New Drug for CJD?

[Guest guest]

NEW DRUG HOPE FOR CJD VICTIMS

Nov. 25/98

PA News

By Suzanna Chambers, PA News

A common drug to protect those thought to be at risk of developing CJD,

the human form of mad cow disease, is, according to this story, being

considered by the U.K. Government.

The story adds that proposals to prescribe Pentosan have been discussed by

the Department of Health and scientists are hopeful that it could benefit

people who ate infected beef at the end of the 1980s.

Dr Dealler, a microbiological (sic) at Burnley General Hospital,

Lancashire, was cited as telling BBC 2's Newsnight that he believed it was

worth trying the drug in high risk groups, including the children of

mothers who died from new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD).

EU SAYS CONSUMER FEARS OVER BRITISH BEEF UNFOUNDED

November 25, 1998

Reuters

BRUSSELS -- Gerry Kiely, spokesman for EU Farm

Commissioner Franz Fischler, the architect of the original ban and the

proposal to lift it was cited as saying that the European Union's vote to

lift the British beef ban may have prompted a consumer backlash in some

parts of the continent, but strict controls on exports ensure the meat is

safe, adding, " This measure provides all the guarantees necessary that the

beef exported under the scheme is safe. "

The story notes that beef will only be eligible for export as long as it

is deboned and comes from cattle aged between six and 30 months and born

after August 1996, the date when a ban on feeding meat and bonemeal to

animals became fully effective.

To safeguard against the possibility of maternal transmission of BSE, the

dam (mother) of the animal slaughtered must have lived for at least six

months after the birth and must not be suspected of contracting mad cow

disease.

The meat must be handled only by slaughterhouses dedicated to beef for

export.

The Commission will now send a team of veterinary experts to Britain for a

final check on the controls in place.

Once the inspection report has been cleared in Brussels, the EU executive

will set a date for exports to resume. This process is likely to take some

months.

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The first story prompts the question as to what is the basis for a supposition

that Pentosan may be efficacious, and, if prescribed, how its effectiveness

assessed? Does anyone on the list have answers?

The second story of course raises the question of the meaning of the term " is

safe " when stated without further qualification -- a subject that has been

exhaustively explored before, and more recently in the BSE Inquiry. However,

short of telling the public that all beef, and indeed all food, and indeed

everything else in life, has an element of risk, however small and often

unquantifiable (or only quantifiable within wide confidence limits), a concept

that is understood by scientists, how do you convey that to a public that

wants

and expects absolute food safety?

Regards

Ralph

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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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