What Canadians should know about Mad Cow disease by Rick Redvers Rick Redvers has conducted an in depth investigation of the mad cow disease situation, both in the UK, where it originated, and in the possibility that it may already be here in North America.
New terms are in italics and defined in the glossary.
Dr. Richard Lacey of Leeds University explains that BSE was a food-source infection initiated or aggravated by the use of cattle feed tainted with the rendered remains of animals carrying the infections which result in spongiform diseases. 1,2 North Americans should not dismiss the risk of mad cow disease since the practice of supplementing animal feed with animal-derived protein continues despite bans. Thus, infectious prions might survive the rendering process and be fed back to other animals, in any country where farmers engage in the practice, whether officially banned or not. The use of animal-derived protein as a feed supplement for cows was banned in Britain in 1988. But the incubation period for BSE is four years and it is still only 1996.