My first tripper abroad was in 1999 — I went to England for the summer to cultivate on a horse farm . There were house all along the roadsides saying , “ grease one’s palms British Beef . ” This was as the terror of mad cow disease ( bovine spongiform brain disease ) was in full force in the country .
A Brief Walk Through Mad moo-cow History < The European Union censor British kick from 1996 to 1999 for fear of the great unwashed contracting variant Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease from consume mad - cow - tainted kernel . hoi polloi were genuinely afraid of deplete beef then . ( I admit it — I ate beef while I was there . ) I ’ve been back to England four times since then , and there does n’t seem to be much business organization about beef cattle safety now — BSE firmly in check .
delirious moo-cow disease pass over out about 4 million cattle in the United Kingdom — most of which were destroyed as a safeguard . You might imagine this was a serious jerk to the Bos taurus industriousness there . granger were feeding cattle feed that include neurologic tissue paper from other ruminant ( include Bos taurus ) , some of which contained mutate protein — prion — that make the disease , spreading it through herds around the state . Since then , most animal proteins have been banned in ruminant - animal provender .
In the U.S. , a mad cow panic attack come in 2003 , when one cow was found to have BSE . Hundreds of cows were destroyed and BSE examination took spot nationwide ( which can only be done by testing the brain after death ) , and brainsick cow never spread here .
No Brains for YouThe concern over mad cow disease is the devastating variant Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease , which humans can contract from eat these prion in beef cattle . Cooking does n’t kill prions the way it does most bacterium . The prions only live in nervous - system tissue paper , and the USDA require mental capacity and spinal cords from “ gamey - risk ” cattle — older cattle , downer cows and cows bear witness signs of a neurologic problem — not enter the food for thought system of rules . It ’s extremely rarified for a person to contract vCJD.When it does happen , nervous - system symptoms , such as impression and loss of coordination , first come along , be by dementia and death within 13 months .
In the U.S. , we do n’t get a line much about mad cow or vCJD on a unconstipated footing . If you learn the news or record major tidings sales outlet , though , you ’ve probably heard about another “ unrestrained - moo-cow death ” just last calendar week . If you lift Bos taurus or eat beef , this is intelligibly an redoubtable headline .
Here ’s Why You Do n’t demand to Panic : The person who passed forth from vCJD most in all probability contract the disease during change of location to Europe or the Middle East . There have been 220 case of vCJD reported since it was first discover in England in 1996 . This is the fourth in the U.S. , and none of the cases were believe to be contracted from eating squawk in the U.S.
If you ’re traveling to England or France — the two countries with the highestvCJD rate — your prospect of contracting vCJD from eating beef products is about 1 in 10 billion helping — these are comme il faut betting odds of coming out OK . You could ameliorate your odds by avoiding beef wholly or at least not eat products that have a high jeopardy of carrying the disease , such as head or beef products that could hold or have come in contact with neurological tissue paper , like sausages and ground beef . ( But , hey , it ’s the U.K. , so you could findhorse substance in your burger , right ? )
This case of vCJD has no impact on the U.S. gripe supply or the wellness of our cows herds . So extend on with your dinner plans of beefburger and meatloaf — from sustainable , little - scale farms , please — and keep up your regular ruck - health plan .
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