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What Exactly is Mad Cow Disease?

With all of the frightening talk about Mad Cow, officially known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE, are you wondering what health risks eating beef really poses to you and your family? So was I. Here’s some information to help you see the bigger picture.

Short Intro to Mad Cow Disease

Mad cow is a brain disease thought to be caused by abnormally shaped proteins called prions (pronounced pree-ons). When a human is diagnosed with it, it’s called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD.

Prions are thought to be the cause because proteins have no genes and it is currently believed impossible for a protein to cause infection. Scientists today only recognize viruses or bacteria as capable of spreading disease and replicating themselves in living cells, so prions are baffling in their ability to infect the brain in the way they do. Prions cause both the animal and human forms of Mad Cow.

Where do these Prions come from?

All mammals have harmless prions that are there help whenever some “fine-tuning” is required by the cells of the body. Apparently the ones that are making Swiss cheese of livestock and human brains have been somehow altered in a way that makes them turn against the very cells they had once served.

What Exactly is Mad Cow Disease?

Abnormal prions are found in the cells of an infected cows

  • brain
  • spinal cord
  • eyes
  • nervous system
  • small intestines
  • blood – in low levels

When I first read that about blood I really began to wonder about why we are not testing all cattle that go to market for this disease? I realize the magnitude of testing that would involve, so I do “get” why they aren’t (ca-ching!) but even if cattle that are harboring mad cow disease are slaughtered in the most careful way so that the meat for human consumption never comes into contact with the parts mentioned above, their blood is unavoidably in the muscle meat. I mean, we can call them “juices” all day long, but what we’re talking about is cattle blood.

Another common use of cattle blood is for calf weaning. Calves are weaned on blood from slaughtered cattle that has be added to the milk replacer they are fed.

Prions are survivors

Let’s say a piece of meat or some ground meat does somehow end up tainted with residue from any of the body parts above. The abnormal prions that cause vCJD in humans are almost totally resistant to heat, radiation, ultraviolet light, and pretty much anything else that usually has the ability to kill bacteria and viruses. I once thought that washing meat thoroughly before cooking was a safeguard against this disease!

If there are abnormal prions in the blood of the animal, then even though I’m no scientist, I don’t see how it can be safe for human or animal consumption. I can only assume that meat from BSE infected cattle looks and cooks up the same as meat from healthy catttle. Why? Because the people who became infected from eating it would not have eaten it otherwise.

“Bovine-Derived Materials” in Childhood Vaccines

So let’s sum this up. As of now there is no known cure for mad cow disease nor the human version. Even when meat that is tainted with Mad Cow is washed and cooked the risk of ingesting these abnormal prions that ultimately lead to the disease is still there because of blood and resistance to heat. And the testing of cattle is seriously limited here in the U.S. You’re going to have to draw your own conclusions, but it seems obvious to me.

Buy organic beef. Easier said than done since the price is sky-high if you can even find it. At our local co-op, an 8 ounce organic strip steak is about $12.00! Yikes!

But if you must eat beef it’s reassuring to know that there have been no cases of BSE reported in animals raised their entire lives following organic production standards. As long as the standards remain unchanged.

  • Jean

    I eat 100% organic and I think the prices are extremely low. the only problem I have is that the producer of organic meat will most likely take non-organic bull semen which this one seems unsafe for BSE contamination. as there is no strict law for where the Semen comes from. you still can go for Organic Veal If this one is killed before the age of 2 years old. but there is no garanty it is, no matter what the organic producer will tell you. note that the safest piece of meat you can have is the Veal Scalop. I found a 29 Canadian dollar price / kilogram directly at the farm for this piece. Its also better to stay away from any ground meat, or any meat with a bone on it. Best author from a book tells you to stay away from the spine. You also can risk it with the center of Organic Beef but this piece is slightly more dangerous than the Organic Veal Scallop. I did not studied the wild animals you can hunt, they seems to have a risk of contamination here too. one of the only solution I have is to go to the organic farm, and pay the organic producer for eating is own ground beef and veal and he should know the informations about CJD desease and BSE, as a reference that he really took organic semen for beef, and that the oldest semen from the family originated from the organic farm and never saw non-organic origins. another way is the producer proves that His Organic Veal is killed before age 2, and that CJD is not here before age 2, more study on that, you could go for Organic Ground Veal at 21$can/kg. Since animal dairy is straight poison from the beginning of time, you can have a bit of it, same prodedure with paying the producer to eat his own organic goat cheese, since they took the wrong race with the cow in north america, alias A1 A2 milk.
    keep out the neck of the organic chickens too with chirurgical gloves If Any. pork is a lost of time, since it doesnt have the sublime effects of reddish meat. all organic vegan cosmetics because your skin absorbs and reach your bloodstream, no pills of any kind, seafood products can eat prions too, as they saw contamination for CJD, I would say stick with Alaska, or organic salmon as they need to be further on ocean, or small mackerels and small sardines as they dont have the dioxin and mercury, as they just appeared in the wild, extra small, avoiding all other farm raised other seafood. there is also small wild shrimps, with the blue logo certification for Wild, super extra small. scallops all tastes mercury even the small ones here at least, as it is a synonym for prion risks.
    ..Surely Liquid Omega 3 from alaska, or antarctica without glycerin on it would be a good choice. Water is safe for shower, cooking, food that contains water no problems. it is even safe for drinking ( for prions ) anyway the taste is horrible, but thats another complex story.