The Issues: Flies

 

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.

sustainable TableVariant 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