On January 11, 2005, the Canadian government confirmed a new case of mad cow disease. The brain-wasting disease showed up in an Alberta cow younger than age 7.

This is the second case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) found in Canada this year. And cattle raised on the same Alberta ranch as this diseased cow may have been eaten by humans, an official with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency admitted to the Edmonton Journal.

In early January, the disease was detected in an 8-year-old cow from Alberta. This case was reported just one day after the United States said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef in March. The border was closed in early 2003 after a cow in northern Alberta tested positive for BSE.

What is Mad Cow Disease?

BSE is caused by malformed proteins called prions. Researchers have traced the origin of disease to farmers’ cost-cutting practice of mixing bits of dead sheep’s neural tissue into the feed of cattle, who are naturally herbivorous. If cattle eat the brains of cattle who already have BSE (or of sheep suffering from a sheep disease called scrapie) the cattle can develop mad cow disease. Millions of cattle suspected of being infected with BSE in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, and other countries have been incinerated.

Ottawa has expanded its BSE inspection program, yet it looks at only about 20,000 a year — out of a cattle population of 5 million. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture tested fewer than 20,000 cattle for BSE last year — a statistically insignificant percentage of the more than 37 million cattle slaughtered.

Most cattle are slaughtered before their second birthday and are too young to show symptoms even though the disease may be present in their tissue.

Spongy brain disease has not yet shown up in pigs and chickens, but like cattle these animals are killed at a very young age, long before they might show any clear signs of disease. And if it hasn't already, it may spread to them soon. Mad cow disease variants have already been identified in humans, sheep, mink, cows, elk, deer, and cats.

Chronic wasting disease, a similar condition, is widespread in deer and elk in Western Canada and the U.S. and is suspected of infecting hunters who may have eaten meat from sick animals.

Meat-eating farm animals

The dangerous practice of feeding sheep and even cattle to other cattle was not banned in the Canada and the U.S. until 1997. And the U.S. Government has reported that as recently as 2001, there was widespread violation of the feeding regulation.

According to internal Canadian Food Inspection Agency documents, 70 feed samples labeled as vegetable-only were tested by the agency between January and March of 2004. Of those, 41 (59 per cent) were found to contain "undeclared animal materials."

It is still legal to feed sheep and cattle to pigs and chickens, and pigs and chickens to one another (and cattle) as well. These practices have been banned in Europe.

In North America, disease causing prions may be indirectly cycled back into cattle feed. Cattle remains are allowed be fed to pigs. Then the pig remains can be fed back to cattle. Or cattle remains can be fed to chickens, and then the poultry litter can be fed back to cows.

Poultry litter is the mixture of excrement, spilled feed, dirt, feathers, etc. that gets scooped from the floors of poultry sheds every year. Because poultry litter can be as much as eight times cheaper than alfalfa, the cattle industry feeds an estimated one million tons of poultry litter to cattle every year. ... Not only would the passage of infected feed through the chicken's intestinal tract be unlikely to reduce prion infectivity, some of the feed inevitably spills on the floor and mixes into the poultry litter that's fed to cattle. (Organic Consumers Association – see link below)

Canada has been slow to act. Finally in July 2004, they announced that farmers will be banned from feeding high-risk parts of dead cattle, such as spinal cords, to animals like pigs and chickens. But as of January 2005 the legislation is still held up, and it likely won't restrict other animal parts, or the practice of feeding dead pigs and chickens to cows.

Photo: dead pigs awaiting processing into animal feed

Risk to humans?

When people eat infected cattle, they could develop the human version of the disease, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). It can take years for vCJD to make itself evident in humans. So far 148 Britons have died from the disease.

Once meat is infected, there is no way to kill the prions by cooking it. Prions have been shown even to survive incineration.

Whether it strikes cattle or people, mad cow disease is fatal. The disease eats holes in the brain. In humans, it initially causes memory loss and erratic behavior, and over a period of months, its victims gradually lose all ability to care for themselves or communicate, and eventually, they die.

How to protect yourself

Stop eating all animal products and instead eat a healthy vegan diet. Almost as safe, would be a vegetarian diet that includes some organic dairy or eggs. Not only does going meat-free protect you from mad cow disease, but it can also help prevent foodborne illness, heart disease, strokes, and many other ailments. Please explore this website for more information about going veggie.

Sources

Owner of Alberta mad cow suspects feed,Canadian Press – Jan. 13, 2004

ttawa risking our health to save cattle industry,Toronto Star – Jan. 11, 2005

Lagging on the health front,Toronto Star – Jan. 11, 2005

Animal parts found in cattle feed: Secret tests uncover undeclared ingredients, Vancouver Sun – Dec. 16, 2004

USDA Measures Don't Go Far Enough to Protect the American Public, Organic Consumers Association – Dec. 31, 2003