Check this out.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-0
6/10/content_8342700.htm
Yeah...I've been pretty worried about Mad Cow Disease myself, since I was about 12 when I saw a documentary on it in my science class. It's my worst fear and I never actually started having panic attacks until I learned about it.
My paranoia aside though, I must say that the fact that there is this much of an uproar over US beef is certainly unnerving. I try to avoid the meat as much as possible myself, but I take a medication with capsules made out of bovine gelatin.
So anyway, some things that I think are good reason for this whole protest, and why I believe that Americans need to start being much more wary.
1. Less than one percent of U.S. beef is tested for the disease, because it is very expensive and difficult to do.
2. Mad Cow Disease can take up to 45 years to show up in humans.
3. Cow products (other than milk) such as gelatin (which, often being bone marrow) show up, I've found, in many more places than one would expects. In 'moisture beads' in cosmetic products, marshmallows, gummy candies, and even the icing in cereals (I saw 'gelatin' on the list of ingredients on a box of strawberry mini wheats.). I've even seen 'beef fat' on the ingredients list of Hostess' Donettes!
4. Care of livestock is deteriorating. Cows are being given things that are bad for their digestive systems, as well as
matter from dead cattle for added protein to go with the cheap feed. Take note that this is the main cause for the disease.
5. The disease is a protein; It is indestructible. The proteins are called prions, and they change their shape and manipulate surrounding proteins, cells, etc. They actually resemble the proteins in the brain responsible for memory storage. Perhaps there could be a way in the future to convert existing prions in people to be beneficial?
Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if it suddenly hit infected individuals twenty to forty five years from now and wiped out huge populations like the plague. Those scientists need to get crackin' on a cure. Or at least a way to alter the genes of cattle to prevent them from contracting the illness and prevent further damage to the human population if my 'plague' idea ever does happen.
People always say that it's extremely unlikely, but when you consider the facts today, you reconsider whether you should be as 'paranoid' as I am or not.
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