PRIONS: Is Your Food Really Safe? -- CJD, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Lou Gehrig's, Multiple Sclerosis

Everyone's familiar with the prion Mad Cow's Disease - a quick acting prion that is contracted through eating unsafe ground beef that kills its victims within 2 years. Mad Cow's infected beef occurs when a rancher or slaughterhouse knows there is a sick cow that can't stand up and they slaughter and sell the cows meat. If any portions of the cow's brain or spinal tissue winds up in the ground beef, then any person eating it catches the prion.

www.newton.dep.anl.gov...
Mad Cow's Disease and Abnormal Proteins

Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease is a more common prion. Its symptoms resemble Alzheimers and in fact many people diagnosed with Alzheimers actually had CJD. There were different autopsies done on persons who had been diagnosed as having Alzheimers and when their brains were autopsied, 11%-13% of them actually had CJD. Which makes CJD more common than most think. So out of the 4.5 million cases of Alzheimers diagnosed in the United States (to be 11.3 to 16 million cases by 2050), 540,000 are really Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease (to be 1.35 to 1.92 million cases by 2050).

www.cyber-dyne.com...
Yale Study: Brain Autopsies on Alzheimers - They Really Had CJD

www.bu.edu...
Alzheimers Disease Statistics

memory.ucsf.edu...
Abnormal Proteins and Prions: Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease

USDA STOPS PRIVATE ENTERPRISE FROM TESTING THEIR OWN BEEF

The USDA only tests 1% of the beef in the United States for the known prions. That's right, ONLY 1% of the beef is tested. So 99% of the beef in the United States is NOT tested for the two known prions. Does that make you want to eat a hamburger when 99% of the beef isn't tested? It's like playing roulette every time you buy beef. The USDA has no idea how many cows are infected and neither do you when you buy a burger.

Creekstone Farms was a company in the past that wanted to test ALL of their beef, which is what consumers expect. Consumers expect the beef companies to test all of their beef. However, the USDA stepped in and slapped Creekstone Farms with an injunction preventing them from testing their own beef for prions. The USDA claimed that a private company doesn't have the right to test their own beef for prions, that only the USDA has the authority. And the USDA funded by taxpayers CHOOSES to only test 1% of the beef, leaving 99% of the beef untested while simultaneously telling private beef companies that they aren't allowed to test their own beef.

remnant-online.com...
Feb 2004 Creekstone Farms Stopped by USDA from testing their own beef for prions

So for all the 540,000-plus CJD cases (to be 1.35 to 1.92 million cases by 2050), if the victims get properly diagnosed with CJD (and not falsely diagnosed with Alzheimers) - instead of suing the beef companies for not testing their beef -- they'd have to sue the USDA for not allowing private companies to test their own beef.

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OTHER PRIONS IN THE FOOD SUPPLY

Alzheimers

Dr. Stanley Prusiner, who discovered prions, has been trying to find a prionic cause for Alzheimers. Alzheimers is a good candidate for possibly being caused by a prion. The way that most prions work is that a prion attacks neurons, enters into the neuron and changes the normal protein structure into an abnormal protein structure. When that occurs, the immune system detects either the prion-infected neuron or the abnormal protein structure that is not supposed to exist in the human body. And the immune system then destroys the neuron with the abnormal protein.

Does Alzheimers fit the profile for a prion? Yes. In the case of Alzheimers, it resembles what a prion does. Something infects memory neurons. Then changes the normal protein structure of memory neurons to an abnormal protein structure. When that occurs, the immune system responds by destroying the memory neuron with the abnormal protein structure.

www.nature.com...
Alzheimers Abnormal Brain Proteins Glow

If Alzheimers is caused by a prion, what is the food source? Beef. World beef consumption reflects the Alzheimers rate, just like CJD.

Parkinsons

Does Parkinsons fit the profile for a prion? Yes. In the case of Parkinsons, it resembles what a prion does. A prion invades neurons and changes the normal protein structure to an abnormal protein structure. Then the immune system detects the neuron with the abnormal protein and destroys it.

In the case of Parkinsons, it is the dopamine-producing neurons related to motor control that have abnormal protein structures. The immune system detects the dopamine-producing neurons with the abnormal protein structure and destroys them.

www.nature.com...
Abnormal Protein Aggregation and Neuron Death in Parkinsons

If Parkinsons is caused by a prion, what food is the source? Parkinsons doesn't generally fit the typical beef consumption patterns when looking at gender. In Japan, more women are infected with Parkinsons then men yet men consume more beef than women in Japan. Is there another product made from a cow that women in Japan consume more of then men? Yes. But it seems to be more related to the way the product is made - an unsafe way.

Lou Gehrig's Disease

Does Lou Gehrig's Disease fit the profile for a prion? Yes. In the case of Lou Gehrig's disease the prion standard applies. A prion invades neurons, changing the normal protein structure to an abnormal protein structure - then the immune system destroys the neuron with the abnormal protein.

In the case of Lou Gehrig's Disease, it is the motor control neurons that come under attack. Those neurons become infected with an abnormal protein and the immune system destroys them. Leaving its victims helpless and unable to move their arms and legs. Many athletes share Lou Gehrigs, including entire sports teams infected with Lou Gehrig's. And sports teams do share meals and they do share muscle bulking products derived from food. Sometimes coaches put the whole team on the same diet.

www.livescience.com...
Researchers Find Abnormal Protein Behind Lou Gehrig's Disease

Multiple Sclerosis

Does Multiple Sclerosis fit the profile for a prion? Yes. A prion invades neurons and changes the normal protein structure into an abnormal protein structure. Then the immune system destroys the neuron with the abnormal protein structure.

In the case of Multiple Sclerosis, it is the myelin sheaths of neurons that come under attack. The myelin sheaths of neurons become infected with an abnormal protein to which the immune system detects. Then the immune system destroys the myelin sheath with the abnormal protein structure.

If Multiple Sclerosis is caused by a prion, what is the food source? It's NOT beef. MS has the opposite gender curve. More women are infected than men. But MS does reflect world wide cow's milk consumption. So if MS were caused by a prion in cow's milk, then parts of the world that do not consume cow's milk should have no cases of MS. Does that hold any water? YES. Japan, China and North Korea do not or very rarely drink cow's milk. Instead they drink soy milk and rice milk. And there's virtually no cases of Multiple Sclerosis in those countries. It's not genetic, because South Korea drinks cow's milk and they do have a large number of cases of MS. Yet North Korea who doesn't drink cow's milk, that drinks primarily soy and rice milk doesn't have MS cases.

Those infected with MS all contend that their symptoms flare up when they drink milk, too. And the highest rates of MS in the world are the countries and regions with the highest cow-dairy consumption.

www.medhelp.org...
Abnormal Protein in Multiple Sclerosis Discussion

Do you really think your milk is safe?

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How about the rest of your food? Do you feel safe eating hamburgers knowing 99% of beef isn't tested for prions? Do you feel safe eating any product made from a cow?

I know the beef industry wants you to eat their product. But they aren't allowed to test their own beef for the known prions--the USDA won't let them. And with regards to your milk, are you really certain that milk gives you "strong bones", when those with the highest dairy consumption have the highest MS rates?

This is why I won't buy anything but kosher meat, because it is subject to such tougher standards. And I have all but given up beef, especially in the USA, because of how the meat is handled.

Nice post and very interesting case but I would highly recommend you put the external material in the correct form using the external text or quoting function. Part of the T&C of the site, wouldn't want to see a good thread like this get deleted.

This is why I normally only eat lean meat, turkey and chicken, as my souces of meat. I eat beef about as much as I'll drink a cane sugared cola, about two to three times a year.

Beef makes me feel horrible if I eat it on a regular basis. I think it's a good chunk of the reason why most people are zombified these days.

I was watching a show on history channel the other day on the processing of meat and dairy...it was totally gross.

I didn't know that they are continually spraying the meat with antimicrobial spray..puffing it up with gasses at different stages before it is processed further..the whole show was just disgusting.

It also said 95% of all dairy had BLV. That's just great.

Does anybody remember the premise for the movie "Zombieland"? The prions somehow mutated and somebody's bad burger turned them into a real zombie. Interesting thought to say the least...

Now I have heard before that it's not just brain and spinal tissue which carries the prions, but in fact with the case in deer that have chronic wasting disease, the prions are spread through saliva so that disease is spread simply by licking each others mouths. So supposedly, such a 'zombification' disease could be spread by sneezing...

How was this disease created? Cannibalism! I believe it's a punishment from God/nature of sorts, eat your own kind and your species shall be destroyed by prions.

How did this happen to the deer? Well a rancher in the US wanted to grow bigger bucks to hunt on his ranch, so he started to hold the biggest breeders in a stockade to force them to eat deer meat, so they in turn would grow larger and breed even larger bucks for trophy hunting. Well God's disease came down and started to infect the brains of the bucks, because that's how the prions are created, and spread. Next thing you know some of the infected bucks escaped and now we have this CWD in deer in the wild all over US and Canada. If you eat the deer's meat, you will be infected too.

So how is our beef getting infected? Farmers these days are feeding their livestock the flesh of their own kind! It's an abomination and deserves the greatest destructive forces to be unleashed against it by the wrath of God!

Zombieland? Here we come.


ETA: Some tribes of headhunters would also contract this disease, from eating the brain matter of their defeated enemies. To me, It's a punishment for cannibalism. Of course there is some scientific explanation, but the purpose seems clear, and we deserve it!

reply to post by Neopan100

It also said 95% of all dairy had BLV.

Good point. I was reading up on Bovine Leukemia Virus. Certain countries in Europe have eradicated BLV, by culling infected animals. Denmark was the first.

The USDA decided that it would cost too much to try to rid the US herd of BLV by culling.

reply to post by MapMistress

Mad Cow's infected beef occurs when a rancher or slaughterhouse knows there is a sick cow that can't stand up

Except this is a myth. Not all cows infected with mad cow ``can't stand up straight``... And of course the USDA/FDA CUT the budget a few years ago for inspecting cows for mad cow... because you know the government is owned by big corporations... and the beef industry is a big big big corporation in the US.

Tens Of Millions of Britons At Mad Cow Disease Risk

According to a new investigation, scientists say that about tens of millions of Britons are at risk of contracting the mad cow disease.

Previously, researchers had supposed that only 40 percent of the population was at the risk of disease vCJD, believed to have been passed from cattle to humans through eating meat infected with BSE during the 1980s and 1990s, says The Scotsman.

Scientists found that 161 cases of vCJD reported in UK , occurred in people with genotype MM shared by 40 percent of the population and was supposed to be limited to group with that genotype only.

The investigation has raised concerns over the safety of blood products and surgery as the carrier individuals could infect others through blood donation or surgery thus making vCJD self-sustaining, Professor Ironside said.

But eh, this study was done in 2006, and I bet no follow up/screening of blood was ever done in blood banks.

Risk of mad cow disease from farmed fish?

Three U.S. scientists are concern about the potential of people contracting Creutzfeldt Jakob disease -- the human form of "mad cow disease" -- from eating farmed fish who are fed byproducts rendered from cows

Mad cow disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a fatal brain disease in cattle, which scientists believe can cause Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in humans who eat infected cow parts.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Dr. Robert P. Friedland, a neurologist at University of Louisville in Kentucky and colleagues suggest that farmed fish fed contaminated cow parts could transmit Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.

The scientists want government regulators to ban feeding cow meat or bone meal to fish until the safety of this common practice can be confirmed.

Of course this was never done.

Not to mention the majority of animals are killed between 18-24 months, which is LONG BEFORE the disease is even detectable.

CJD can be transmitted
- Human growth hormone... used to fight obesity and other less common disease... So LOTS of people could be infected with CJD because of that, especially in the US... One case in received growth hormones at 16/17 and developed CJD at 31.
- Hereditary... 5-10%
- Cannibalism...
- Blood transfusion... from CJD infected hosts
- Surgery... when aluminum surgical instruments are used on the brain.
- Contaminated vaccines...when blood comes from contaminated hosts or contaminated bovine.
- Contaminated meat...when contaminated by mad cow...which they don't test most cattle.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

A larger University of Pittsburg study "found a misdiagnosis rate of 5 percent, and estimated there may be 200,000 cases of CJD in the U.S. each year which are misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's."

Bad prion breath: Mad cow disease agent can infect via the air

As if it weren't bad enough that deadly prions can survive boiling and radiation, now comes word that aerosolized forms of the pathogen can enter the nose and find their way to the brain, with fatal consequences.

In summary, our results establish aerosols as a surprisingly efficient modality of prion transmission. This novel pathway of prion transmission is not only conceptually relevant for the field of prion research, but also highlights a hitherto unappreciated risk factor for laboratory personnel and personnel of the meat processing industry. In the light of these findings, it may be appropriate to revise current prion-related biosafety guidelines and health standards in diagnostic and scientific laboratories being potentially confronted with prion infected materials. While we did not investigate whether production of prion aerosols in nature suffices to cause horizontal prion transmission, the finding of prions in biological fluids such as saliva, urine and blood suggests that it may be worth testing this possibility in future studies.

But eh, all is safe!

Originally posted by MapMistress
Multiple Sclerosis

Does Multiple Sclerosis fit the profile for a prion? Yes. A prion invades neurons and changes the normal protein structure into an abnormal protein structure. Then the immune system destroys the neuron with the abnormal protein structure.

In the case of Multiple Sclerosis, it is the myelin sheaths of neurons that come under attack. The myelin sheaths of neurons become infected with an abnormal protein to which the immune system detects. Then the immune system destroys the myelin sheath with the abnormal protein structure.

If Multiple Sclerosis is caused by a prion, what is the food source? It's NOT beef. MS has the opposite gender curve. More women are infected than men. But MS does reflect world wide cow's milk consumption. So if MS were caused by a prion in cow's milk, then parts of the world that do not consume cow's milk should have no cases of MS. Does that hold any water? YES. Japan, China and North Korea do not or very rarely drink cow's milk. Instead they drink soy milk and rice milk. And there's virtually no cases of Multiple Sclerosis in those countries. It's not genetic, because South Korea drinks cow's milk and they do have a large number of cases of MS. Yet North Korea who doesn't drink cow's milk, that drinks primarily soy and rice milk doesn't have MS cases.

Those infected with MS all contend that their symptoms flare up when they drink milk, too. And the highest rates of MS in the world are the countries and regions with the highest cow-dairy consumption.

www.medhelp.org...
Abnormal Protein in Multiple Sclerosis Discussion

can you tell me the site you got all this info from? would like to pass it on from the direct link, cheers

Where's our resident Prion expert, Soficrow, when you need her?

It's an interesting topic, for sure.

reply to post by butcherguy


I don't know all the facts...but the program said that 3 items are most susceptible because it only takes one sick cow to contaminate the rest. Milk, Hamburger and sausages (sausage, hotdogs, etc)..if one cow is infected and it's milk/meat is mixed with others (which we all know they are mixed with thousands of other cow products) then all the product is tainted.

I almost puked and cried at the same time!

Originally posted by Schkeptick
This is why I won't buy anything but kosher meat, because it is subject to such tougher standards.

you are ill informed. I used to work in a Slaughterhouse, one of the many jobs I had over the decades. All Kosher Meat means is some Jewish Rabbi shows up in his BMW and when they winch the cow up in the air the Jewish Rabbi uses his knife to slice the cows neck so the blood drains out.

Normally they use 22 blanks to the temple to kill the cow. There is no other difference between normal Beef, and Kosher killed Beef.


Any cow that is still breathing when it reaches the kill floor can be slaughtered and is considered USDA safe.


I was 16 and the guy that ran the slaughterhouse had all his runners out with trucks. A farmer called and said he had a cow he needed picked up ASAP...so the Boss gave me the keys to the truck and gave me directions to the farm. I get there and ask the farmer where the cow is, he points to the huge snow mound behind me "Its under there"....I shovel the snow off and pull the tarp off...theres a cow laying there barely alive. I call the boss back and he said if it makes it back still breathing they can slaughter it.

So I backed the truck up and winched that old heifer into the truck. It made it there breathing and eventually made it into somebody's belly.

Stay away from VEAL. I used to love breaded veal patties until I found out the meat turns green in the chiller.

They slaughter many many young Veal calves in a few hours. Those quick fattened young calves have a lot of fat and the heat in the carcasses can't be cooled in time. Even dead the muscles are taking the fat and converting it into heat ...meat ends up turning green. Smells vinegary and gets ground up...icky green meat.

This is why we hunt and eat deer at our house.

Originally posted by concerned190
This is why we hunt and eat deer at our house.

I eat deer too, but be careful.

There were a couple of hunters in Colorado that contracted CJD from eating elk that had CWD( Chronic Wasting Disease- a prion disease that affects deer). CWD has been found in a number of states now.

The way to eat deer and avoid CWD infection is to eat only meat cut from the carcass without sawing the spinal column or brain. I do not saw deer down the back. I strip the loins out with a knife and bone the hind legs out before slicing them.

reply to post by MapMistress


Thank you for the info. I am a little torn by this. I have Multiple Sclerosis and drink a full glass of milk every night without an issue. BUT right before I began having symptoms of MS approx. 12yrs ago, I was big into bodybuilding and drank protein powder and milk or protein powder and water several times a day. I also consumed a LOT of Splenda in tea.

I for some reason feel the Splenda either activated a gene mutation which led to MS from my possibly having a silent genetic disposition for MS or I had MS much longer than I knew, and the abundance of Splenda I was using brought the MS to a head. I do have a lot of immune system issues in my family. MS and Systemic Lupus.

I've thought on this subject for a LONG time and the only other oddness that I think could have contributed to my disease was a bout of Mono and Scarlet Fever all in one yr at the age of 15.

BTW I have ordered some Nutrasilver to try as I've tried EVERYTHING including a autologous stem cell transplant. I do not use any MS interferons or other MS drugs despite my neuro's pressure to do so. If I feel bad I take MMS which has helped a lot.

reply to post by MapMistress


I don't eat beef or pork...anymore...haven't for several years....now...from what you have posted I am glad I don't. Sometimes I feel like the only way to ensure good food is to grow and raise my own...maybe that is the wave of the future.

Originally posted by TechUnique
Nice post and very interesting case but I would highly recommend you put the external material in the correct form using the external text or quoting function. Part of the T&C of the site, wouldn't want to see a good thread like this get deleted.

I didn't really quote anything. I typed it up in notepad off the top of my head, remembering statistics and studies over the years. (have a photographic memory). Then I jumped online and googled the links to some of the sites I remembered reading in the past and a few new ones for others to read.

The only quote was the Alzheimers stats... one number with a resource link provided. The CJD stats I figured out on a calculator since they would be 11-13% of Alzheimers.

The rest of the ideas on prions are entirely my own-- my own theory.

Originally posted by daveyboy1991

Originally posted by MapMistress
Multiple Sclerosis

Does Multiple Sclerosis fit the profile for a prion? Yes. A prion invades neurons and changes the normal protein structure into an abnormal protein structure. Then the immune system destroys the neuron with the abnormal protein structure.

In the case of Multiple Sclerosis, it is the myelin sheaths of neurons that come under attack. The myelin sheaths of neurons become infected with an abnormal protein to which the immune system detects. Then the immune system destroys the myelin sheath with the abnormal protein structure.

www.medhelp.org...
Abnormal Protein in Multiple Sclerosis Discussion

can you tell me the site you got all this info from? would like to pass it on from the direct link, cheers

It was my research from 2003. It's still up on the net - a friend keeps it up on his site for me. But many of the 2003 links are no longer any good.

www.bigeye.com...

Originally posted by Darce
ETA: Some tribes of headhunters would also contract this disease, from eating the brain matter of their defeated enemies. To me, It's a punishment for cannibalism. Of course there is some scientific explanation, but the purpose seems clear, and we deserve it!

That's a prion called Kuru. Kuru is found only among the one tribe and I think that they are in New Guinea?? Anyhow they have a burial practice where the members of the tribe actually eat the brains of the deceased. Since prions are in brains, that means every tribe member engaging in the burial practice has infected themselves with the Kuru prion.

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
Where's our resident Prion expert, Soficrow, when you need her?

It's an interesting topic, for sure.

Seconded, I miss soficrow as well...



u2u'ing her now!