NEWS: FDA Unveils Proposal to Fight Mad Cow

New US regulations are proposed to tighten the feed rules currently in affect in the fight against mad cow disease. These regulations are not expected to take affect until sometime next year. Stephen F. Sundlof, an FDA official is quoted as saying it will reduce the risk of infection by 90%. Critics are saying these new regulations are a far cry from what was expected to be included to protect from further potential spread of the disease.



This may be an improvement, but I find it disturbing that these measures are being presented as reducing the risk of infection by 90%. If this is the case, what has taken so long to implement them. Time is not on our side with this threat still obviously out there.

In addition, since the proposal does not address many of the concerns it was expected to, we are still left to wonder, is this enough. It seems to me the statements being made by the FDA are in contradiction with their actions once again.

Chickens are fed cow brains, then their crap is scooped up and fed back to cows? Maybe they should call this Mad Human Disease...

And what about the chickens? How can they NOT be infected with the disease if we're supposed to be 90% safer now that their crap is off the menu?

Good find - but the measures are COMPLETLEY inadequate.

Prions have been spreading since 1938, at least. They contaminate slaughter houses, food production facilities, vaccines, and hospitals - never mind our water and soil.

Time to own up and get real, I say. Quit dodging the liability!

Prions may be everywhere by now, but the real problem I see with the contamination and spread of mad cow is that it has been accelerated by the fact that animals are not being fed what they were meant to eat.

Unfortuantely the use of BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) has led to the need to feed substances beyond what ruminants should be consuming. It also requires that antibiotics are pumped into most animals now, but I won't even get into my suspicions regarding why we are really getting so antibiotic resistant these days.

Bottom line is, these new proposed regulations DON'T protect us, and if we need protection, they have waited way too long to do anything. It's a sorry state of affairs, and unless we ever admit it and go back to feeding the animals we consume properly, I honestly feel we will ulltimately be facing the worse case scenario.

The FDA has failed us miserably, I can't state it any more clearly than that.

Prions may be everywhere by now, but the real problem I see with the contamination and spread of mad cow is that it has been accelerated by the fact that animals are not being fed what they were meant to eat.

I also believe that is to late in the game now, we pretty much could be all infected in some degree or other.

Cows and any other farm animal food supplies has been tampered with to save money at the expenses of the consumer and even the well being of the animals.

Cows that are feed with by products that are not of their natural food chain lack many of the nutrients that are beneficial to us humans.

That is why I don’t even bother with meat anymore.

Problem is - cows got Mad Cow from people - it's a mutation of a prion called "a-smooth muscle actin" (ASMA).


The US recognized the first ASMA disease in 1938 (fibromuscular dysplasia). Through the 40's and 50's it was seen to affect the stem cells for different connective tissue and smooth muscle. ...FMD is the stage where ASMA used the vascular system and immune system to spread through the body - it is a precursor to the strain associated with Mad Cow.

By the 1970's, FMD/ASMA pathology was found in cattle, horses, and dogs.

In 1980, FMD was found in domestic turkeys in the USA, and in 1981, appeared in US trout.

By 1996, FMD had spread to quail in Japan - and in 1997, it morphed into bird flu.

It's all about proteins and prions - specifically, a-smooth muscle actin, which because it's an actin protein, is a key that can get into any cell of any living thing on earth - including viruses and bacteria.


[ie., search fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, a-smooth muscle actin, tissue remodeling, ]
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Sofi, I read almost all of your posts and I am fully aware of all this information you have posted, but I have to ask, is it just too late? That's the way you make it sound.

Even if what you state is as bad as you say, we still don't all have mad cow. Do you think we should just ignore it at this point? I think we still have to fight this madness (no pun intended). It is my understanding that there are a lot of different prions out there and as far as I can see the one that causes mad cow should still be addressed, regardless of the mess of prions in general.

In my case, I have switched to organic meats and dairy, but I don't think I should have to pay what I pay to nourish myself just because our government has failed to keep our food supply safe. People need to wake up to the fact that most of what we eat is not what it should be at this point (loaded with hormones and antibiotics as well as being grown on what the rest of us would consider flat out garbage can trash).

Reading your posts I often wonder if what you say is true, why do I bother? You make it sound like there is no solution and no cure at this point. Is that what you're saying? I'd really like to know.

Originally posted by Relentless
Sofi, I read almost all of your posts and I am fully aware of all this information you have posted, but I have to ask, is it just too late? That's the way you make it sound.

It's not too late for hope, or survival - but it is too late to turn back the clock, and be what we once were as a species. So we need to look at the situation, and the idea of "disease," in a different way. Specifically, we need to accept that so-called "disease" is evolutionary process - a natural way for individuals and species to "align" and come back into balance with each other and the planet - via microbial "infection," as it happens. In a real, physical way, microbes mediate between the environment and complex living organisms (that's us). Ie., see:

People Are Human-Bacteria Hybrid
Are Nanobacteria Making Us Ill?
Clouds May Harbor Nanobacteria

200 years ago, mankind was in balance, on the atomic and molecular levels, with a world that no longer exists. Today, our world is changed irrevocably from what it was then. Now we - and every other form of life on the planet, including microbes - are undergoing a process of rapid adjustment, or evolution.

More to the point, existent medical cures and treatments are designed to align our bodies, at the molecular level, with a world that no longer exists - so they are doomed ultimately to failure. We need to go with the flow, not fight it.

It's too late to clean up our planet, and make it the way it once was. That's what's no longer possible. And because our world has changed, we need to change too, just to survive here. ...We need to evolve, and assist the evolutionary process, not try to block the changes.


BTW - I tripped over the concept of 'disease-as-evolution' about 3 years ago when I first started researching this subject - and I was FURIOUS. I saw it as a scam - an argument to justify withholding treatment and cures from the 'unwashed masses.' And I spent most of the last 3 years collecting evidence to prove that 'cures' already exist (they do). ...It's only been a few weeks since I've finally accepted the truth of the situation, and come to terms with the sense of seeing 'disease' as an integral part of the evolutionary process - and seeing evolution as necessary for survival.

'Stem cell therapy' craze spreads in Russia

Even if what you state is as bad as you say, we still don't all have mad cow.

Sorry - but almost all of us do have Mad Cow, in its early stages. The early stage where the originating prion uses the vascular and immune systems to spread through the body is called "fibromuscular dysplasia" (FMD) - and is categorized as a separate disease. The prion is called "a-smooth muscle actin" (ASMA). Nearly 100% of Americans have FMD/ASMA by adulthood.

“FMD frequency in the USA: incidence of new cases in adults diagnosed by angiography – 0.6%; diagnosed in autopsy – 1.1%.”
www.emedicine.com...

NOTE: Incidence means new cases found yearly, presented as a % of the total population.
Also see Puri, PMID: 10334397.

Here's a table that puts together the stats for reported deaths with FMD incidence in autopsy:

YEAR - DEATHS - TOTAL POP - EST ADULT POP (75%) - 1.1% ADULT POP: FMD incid in autopsy

1999 - 2,391,399 - 279,295,000 - 209,471,250 - 2,304,184
1998 - 2,337,256 - 276,115,000 - 207,086,250 - 2,277,949
1997 - 2,314,245 - 272,912,000 - 204,684,000 - 2,251,524
1996 - 2,314,690 - 269,667,000 - 202,250,250 - 2,224,750
1995 - 2,312,132 - 266,557,000 - 199,917,750 - 2,199,095

Source: Population: Census; Reported Deaths; World Health Organization.

As you can see, nearly all of the reported deaths also are diagnosed with FMD in autopsy – nearly 100% of the American population is infected with FMD by adulthood.

Do you think we should just ignore it at this point? I think we still have to fight this madness (no pun intended). It is my understanding that there are a lot of different prions out there and as far as I can see the one that causes mad cow should still be addressed, regardless of the mess of prions in general.

Before it mutates into new strains, which happens at the drop of a hat, ASMA infection results in a broad range of chronic and debilitating diseases. ASMA in the blood vessels can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, high blood pressure, and dementia. ASMA in the lungs results in a variety of chronic respiratory conditions ranging from asthma to COPD. ASMA infecting cartilage, joints,
and bone causes a whole range of other diseases including arthritis and osteoporosis - and infection in the connective tissue between skeletal muscle causes different problems entirely. ASMA in lipid connective tissue cells results in obesity. Once ASMA infection spreads to smooth muscle cells, we're looking at
a whole other range of respiratory, digestive, and sexual problems. And all this happens BEFORE the ASMA mutates into new strains. ASMA is a precursor to atherosclerosis, cancer, and diabetes, just to name 3 examples besides Mad Cow disease and AIDS.

Chronic disease is a predictable consequence of prion infection - and far more significant than the acute effects, especially in terms of national economies and quality of life. ASMA-related chronic dseases now are epidemic world-wide - and stressing every nations' budget, almost beyond endurance.


We can't kill prions - it's hard enough when you're looking to sterilize and decontaminate hard surfaces. Once these suckers are inside the body, whatever might kill them will kill us too.

Basically, prion diseases make us sick when they multiply rapidly. So we need to control the rate of multiplication and mutation - and the creation of new strains inside our bodies.

Much research has been done on substances that inhibit prion multiplication and replication in the body. Topping the list is green tea, curry (curcumin), sage, and antihistamines.

The curcumin in CURRY inhibits prion replication.
* J Virol. 2003 May;77(9):5499-502. Inhibition of protease-resistant prion protein accumulation in vitro by curcumin. Caughey B, Raymond LD, Raymond GJ, Maxson L, Silveira J, Baron GS. Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, Montana 59840, USA. [email protected] PMID: 12692251
jvi.asm.org...
* J Neurosci. 2001 Nov 1;21(21):8370-7. The curry spice curcumin reduces oxidative damage and amyloid pathology in an Alzheimer transgenic mouse. Lim GP, Chu T, Yang F, Beech W, Frautschy SA, Cole GM. Departments of Medicine and Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. PMID: 11606625
www.jneurosci.org...

These results suggest that frequent consumption of GREEN TEA enables the body to maintain a high level of tea polyphenols and this paper is the first pharmacological evidence of a wide distribution of [3H]EGCG in mouse organs, indicating a similar wide range of target organs for cancer prevention in humans.
Carcinogenesis. 1998 Oct;19(10):1771-6. Wide distribution of [3H](-)-epigallocatechin gallate, a cancer preventive tea polyphenol, in mouse tissue. Suganuma M, Okabe S, Oniyama M, Tada Y, Ito H, Fujiki H. Saitama Cancer Center Research Institute, Japan. [email protected] PMID: 9806157

Several classes of compounds were represented in the 17 most potent inhibitors, including naturally occurring polyphenols (e.g., tannic acid and tea extracts), phenothiazines, antihistamines, statins, and antimalarial compounds. ...The fact that many are either approved human drugs or edible natural products should facilitate their use in animal testing and clinical trials.
* J Virol. 2003 Oct;77(19):10288-94. New inhibitors of scrapie-associated prion protein formation in a library of 2000 drugs and natural products. Kocisko DA, Baron GS, Rubenstein R, Chen J, Kuizon S, Caughey B. Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840, USA. PMID: 12970413
An alphabetical list of the compounds is available at the MicroSource Discovery website at www.msdiscovery.com/spect.html.
NOTE: Antihistamines. The antihistamines astemizole and terfenadine were both among the most potent PrPSc inhibitors. These compounds are known to be poor at crossing the blood-brain barrier, a fact which may limit their therapeutic usefulness against TSEs. These antihistamines have been used extensively in humans but are currently not marketed in the United States because of a concern for serious, but rare, cardiovascular toxicity and the availability of safer alternatives.

In my case, I have switched to organic meats and dairy,

ASMA, and new mutated strains related to ASMA are everywhere - in vegetables, water, and soil - never mind every kind of meat and fish. The importance of eating organic has to do more with avoiding chemicals that speed multiplication, and trigger new mutations.

but I don't think I should have to pay what I pay to nourish myself just because our government has failed to keep our food supply safe. People need to wake up to the fact that most of what we eat is not what it should be at this point (loaded with hormones and antibiotics as well as being grown on what the rest of us would consider flat out garbage can trash).

Not only did government fail to keep the food supply safe, but the whole issue was played for profit, as a business opportunity. We're dealing with the fallout now.

Reading your posts I often wonder if what you say is true, why do I bother?

We all bother because it matters - and it's not over til it's over. Life does go on - and it does find a way. And life IS an adventure. Maybe not the adventure we planned for, but still exciting, and worth the effort.

You make it sound like there is no solution and no cure at this point. Is that what you're saying? I'd really like to know.

I'm saying a 'cure' is not a solution at this point. But there are solutions. Recognize that we are in the middle of a rapid evolutionary process, and we need to work together. Quit blaming people for causing their own diseases and own up. Let everyone work together towards solutions, and a better world. Clean up the mess, and prevent new mutations and strains from developing and making it even more complicated.

And for God's sake, don't start killing off the "contaminated" people - we do NOT know who carries the genetic solution that will save mankind.



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Sofi:

The prion is called "a-smooth muscle actin" (ASMA). Nearly 100% of Americans have FMD/ASMA by adulthood.

Ummm, does this have anthing to do with a positive blood test for Anti-Smooth Muscle Antibodies with no apparent cause and if so could this blood test be positive intermittently?


[edit on 10/16/2005 by Relentless]

Originally posted by Relentless
Sofi:

The prion is called "a-smooth muscle actin" (ASMA). Nearly 100% of Americans have FMD/ASMA by adulthood.

Ummm, does this have anthing to do with a positive blood test for Anti-Smooth Muscle Antibodies with no apparent cause

Very likely, but I'm not sure. ...The standard tests were shelved decades ago because too many people were positive, without other clinical signs. Can't remember what they were at the moment. ...Problem is, these little cuskers can settle almost anywhere in the body - but the tests don't show where on their own. A huge battery of tests is needed to pinpoint location and stage - but insurance companies refuse to go there.

and if so could this blood test be positive intermittently?

Absolutely. Prion-infected cells go through a cycle of multiplication and apoptosis (mass die off). ...Feels like an episodic thing, or like remissions during the die-off.



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