Mad Cow Disease

1
Mad Cow Disease
By Brett M.
2
BSE
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is the
scientific name for Mad Cow Disease or BSE.
3
What is BSE?
BSE is a slow progressing, degenerative, fatal
disease that affects the central nervous system
of adult cattle.
4
How was BSE Started?
BSE was first reported in 1986 in the UK. It is
suspected that some cows were fed Scrapie
infected meat-and-bone meal. Scrapie is a disease
that occurs in sheep and is very similar to BSE.
5
Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease
Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD) is the human form
of BSE. It is believed to be caused by eating BSE
infected products. Only 155 people have been
confirmed world-wide to have CJD, while thousands
may have eaten BSE infected meat.
6
Countries that have had BSE
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Hergovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Falkland Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Greece, Hungry, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Japan, and Yugoslavia. Over 30 Countries in all
Canada and the USA have only recently reported
one case each of BSE.
7
Products At Risk
At First Small intestines and tonsils.
Later Stages Central nervous system, brain,
spinal cord and some other nerve related tissues.
8
Products at a Low Risk
Meat, Cosmetics, Gelatin, Other non-nervous
system related products.
9
Milk
A cows milk does not carry BSE and cannot
transmit it, even if the cow is infected with BSE.
10
BSE IN CANADA
11
May 20, 2003
This was the tragic day when a case of BSE was
discovered in Alberta. This caused the U.S. and
other countries to immediately close their
borders on imports of Canadian beef.
12
Impact
Almost every aspect of the Canadian Cattle market
plummeted to the floor as a result of the BSE .
13
Government Support
The Canadian government did give a bit of
compensation cash, but it was quickly spread too
thin.
14
Beef
Fortunately, most Canadians continued to eat
beef, in fact the consumption of beef went up!
15
Conclusion