Mad Cow Disease :: essays research papers

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad frighten Disease (BSE), degenerative brain disorder of cattle. Symptoms in cows imply loss of coordination and a typical staggering gait. Affected animals also present signs of senility, for example, lack of interest in their surroundings, the abandonment of routine habits, disinterest in feed and water, or unpredictable behavior. Affected cattle show symptoms when they are three to ten years old.First identified in Britain in November 1986, over 170,000 cases have since been enter there. Sporadic incidences have been substantiate in other European countries, with Switzerland (over 260 cases) and Ireland (over 260 cases) identifying the largest number. It has also been recognized in Canada, where cases are limit to dairy cows imported from Britain. BSE has not been officially confirmed in the United States or any other major milk-producing country.Autopsies of stirred cattle reveal holes in the brain wind that give it a spongy, or spo ngiform, texture. Similar spongiform illnesss have been recognized in humans (for example, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD) for over a century and in sheep (scrapie) for over cc years. The cause of BSE is unproven, although there is strong evidence that prions, which may be infective proteins, are the agent. Other hypotheses suggest that prions work with an as as yet undetected virus to cause the infection.Recycled animal tissue, which had been routinely fed to British dairy cows as a protein supplement, was identified as the etymon of the infection. The European Commissions Scientific Veterinary Committee and the world control body, the Fdration Internationale des Epizooties (FNE) believes that BSE was originally spread from sheeps brains give with scrapie and that its spread was accidentally accelerated by the ingestion of brain tissue taken from cows that had become infected with BSE.Following through with this regimen transmission theory, the British government introduced compulsory destruction of suspect animals and their carcasses commencement ceremony in 1988. The feeding of animal tissue to cows was banned in Britain in July 1988 and since mid-1992, monitors working for the United Kingdom Ministry of Agriculture have recorded a persistent decline in the number of confirmed cases. It is estimated that the course of study will eradicate BSE in Britain by the end of 1999.Since the initial report of the disease, there has been fear and speculation that it might be transferable to humans through milk or beef products. The appearance of CJD in several dairy farmers in Britain in the early 1990s heightened the alarm.