First Insulin, Now This -- Dang, We're Good!

This is a huge breakthrough, it should be getting front page coverage.

Canadian researchers say levels of a telltale protein in cattle urine may be the path to a BSE test for live cattle.

Scientists at the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), working with others from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the University of Manitoba and Germany's Federal Research Institute of Animal Health report that changed levels of this protein indicate the presence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) with "100 per cent accuracy," albeit in a small sample set.

Changes in the "relative abundance" of a certain set of proteins were also found to correspond with the advancement of the brain-wasting cattle disease, the Winnipeg-based NML said in a release Friday.

"We are hopeful that at some point in the future the knowledge gained from this study will make it possible to test live cattle," said Dr. David Knox, NML scientist and lead researcher on the study, in the release.

Accurate diagnostic BSE tests for live cattle would be a boon for the Canadian beef industry, which currently must remove and dispose of specified risk materials (SRMs) in all slaughter cattle. SRMs include all tissues that are known to harbour the misfolded proteins, or prions, that cause BSE.

Currently, the only reliable testing methods for BSE in cattle are post-mortem.

That "post mortem" test? You take a little slice of the cow's brain and look for a pattern of holes which looks a lot like a tea towel that's been shot with 18 gauge birdshot. The slicing and the evaluation take a while, and (I think) if the animal is caught early in the disease progression, the holes might not be obvious.

A live test has evaded scientists for a long time. The protein that causes BSE ("mad cow disease" for the Enquirer readers among us) is tiny, and there isn't a lot of it even when the disease is in full swing, and it's in the brain and spinal cord and inaccessible.

As these things go, BSE is small potatoes, more a fascinating puzzle than a public health hazard. It has probably cropped up in cattle, though very rarely, for millenia, and the chance of acquiring the disease from an affected cow would have been minuscule for those millenia. Only one thing could have made it common enough in cattle for anyone to decide to study it, and that was our fault. Feeding cattle to cattle is about the only way to spread the condition.[1] Supplementing cattle feed with rendered downer cattle protein did a very good job.

Until now, it's been impossible to track BSE until the animals were seriously ill. Now, it appears Canada has made a great jump ahead in studying this obscure, unusual disease, and possibly looking for a cure. Yay us!

Noni

[1] A related human disease, kuru, was transmitted by ceremonial funeral cannibalism, and once this understood the practice, and with it the disease, ended. Two related diseases, scrapie in sheep and chronic wasting disease in deer, elk and moose, spread much more easily.

SPP and mad cow disease

June 23, 2008 New mad cow case confirmed in B.C.
"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed the 13th case of mad cow disease in Canada. The agency said the animal was detected as part of its ongoing surveillance program for mad cow disease - or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)."

July 12, 2008 Ottawa washes hands of food safety
"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is ending funding to producers to test cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) as part of a surveillance program, the document indicates, a move expected to save the agency about $24-million over the next three years."

$23.3 million actually. This information has been available on the Treasury Board of Canada website since Mar 29, 2007. You can go look for yourself :

Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

"Changes in resource levels from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009: The decrease in financial resources of approximately $30.9 million is primarily related to the sunsetting of funding for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) ($23.3 million)"

because, as the same Treasury Board report on CFIA later explains :

"Canada is working with the United States and Mexico on the regulatory aspects of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America to eliminate redundant testing and certification requirements when it is beneficial to Canada."

And why are we doing this again?

"Long-term prosperity requires increased productivity and competitiveness which means making sure Canadians can compete in a global economy by creating a stronger economic union, reducing red tape and making sure borders stay open for business."

"Making sure borders stay open for business" - the main preoccupation of the Cons and the CCCE has apparently also become a guiding principle at the agency in charge of ensuring our food safety.

Related post from last Wednesday : SPP - Outsourcing food safety to industry

See also POGGE, Impolitical, and Accidental Deliberations
Cross-posted at Creekside

Before you eat that USDA Prime steak, read this.

Be sitting down when you read this. Do not have a mouthful of coffee, wine, Gran Marnier, tea or rum and coke. If you're smoking, put it down.

THIS is a killer. You would probably expect that USDA beef, having been processed by a meatpacker, would have been tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease.

Nope.

The federal government must allow meatpackers to test their animals for mad cow disease, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Yes. You read that correctly. The US Department of Agriculture was trying to prevent meatpackers from testing the animals they slaughter for human consumption.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a meatpacker based in Arkansas City, Kan., wants to test all of its cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Larger meat companies feared that move because if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too.

The Agriculture Department currently regulates the test and administers it to less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows. The department threatened Creekstone with prosecution if it tested all its animals.

How are you doing so far? Slap yourself in the face, this is not a bad dream and it's not a hoax.

Last July, the department cut its testing by about 90 percent. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said testing should reflect "a very, very low level" of the disease in the United States.

That would be about the same time the USDA felt the effects of a $2 billion budget cut.

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. Robertson said he was concerned by that possibility but noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on.

Yes, well, better to kill a few citizens than harm the "industry".

Yes, a case of Mad Cow Disease will harm the industry. So better that no one ever finds out about it. A cover up would be illegal. Just stop testing the animals and everything just looks so good.

Remember, this is the administration which claims that their first responsibility is the protection of the American people. From terrorists; Not cows.

What you don't know because your government won't look, can kill you.