BSE never a threat to humans, say scientists

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Subj: Ebringer and Pirt's autoimmune hypotheris

Date: 5/17/99 5:33:19 AM Central Daylight Time

From: jralphb@... (J Ralph Blanchfield)

Sender: BSE-L@... (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy)

Reply-to: BSE-L@...BSE-L@... (Bovine

Spongiform Encephalopathy)

To: BSE-L@...

Hello Everyone,

Here is an item in today's Telegraph.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

BSE never a threat to humans, say scientists

By Brown, Agriculture Editor

RESEARCH to prove that BSE has never been a

threat to human health and that more than ?3.5 billion in taxpayers' money

has been wasted " protecting " consumers from contaminated beef over 13

years has been ordered by the Government.

In a remarkable reversal of policy, the Ministry

of Agriculture has awarded ?250,000 to two scientists who claim that the

scientific theory that BSE is caused by a deadly form of rogue prion

protein is wrong. Beef from cattle hit by the killer prion has also been

blamed for the deaths of at least 30 people from a new form of

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the equivalent human brain disease - a link

which started the 1996 crisis.

Alan Ebringer, professor of immunology at King's

College, London, and Prof Pirt, an authority on the role of bacteria

in diseases, claim that BSE and CJD, together with similar fatal brain

disease in animals, are caused by a type of bacteria which is widespread in

contaminated water, sewage and the soil.

They say this acinetobacter - a common microbe

in the environment - is the real common link between BSE and new variant

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Acinetobacter is not spread by eating

beef.

In essence, they claim that genetically

susceptible people and animals become victims of " friendly fire " when their

immune systems produce fierce antibodies to fight invasions of

acinetobacter. These antibodies also destroy healthy tissue by mistake,

they say.

If they are right it would mean that there was

never any need for the Government to destroy millions of cattle. It would

also mean that the European Union's global ban on exports of British beef

has also been a waste of time and money.

The work, which involves testing serum from

known BSE cattle for high levels of antibodies to the bacteria and

bacterial peptides, could also have major implications for research into

CJD. The men have already found the antibodies they were seeking in a

limited number of cattle serum samples - a factor which helped sway Dr

, chief scientist at MAFF, to support their project.

Prof Ebringer said yesterday: " If our theory is

right, and we are confident it is, it will remove fears about the safety

of beef and there will be no need for restrictions on British beef

exports. Acinetobacter is commonplace in muddy water and animal faeces.

This may explain cases of CJD among farmers. It could also explain

instances of CJD in vegetarians. "

Prof Ebringer said a successful outcome of the

work would also remove doubts about the safety of mutton and lamb. Sheep

are affected by a similar fatal brain disease called scrapie - a disease

known for hundreds of years and which has never been linked with brain

disease in people.

Some scientists believe that BSE was caused

after cattle were fed rations containing the processed remains of diseased

sheep. But this has never fully explained why people may have contracted

new variant CJD from beef and not from mutton.

News of the research is set to provoke protests

from rival scientists who believe that the money would be better spent

pursuing the main prion theory. The Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory

Committee, the Government's independent team of advisers on BSE and CJD,

has been less than enthusiastic about the alternative theory and the two

scientists have been fighting against a science establishment clinging to

the prion theory.

Since 1986 the taxpayer has paid more than ?3.5

billion in BSE compensation - the costliest peacetime crisis this century.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

End of Telegraph report

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I am glad that they have got the grant for which they applied, though of

course it is just one among numerous project grants and can hardly justify

the extravagant description " a remarkable reversal of policy "

The above heavily spin-doctored report is evidently inspired by Ebringer

and Pirt themselves. Note " RESEARCH to prove that BSE has never been a

threat to human health " not " Research to find out whether .....etc " .

Subscribers will recall the correspondence between Pirt and myself last

October/November in Chemistry and Industry, with copies posted here on

BSE-L. I supported the provision of funding to support research on their

hypothesis, but deplored the hostility they expressed to other researchers

and the denigration of other research, still reflected in the penultimate

paragraph of the above report.

Regards

Ralph

******************************************************************

J Ralph Blanchfield, MBE

Food Science, Food Technology & Food Law Consultant

Chair, IFST External Affairs

Web Editor, Institute of Food Science & Technology

IFST Web address http://www.easynet.co.uk/ifst/>

e-mail: jralphb@...> ICQ# 6254687.

ICQ Web page

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Approved-By: J Ralph Blanchfield jralphb@...>

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Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 09:20:48 GMT

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Subject: Ebringer and Pirt's autoimmune hypotheris

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