Julian Vrieslander > wrote:

>
><http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/156393_madcow13.html>
>
>The article presents some disturbing possibilities. Prion-vectored
>diseases may be more widespread (in animals and humans) than we thought,
>due to underreporting and misdiagnosis.
>
>We just do not know very much about this class of diseases, and the
>cross-species transmission mechanisms. I doubt that every burger is a
>lethal biohazard. But I'm also a bit skeptical about the claims from
>the government and cattle industry that the meat supply is completely
>safe. It's hard to feel confident in those claims when they are only
>testing animals that are so sick that they are falling off their feet.

As long as feed is not contaminated by MBM(meat/blood meal) from animals with
BSE, there is no reason to fear the spread of the disease. It is only vectored
by direct transmission of the infectious prion from an infected animal to
another infected animal through eating.

Long before cows or beef appeared on their table, the cannibals of New Guinea
suffered from a disease they called 'Kuru' which they got from eating the brains
of their defeated enemies .

BTW, recent research has revealed that the evolutionary function of prions may
be a role in identifying what should be tagged for storage in long-term memory.
I can't recall the source of the research at the moment but I read about it in
the 01/01/2004 issue of 'The Economist'

Dennis