Sunday, March 24, 1996
By Gulam Mustafa Faia
At present in Britain as well as in a few other European countries, it is not a question of whether vegetarian fare or non-vegetarian fare in better healthwise, but whether the hooves of the animal from whom has come the steak on one’s plate has helped in digging the grave of the steak eater.
Since Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) first hit the headlines in 1990, Britain is struggling in the grip of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) a human form of BSE or Mad Cow Disease an epidemic that has struck, and killed thousands of cattle and is killing hundreds every week.
Spongiform Encephalopathies, a group of degenerative disorders to which BSE and CJD belong strikes cattle as well as humans by attacking the brain causing madness, and ultimately death. To date there is no cure for this disease and death is certain.
BSE was first discovered in Britain in 1986 when some farmers were baffled when they found their cattle were unable to stand erect, and were behaving in a strange manner; hence the name Mad cow disease. When the cows were slaughtered and their brains examined they were found to be infected with BSE.
According to experts, the British cattle caught the disease through contaminated feed, made from the carcasses of dead animals for the protein content, which helped increase milk production considerably. But, this protein-rich feed also included the carcasses of sheep infected with Spongiform Encephalopathy (Spongiform Encephalopathy in sheep exists in Britain since 2 centuries without having adverse effects on either cattle or humans). The infected cattle were further converted to more cattle feed, thereby multiplying the disease at a very rapid pace. BSE has now claimed over 150,000 animals in Britain.
In 1988, the British government banned cattle feed containing protein obtained from beef and sheep, and milk from infected cows as well as infected cattle were to be destroyed.
By then thousands of humans who has consumed beef or milk or it’s products as well as cattle feed with animal protein feed, were in danger of having been exposed to BSE.
It is not only the consumption of contaminated beef, but it’s handling as well as exposure to infected cattle, which probably can be the cause of the dreaded CJD. A few dairy farmers whose cattle were infected succumbed to the disease. Recent studies conducted in Britain indicate that workers in the beef trade developed CJD due the handling of beef products. Experts paint a grim picture when they predict that by the turn of the centure, CJD could reach epidemic proportions.
Says Richard Lacey, visiting professor of Clinical Microbiology at Leeds University, “The prospect of a huge number of people dying from a human form of BSE in the next century is very real, whether it will be 10,000 or 10 million we don’t know yet. It is time bomb ticking away.”
CJD is an unusual disease which tends to attack elderly people but of late a few teen-agers have been struck by this deadly disease, making medical experts sit up and wonder, whether a new type of germ lies behind the CJD attack on the teenagers.
There are many who believe that there is no scientific evidence to show that BSE and the human disease, CJD are linked, but the writing on the wall exists if laboratory tests are to be believed.
In 1990, laboratory tests proved that BSE was transmitted to mice, pigs and monkeys, when fed with contaminated beef. In 1994, 55 people died of CJD. According to Dr. Helen Grant, neuropathologist, “With the disease’s long incubation period (ten to forty years) we have to wait another 15 years before we’ll know whether we can catch BSE or not. If there is no evidence, we should work on the assumption it is possible until we know other wise.”
With such frightening disclosures it certainly is a cause for concern for a country like India where most of the know-how for the production of feed, as well as various high yield breeds for the meat farming industry are imported from the west.
Since Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) first hit the headlines in 1990, Britain is struggling in the grip of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) a human form of BSE or Mad Cow Disease an epidemic that has struck, and killed thousands of cattle and is killing hundreds every week.
Spongiform Encephalopathies, a group of degenerative disorders to which BSE and CJD belong strikes cattle as well as humans by attacking the brain causing madness, and ultimately death. To date there is no cure for this disease and death is certain.
BSE was first discovered in Britain in 1986 when some farmers were baffled when they found their cattle were unable to stand erect, and were behaving in a strange manner; hence the name Mad cow disease. When the cows were slaughtered and their brains examined they were found to be infected with BSE.
According to experts, the British cattle caught the disease through contaminated feed, made from the carcasses of dead animals for the protein content, which helped increase milk production considerably. But, this protein-rich feed also included the carcasses of sheep infected with Spongiform Encephalopathy (Spongiform Encephalopathy in sheep exists in Britain since 2 centuries without having adverse effects on either cattle or humans). The infected cattle were further converted to more cattle feed, thereby multiplying the disease at a very rapid pace. BSE has now claimed over 150,000 animals in Britain.
In 1988, the British government banned cattle feed containing protein obtained from beef and sheep, and milk from infected cows as well as infected cattle were to be destroyed.
By then thousands of humans who has consumed beef or milk or it’s products as well as cattle feed with animal protein feed, were in danger of having been exposed to BSE.
It is not only the consumption of contaminated beef, but it’s handling as well as exposure to infected cattle, which probably can be the cause of the dreaded CJD. A few dairy farmers whose cattle were infected succumbed to the disease. Recent studies conducted in Britain indicate that workers in the beef trade developed CJD due the handling of beef products. Experts paint a grim picture when they predict that by the turn of the centure, CJD could reach epidemic proportions.
Says Richard Lacey, visiting professor of Clinical Microbiology at Leeds University, “The prospect of a huge number of people dying from a human form of BSE in the next century is very real, whether it will be 10,000 or 10 million we don’t know yet. It is time bomb ticking away.”
CJD is an unusual disease which tends to attack elderly people but of late a few teen-agers have been struck by this deadly disease, making medical experts sit up and wonder, whether a new type of germ lies behind the CJD attack on the teenagers.
There are many who believe that there is no scientific evidence to show that BSE and the human disease, CJD are linked, but the writing on the wall exists if laboratory tests are to be believed.
In 1990, laboratory tests proved that BSE was transmitted to mice, pigs and monkeys, when fed with contaminated beef. In 1994, 55 people died of CJD. According to Dr. Helen Grant, neuropathologist, “With the disease’s long incubation period (ten to forty years) we have to wait another 15 years before we’ll know whether we can catch BSE or not. If there is no evidence, we should work on the assumption it is possible until we know other wise.”
With such frightening disclosures it certainly is a cause for concern for a country like India where most of the know-how for the production of feed, as well as various high yield breeds for the meat farming industry are imported from the west.
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