Mad cow quest lures scientist to Florida ......12 years may pass before..

[ConcernedCanuk]

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Some 12 years may pass before the unluckiest ones discover that in 2003 they consumed American beef infected with a disease called "mad cow."

If they show the symptoms -- they will stumble and stagger, their speech will slur -- then within six months they will almost certainly die.

/snip/

From the mad cow epidemic in England, scientists know that millions of people may have been exposed to diseased beef, yet only about 150 are yet known to have sickened and died. The average incubation period is a little more than 12 years.

There is a sense of urgency to learning how many more people may become sick and why others don't appear to be ill, said Dr. Anthony Williamson, a researcher at Scripps' main campus in La Jolla, Calif. "There's no diagnostic tool other than to look at their brain after they die," he said.

/end/

holyfrickadee - we just hafto wait ? :shrug:

and with all this, the governments are waffling on testing ?

well, we know that THESE governments won't be around in 12 years, so no worry

(sigh)

[donsu]

1. in 12 yrs, glacers will have melted and most oil consumed and........

today at the grocery I asked a seafood clerk if sales were down on meat and seafood. she said not at all.

boy, denial is a powerful thing.

[amazona]

6. people have to eat every day whether or not

I wouldn't call it denial, I would call it being realistic. More people die of calorie restriction in the U.S. (anorexia) than die of mad cow disease, Hep A, and mercury poisoning combined. I have to eat enough to maintain weight. No matter what it says in the news. In the long term we all die but anorexia is a faster route to the grave than mad cow. Food safety is an important issue, and we need to keep hammering it -- because people don't have an option of giving up all beef (mad cow), chicken (Newcastles, avian flu, avian encephalitis), vegetables (Hep A, pesticides), fruit (even more cancer-causing pesticides than fruit), fish (mercury, etc.). We must eat something!

[truthseeker1]

9. How about

organic (pesticide free) fruits and vegetables, mercury-free fish and grains? It might take a little more time and effort but it's worth it to be safe. I think obesity is a bigger problem in the U.S. than anorexia.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Why are they coming to Florida?

And what happened to the link?

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Link is the graphic - just clik on it - -

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[jus_the_facts]

4. I tend to think we've been exposed to this for a couple decades already...

.....they've been mixing dead livestock protiens back into the feed makin' them cannibals....I see the surge in Altzheimers as the precursor in all this....they just refuse to put it all together to keep us thinkin' these are new anomolies when they've been manipulating our food in all sorts of ways for decades....THANKS A LOT MONSANTO!!! :puke: :evilfrown:

[amazona]

5. alzheimer's not the same at all

Having Alzheimer's in the family, I can assure you that you would much rather get mad cow and be done with it. People "live" if it can be called living with Alzheimer's for decades. It is not caused by diet and can't be aleviated or prevented by anything in the diet or anything else. The available drugs don't do anything either except maybe enrich some drug companies. And people who think doing the crossword puzzle is going to prevent Alzheimer's should just be shot -- that is so absolutely not the case that being bright and engaged will save you -- but that's a rant for another day!

Most if not all "mad cow" victims seem to be in their teens or early 20s. And they go very quickly, in months. Now I have heard of people getting the disease from surgical instruments, and those people have been of any age, but I have not heard of many if any older people dying from eating infected beef. Obviously, the millions projected in the 1980s that were going to die from being exposed to British ground beef didn't die. Mad cow is no joke, and it should be tested for and kept out of the food supply, but it does seem to me that there is some other factor that makes people vulnerable. Maybe you have to eat infected beef AND be at a vulnerable age in your hormonal development? Who knows...pure speculation here, frankly. But I'm honestly more concerned about the children who ate the beef in past months than about myself. I don't think I would allow a child to eat ground beef again until proper tests are put into place for ALL beef sold in the U.S. Maybe an extreme over-reaction but when they refuse to give us any information about where the bad beef went, it just creates more FUD.

[truthseeker1]

10. Alzheimer's has been linked to mad cow

I know what you mean about Alzheimer's - my grandfather died of it and now my grandmother has it.

It was my understanding that mad cow can be in your system for 40 years before symptons emerge. And I have also read that Alzheimer's is linked to it.

I refuse to eat beef anymore because of this. Who knows, I could be already infected, but why should I continue to add to the risk? I know people who feel like the odds are with them so they don't care about this issue. It's just insane. And so it our govt's way of dealing with it.

[truthisfreedom]

7. well, you know, we're running out of oil, and there's global warming comin

so those of us with mad cow will simply miss all the bad stuff.

[underpants]

8. Hmm LBN right now-Gov't Ends Search for Mad Cow Disease

DU thread (mine)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=354777

Story
Gov't Ends Search for Mad Cow Disease
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=3&u=/ap/20040209/ap_on_re_us/mad_cow


WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department is ending its search for additional cases of mad cow disease even though officials have not found several animals suspected of having eaten the potentially infectious feed believed to have caused the only known U.S. case.

"Our investigation is now complete," Dr. Ron DeHaven, the department's chief veterinarian, said Monday. "We feel very confident the remaining animals, the ones we have not been able to positively identify, represent little risk."

The closure leaves officials not knowing what happened to 11 head of cattle among 25 that authorities say were most likely to have eaten the same feed as that given to a Holstein diagnosed in Washington state with mad cow after it was slaughtered on Dec. 9.

An international review panel created by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said last week that U.S. officials had done a thorough job of searching for the animals but added that more focus should be put on preventing future cases.

Also unknown is what happened to all 10,410 pounds of meat that was recalled from the Washington state slaughterhouse that processed the Holstein and mixed its meat with that of 19 other animals. They expect some may have been eaten. However, the meat supply is safe, DeHaven said. USDA had said the parts of the Holstein that could have contained infectious material, such as the brain and spinal cord, were removed before processing.

[SoCalDem]

11. "...They expect some may have been eaten..." ..wtf

Why else would people buy it?? How clueless do they think we are??

It's just like the Wlid West right now in this admin.. anything goes.. screw regulations.. no paper trail.. Do whatever you want..

:grr:

About 11 years from now, (when it's waaaaay to late to hold anyone responsible), people will start showing signs.. how sad for us all..

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. We're in the Texafication of America.

Per capita, the biggest source of flim flam artist in the 50 states come from Texas.

How bad was the Saving's and Loan in Texas? Pretty bad. And Enron? Don't go there. (At least that's what Dick Cheney says.)