Re: Flaws in the conventional consensus on the origins of BSE

[Guest guest]

>But in the light of the fact that certain other neurodegenerative

>diseases, (eg; familial Alzheimer's) can be transmitted in this way

>(2), why don't we view these other conditions with the same degree

>of `hyperinfectious' paranoia that has been misattributed to TSEs?

I've read this and while he does have some points, he seems to

be misrepresenting at least the current state of research.

First, no one doing research, that I've read, has " hyperinfectious "

paranoia. They regard the TSE's as very moderately infectious.

3 out of 1,000 cows were thought to have been infected,

which is a REALLY LOW infection rate. And those cows were

likely in poor shape to boot.

Second, the Alzheimer's argument doesn't say anything, except

that you shouldn't eat any of your relatives with Alzheimers.

" Mad Cow " isn't, apparently, the only version of a contagious

nerve issue ... which is maybe why cannibalism is a common

taboo.

Third, the researchers do agree that the infection rate varies

not only by species, but also by genetic variation within

a species.

Fourth, Mark seems to be saying that his ideas that the

ORIGINAL infection are caused by various agencies have

been rejected by " the mainstream " . Maybe they have

been rejected by some mainstream, but there does

seem to be some acceptance that the original cause

may well have to do with environmental or viral causes.

The disease has been around for awhile, for a long

time before we started feeding " superfood " to

cows.

However, since the original problems ALSO started

when they changed the processing of that food

(they stopped using solvents to help break down

the proteins) it is suspicious. Could be it was ALSO

triggered by poor nutrition and pesticides ... those things

cause a lot more susceptibility to all kinds of things.

Basically I think the issue is NOT as black and white

as Mark makes it out to be. I can't see how cleaning

up the cow food hurts anything -- disallowing feeding downer

cows to other cows and creating better tests for BSE's

just doesn't strike me as a bad thing. If those measures

don't work then the other causes of BSE's will come

to the front quickly enough.

I kind of doubt his

" organic " cows really got a lot of the junk food they

feed to dairy cows, and yeah, they are likely in MUCH

better shape to resist any disease. But it is also true that

they don't have really good tests right now, and I doubt

his cows got tested. It takes weeks to run the test,

the sample has to be sent to England, and a cow can

live with BSE's and be fine for many years.

The cattle industry DOES get hyperactive when there

is an issue, because their profits are really at stake.

Notice what happened with hoof and mouth. That isn't

a fatal disease at all, but it is very contagious. When

a few cases popped up, everyone was using rugs

with bleach to wipe their feet and using all kinds

of precautions to keep it from spreading from farm

to farm. I was getting a little paranoid myself ... I

sure didn't want my goats getting it!

-- Heidi