Brazil confirms second case of atypical mad cow disease

Remember Mad Cow Disease? It's a prion disease. Prions are proteins, not even as alive as viruses. In fact, they may not even really be alive. But what they do is cause your proteins fold improperly both disrupting your own biochemical processes and creating more copies of themselves, accelerating the disruptions to the system. Mad Cow targets proteins in the brain tissue. It used to be that they thought you had to eat contaminated tissue to get it.

But, it always begged the question of how it started in the first place, and now we see it starting to apparently spontaneously erupt in cows in Brazil.

The agriculture ministry said late Friday that a lab in Weybridge, England approved by the World Animal Health Organization confirmed it was a spontaneous case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, with no link to contaminated feed.

The 12-year-old cow found dead in March in a slaughterhouse in Mato Grosso state was born and never left the same farm where cattle are fed by pasture grazing and mineral salts, and not feed, according to a ministry statement.

Maybe this is evidence that you can get prion disease from plants. I believe soficrow created a post on here about prions being detected in plants. I wonder what process allows the malformed proteins to pass from gut to brain? Usually, the brain is pretty well walled off from most everything unless prions are just different.

This is the second animal to have been confirmed to have died of Spontaneous Mad Cow in Brazil. It leaves you to wonder how many they've missed all around the world.

a reply to: ketsuko

Monsanto most likely knows!

But there is too much money involved for the truth to EVER come out!

We have had a couple of major mad cow incidents in the UK scary stuff indeed.

A little joke

Two cows in a field and one says to the other
"heard about that mad cow disease?"
other cow "iam ain't bothered at all about it"
first cow "why is that"
other cow "cos Iam a squirrel".

a reply to: seeker1963

Maybe they do, but the part that gets me is that these were supposedly grass-fed cows.

originally posted by: boymonkey74
We have had a couple of major mad cow incidents in the UK scary stuff indeed.

A little joke

Two cows in a field and one says to the other
"heard about that mad cow disease?"
other cow "iam ain't bothered at all about it"
first cow "why is that"
other cow "cos Iam a squirrel".

Hello. I am wondering what your picture is from, please tell me.

Studies have shown that prions will also pass through the digestive systems of several species:

The new research published Oct. 17 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Kurt VerCauteren from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other colleagues, shows that prions can pass through crows' digestive systems without being destroyed, and may be excreted intact after ingestion by the birds.

souce

and through an effected animal's milk:

The first, by French, Norwegian, and British researchers and published in the peer-reviewed US journal PLoS Pathogens in 2008, found prions in sheep milk. The authors state:

This finding indicates that milk from small ruminants could contribute to the transmission of prion disease between animals. It also raises some concern with regard to the risk to humans associated with milk products from ovine and other dairy species. [Emphasis added.]

The second, by UK researchers and published in BMC Veterinary Research in 2008, also demonstrated "transmission of scrapie from ewe to lamb via milk (or colostrum)."

source

and prions are likely absorbed by plants:

Vegetation is ubiquitous in CWD-contaminated environments and plants are known to absorb a variety of substances from soil, ranging from nutrients to contaminants. The uptake of proteins from soil into plants has been documented for many years and we have been investigating the uptake of prions into plants in vitro. Using laser scanning confocal microscopy, we observed root uptake of fluorescently-tagged, abnormal prion protein in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as the crop plants alfalfa (Medicago sativa), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

source

The FDA needs to step up their game, currently this is what's banned:

Specifically, the new section 589.2001 defines the following as cattle material prohibited in animal feed (CMPAF):

the entire carcass of BSE-positive cattle
the brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older
the entire carcass of cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption, unless the cattle are less than 30 months of age or the brains and spinal cords have been effectively removed
tallow derived from BSE-positive cattle
tallow derived from CMPAF that contains more than 0.15% insoluble impurities
mechanically separated beef derived from CMPAF.

source

Meanwhile Canada and other countries are even banning the use of these materials in fertilizer:

As of July 12, 2007, an enhanced BSE-related feed ban External Web Site Policy came into effect in Canada. CFIA External Web Site Policy established this ban to more effectively prevent and quickly eliminate BSE from Canada. The enhanced ban prohibits most proteins, including potentially BSE infectious tissues known as “specified risk materials” (SRM) from all animal feeds, pet foods, and fertilizers, not just from cattle feed as required by the ban instituted in 1997.

source

EDIT:

In the 90's, millions of carcasses of infected cattle in the UK were burned and thousands of tons of ash was exported to several countries for use as fertilizer. There is a legitimate concern that some of this material could contain prions in things like bone chips that weren't fully incinerated. There should be a blanket ban on using any part of an infected animal for ANYTHING. The carcasses should be carefully incinerated and the resulting material sequestered.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: seeker1963

Maybe they do, but the part that gets me is that these were supposedly grass-fed cows.

I saw a thing similar to this about deer on ATS I believe yesterday. The article focused on fenced in deer on game reserves but the data led one to believe that it was much more extensive than just the captive deer.

I live in a part of the country that a month before deer season, we used to jump into our cars and drink some beer driving around with a spot light looking for some deer with a huge rack in the hopes of figuring out where we might find that big buck when deer season opened up! (yea, it was that long ago that drinking some beers and spotting deer wasn't a big deal)

But anyhow take a guess where we focused on spotting?

Harvested corn fields and wheat fields.

Not saying your wrong and not saying I'm right. Just an observation that I can bring to the discussion.

a reply to: seeker1963

Right ... so? The deer are free-roaming and can get into the corn and the wheat fields. That still doesn't explain the fenced-in cows.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: seeker1963

Right ... so? The deer are free-roaming and can get into the corn and the wheat fields. That still doesn't explain the fenced-in cows.

Stop acting concerned and alarmed then! If you are not willing to look into GMO crops and the poisons that they use to grow them then stop acting concerned!

If you want to scientifically find a problem you have to be open minded enough to accept every possible causation!

originally posted by: ketsuko
... It used to be that they thought you had to eat contaminated tissue to get it.

But, it always begged the question of how it started in the first place,

Exactly.

Maybe this is evidence that you can get prion disease from plants.

Prions can be considered an epigenetic mechanism - they are created in response to environmental perturbations when proteins misfold. Virtually anything can cause proteins to misfold - temperature shifts, exposure to radiation or chemicals, more - and sometimes, those misfolded proteins become infectious.

But yes, there are prions in plants.

I wonder what process allows the malformed proteins to pass from gut to brain?

Prions are taken up by the lymphatic system and use the immune system to spread in the body - which means that they're among the "first responders" to any site of inflammation, and infect the inflamed area.

"Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body

On the Road to Dementia: Inflammation, Prions, Myositis and Fibromyalgia

This is the second animal to have been confirmed to have died of Spontaneous Mad Cow in Brazil. It leaves you to wonder how many they've missed all around the world.

Indeed.

a reply to: seeker1963

What's your problem?

I'm asking you how the fenced in, grass-fed cows got ahold of GMO grain they weren't eating.

I know cows can get out of their enclosures on occasion, but then, they would have to be able to get into fields of GMO crops. However, ranching and farming conditions in Brazil are very different than what we find in the US. The cows in Brazil are grass-fed because they do a lot more open range farming like used to be done on during the cattle drive days in the old American West. If the cows got out, it would be hard for them to find GMO fields. You're talking about a select and very special set of circumstances.

Here, if the cows get out, yeah, they're jumping right into the corn or wheat field right next to the pasture.

Do you see where I'm going now?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: seeker1963

What's your problem?

I'm asking you how the fenced in, grass-fed cows got ahold of GMO grain they weren't eating.

I know cows can get out of their enclosures on occasion, but then, they would have to be able to get into fields of GMO crops. However, ranching and farming conditions in Brazil are very different than what we find in the US. The cows in Brazil are grass-fed because they do a lot more open range farming like used to be done on during the cattle drive days in the old American West. If the cows got out, it would be hard for them to find GMO fields. You're talking about a select and very special set of circumstances.

Here, if the cows get out, yeah, they're jumping right into the corn or wheat field right next to the pasture.

Do you see where I'm going now?

What do cows get fed????????????

Fenced in or not, humans eat GMO and animals eat GMO!! Do some research on how much of our food we buy is GMO!

Geeze, I want to, know whether or not the produce I buy is GMO or not but my corrupt government officials don't think I have a right to know!!!!!!

Why do you think they would care about what a corporate farmer feeds his/her animals?

a reply to: ketsuko

Well from my understanding its from feeding the cows left over parts of other animals.Its cheaper forthe farmers to recycle everything but it can also be dangerous if a cow is to be used for beef or milk they should never be fed animal parts.

a reply to: seeker1963

Grassfed beef doesn't generally get fed grain.

The article says they are fed by pasture grazing and mineral salts, not feed, which rules out grain.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: ketsuko

Well from my understanding its from feeding the cows left over parts of other animals.Its cheaper forthe farmers to recycle everything but it can also be dangerous if a cow is to be used for beef or milk they should never be fed animal parts.

Yes, but ever since the first round of Mad Cow, that practice has been banned pretty much world-wide because no one will take your meat if you do it. Everyone knows they can get Mad Cow from eating tainted meat, and the tainted meat comes from feeding nervous tissue to the animals.

Either these were cannibal cows out on the open range or they got it from something else.

The article says they were fed grass and minerals.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: seeker1963

Grassfed beef doesn't generally get fed grain.

I guess you have never heard of grass fed beef that was corn finished??????

Yea, it's a common thing that is done to make them gain weight. They lie by saying they are grass fed, but finish them and fatten them up by feeding them WHAT????? GMO CORN!

a reply to: seeker1963

Here its not possible for GMOs to cause prions. This protein is restricted to meat which is hight in protein like bone meal for example. There is no grain in the world that can contain prions.

Research indicates that the first probable infections of BSE in cows occurred during the 1970's with two cases of BSE being identified in 1986. BSE possibly originated as a result of feeding cattle meat-and-bone meal that contained BSE-infected products from a spontaneously occurring case of BSE or scrapie-infected sheep products. Scrapie is a prion disease of sheep. There is strong evidence and general agreement that the outbreak was then amplified and spread throughout the United Kingdom cattle industry by feeding rendered, prion-infected, bovine meat-and-bone meal to young calves.

www.cdc.gov...

originally posted by: seeker1963

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: seeker1963

Grassfed beef doesn't generally get fed grain.

I guess you have never heard of grass fed beef that was corn finished??????

Yea, it's a common thing that is done to make them gain weight. They lie by saying they are grass fed, but finish them and fatten them up by feeding them WHAT????? GMO CORN!

Yes, I have, but this was a 12-year-old cow that had never been off the pasture.

And that isn't called grass fed when it's corn-finished. All of your beef starts out on pasture. It goes to a stocker feeder who pastures it for a while, then it goes to a feedlot where it gets fed grain feed to fatten - corn finishing. That is the standard practice, and it's not grass fed.

Grass fed beef comes straight off the grass.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: seeker1963

Here its not possible for GMOs to cause prions. This protein is restricted to meat which is hight in protein like bone meal for example. There is no grain in the world that can contain prions.

Research indicates that the first probable infections of BSE in cows occurred during the 1970's with two cases of BSE being identified in 1986. BSE possibly originated as a result of feeding cattle meat-and-bone meal that contained BSE-infected products from a spontaneously occurring case of BSE or scrapie-infected sheep products. Scrapie is a prion disease of sheep. There is strong evidence and general agreement that the outbreak was then amplified and spread throughout the United Kingdom cattle industry by feeding rendered, prion-infected, bovine meat-and-bone meal to young calves.

www.cdc.gov...

I thank you for at least providing me with something that made some sense!

So according to this, it is a cause of feeding our "future meat" things that they shouldn't be consuming in the first place?

So the whole "grass fed" thing as I have already addressed as a possible lie could hold some water?

Again, I appreciate your logical response, but according to what you just said, that makes these people claiming that their beef is grass fed,,,,,ummmmmmm liars as I have already addressed?

a reply to: ketsuko

Minerals is the key word they were fed grass and minerals. Calcium is a mineral whats a great source of calcium bone meal where does that come from ground up bones from cows. Theres your cause right there the farmers arent feeding meat however i bet youll find wherever they get there supplements from is using cows bones possibly even sheep since they have a similar disease.