend to test a mere .01 percent of all cows slaughtered for
human consumption.xx If enacted, one out of every
10,000 cows will be tested, while the remaining 9,999 enter the
food supply untested.
Many criticize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) management of
BSE, citing gaping loopholes in federal regulations as a serious
public health threat. Shortly after the first U.S. mad cow case,
the FDA promised to tighten regulations for the prevention of a
mad cow outbreak but failed to actually do so. The only
adaptation actually made to the feed ban was the exclusion of
spinal cords and brains of cattle 30 months or older from all
animal feed, meaning most cow parts and any parts of other
mammals could still be used in all non-cattle livestock feed.xxi
Currently, American cattle feed
may legally include any of the following risky materials:xxii
- Plate Waste. This includes
restaurant scraps and leftovers that may contain beef products.
(cooking infected meat does not destroy the disease)
- Poultry Litter. This is the waste
swept up from the floors of chicken houses. The litter usually
includes spilled chicken feed, which may contain cow parts, and
chicken feces, which may contain BSE prions since they do not
break down in the digestive tract.
- Cow and Pig Blood. Plasma (the
liquid part of blood) from cows and pigs is often used as a
protein supplement in milk replacer for young calves.
Global Impact of Mad Cow
 The
BSE outbreak in England was responsible for the death of nearly
200,000 cattle, and led to the pre-emptive slaughter of four and
a half million non-infected cows.xxiii Clearly, this
loss was devastating to the English agricultural sector, and it
is estimated the British economy bore over two billion dollars
in costs to handle the disease.xxiv
Although 95 percent of the mad cow disease cases have
been located in the UK, several other countries have also
identified infected cattle among their herds, including Austria,
Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the U.S. xxv
The impact of the mad cow epidemic on global markets has
been huge. Several countries have closed their borders to
European, British, American and Canadian beef imports for years.
Japan, for example, was formerly the largest importer of U.S.
beef, buying over one billion dollars worth in 2003.xxvi
When the first American case of BSE was identified in December
that year, Japan halted all imports from the U.S., diminishing
exports by over 50 percent in this country.xxvii
Japan has since re-opened and then re-closed its doors to U.S.
beef. The country, once again, began to import the product in
2006 with very tight regulations governing which plants can
supply them. xxviii
Time for Change
It is clear the existing regulations are not sufficient to
protect North American consumers against mad cow disease as
cases of BSE have popped up in Canadian cattle born well after
the 1997 feed ban.xxix
Measures the U.S. and Canadian governments can take to
curb the spread of BSE include testing every cow before
slaughter (as is done in Japanxxx) and closing the feed ban loopholes.
The best way for a consumer to stop the spread of mad cow
disease is to start buying sustainably-raised, grass-fed meat and dairy products.
Sustainable farms which allow cows to graze naturally on grass
avoid the murky waters of feed bans and accidental
contamination. And, a diet of fresh grass leads to healthier
cows as well as meat and dairy products higher in beneficial
fatty acids like Omega-3s.
What
You Can Do
- Go to the Meatrix Action Center and send a letter to
your senators and representatives, urging them to close the
loopholes in the feed ban!
- Sign up to get action alerts and news on BSE from Food & Water Watch.
- Know where your meat comes from.
Use the Eat
Well Guide to find a farm, store or restaurant near you that
offers sustainably-raised meat and dairy products.
- Ask Questions. See Sustainable
Table’s Questions
to Ask to know what to look for.
- Visit a farmers
market. Meeting the farmers at a farmers market will give you
the chance to assess their methods and standards first-hand.
While organic farms have to follow strict guidelines, they do
not cover animal welfare issues. For food safety, organic meat
is a good choice, but are many non-certified, sustainable
farmers who raise their animals as carefully as organic
producers do.
Did
You Know?
- Cooking does not destroy mad cow
disease, nor does chemical disinfection or irradiation.xxxi
- In 1997, Dr. Stanley Prusiner won
the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the prion
proteins that cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
diseases like BSE.xxxii
- In 1996, Oprah Winfrey broadcast a
show about mad cow disease and told her viewers that new
information about the disease “just stopped me cold from
eating another burger.” In response, a Texas
cattlemen’s association sued Winfrey, claiming her
comments led to an 11-million-dollar loss for the beef
industry. The jury ruled in favor of Oprah.xxxiii
For
More Information
- Sustainable Table's Mad Cow Fact Sheet -
Download this handout to help educate yourself and others on
mad cow disease.
- GRACE Factory Farm Project's Mad Cow Page.
- Organic Consumers Association - Contains a
long list of articles on mad cow disease.
- Eat
Wild – Online directory of pasture-raised meat and a
great way to learn about pasture-based farming.
- Friends of the Earth - Their Free Range,
Not Factory Farmed program has information on mad cow,
including a list of 300 firms that are violating the mad cow
prevention rules.
- The
Purdy Environmental Home Page - Website of Mark Purdy, a
British organic dairy farmer, who argues that BSE, CJD,
Alzheimer's disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other
diseases may be caused by chemicals used on farms such as
organophosphates.
Sources
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