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■ [토돌이] Mad cow disease (2008-05-17 19:36)
Beef From Cattle Over 30 Months Old to Be Imported
By Kim Hyun-cheol

Beef from cattle older than 30 months will be possible after the United States applies intensified rules on animal protein use in cattle recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), according to the agreement, which now permits additional imports of U.S. beef with the FDA notice. It is expected to be available in South Korea in early June. Under the new measure, materials including brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older can't be used in animal feed production. They have the highest risk for carrying the agent thought to cause the brain-wasting disease.

``This FDA action serves to further protect the U.S. cattle population from the already low risk of BSE,'' Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said on its Web site. ``The new rule strengthens existing safeguards.'' The new measure is based on the FDA's 1997 feed regulations, which prohibited the use of certain animal proteins in cattle feed. It will be effective from next April. The revision, however, is still much less strict than regulations in the EU and Japan as it still leaves room for the United States to make use of some specified risk materials (SRMs) in animal feed production.

What Is Mad Cow Disease and How Do People Get It?

Mad cow disease is an incurable, fatal brain disease that affects cattle and possibly some other animals, such as goats and sheep. The medical name for mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE for short. It's called mad cow disease because it affects a cow's nervous system, causing a cow to act strangely and lose control of its ability to do normal things, such as walk.

Only certain animals can get BSE — people don't actually get mad cow disease. However, experts have found a link between BSE and a rare brain condition that affects people, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Researchers believe that people who eat beef from cows that have BSE are at risk of developing a form of CJD.

CJD is caused by an abnormal type of protein in the brain called a prion. When people have CJD, cells in the brain die until the brain eventually has a "sponge-like" appearance. During this time, people with the disease gradually lose control of their mental and physical capabilities.

To date, very few people have been diagnosed with the form of CJD that's been linked to mad cow disease. By November 2006, only 200 cases of this rare condition had been reported worldwide. Of these, most were identified in Britain. Several of the people diagnosed with the disease outside Britain — including two cases in the United States — had a history of exposure in Britain or in a country where government officials reported BSE. Experts believe that the people got CJD after eating beef products from cows that had BSE.

Because the form of CJD that's been linked to mad cow disease is relatively new and extremely rare, experts are still learning about it. However, researchers believe that the disease is not contagious among people. At present, it appears that the main way people get the disease is from eating contaminated meat.

Experts don't yet know exactly how long the incubation period is for CJD. However, they do believe that it takes years.
What's Being Done?

The type of protein that causes mad cow disease cannot be removed or destroyed when beef is processed or cooked. For this reason, the U.S. government has established several meat processing procedures to protect the public. One of these steps involves removing the parts of the cow that are at highest risk of containing BSE-causing proteins — the brain and spinal cord — to reduce the chances of them contaminating the meat people eat.

In October 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed additional safeguards to help protect consumers from BSE. These prohibit the use of any high-risk cattle materials in the feed of any animal. In this way, the FDA continues to decrease the already tiny possibility of infection with BSE.

The government has a recall policy for meat that's suspected of being contaminated. This helps prevent contaminated meat from reaching the shelves.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says there is no evidence that the disease is transmitted through cow's milk and milk products.

The good news is that it's highly unlikely that a person will contract CJD from eating beef. CJD itself is pretty rare. And because only three cows in the United States have been found to be infected with mad cow disease, which can't be spread from cow to cow, the chance that you will eat meat infected with the disease is extremely low.

Reviewed by: Larissa Hirsch, MD Originally reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD

. Have you ever thought about this disease and what is your thought?
hmmm. I heard that this disease makes holes in your brains or sth... That is going to hurt a lot!
I seriously do not want to have this disease, living in Canada, I do not have so much to worry about myself, but I always worry about my relatives in Korea. I hope that scientists would be able to come up with a cure for this terrifying disease. As the saying, "nip something in the bud"
we have to stop this madness before it gets worse.
 
2.Most cows are growing in a bad condition such as narrow a cattle shed. What do you think about animal right?
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the interests of animals, such as the interest in avoiding suffering, should be afforded the same consideration as the interests of human beings. This idea of awarding rights to animals has the support of legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz and Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School. -[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_rights]
I think this info pretty much sums it up. Animals should be given rights as human beings.
 
3. You cannot see the process of flesh circulation. Are you afraid of eating meats?
As we all know, we are always living with potential dangers. If you are afraid of everything, you can not live. I am not afraid of eating meats for that I believe the butchers that I buy my meats from.

4. What do you think the best way to solve importing cows?
The government would have to act quickly so that no citizens will be harmed. Also, America will have to feel ashamed of actually selling those meats, even though President Lee signed the contracts first, and ban selling the meats of death.


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