USDA QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO. March 6, 2008

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO.

March 6, 2008

Consumer Concerns

Q. My child/school recently consumed Hallmark/Westland products. What is the risk to children's health?

A. Extremely remote. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has every production lot of ground beef tested by independent laboratories for certain pathogens and indicator organisms. Those lots that have positive findings of E. coli 0157:H7 or Salmonella are prohibited from Federal food and nutrition programs and USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is notified. AMS had only one positive test result at Hallmark/Westland and this product was removed from the AMS supply chain and not delivered to any Federal food and nutrition program.

USDA is confident in the safety of the food supply. Human and animal health is protected by a system of interlocking safeguards, which also include the removal of specified risk materials—those tissues that studies have demonstrated could contain the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent in infected cattle—from the human food chain, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 1997 ruminant to ruminant feed ban.

The cattle at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company passed ante-mortem inspection before slaughter. While the federal government has multiple regulations regarding BSE in place, the prevalence of the disease in the United States is extremely low. Since June 1, 2004, APHIS has sampled more than 759,000 animals and, to date, only 2 animals have tested positive for BSE under the program.

Q. How can I find out whether my school or school district served any Hallmark/Westland products to my children?

A. State Distributing Agencies that handle commodities purchased by USDA have records on where Hallmark/Westland products were delivered within the State. Contact information is available at www.usda.gov/actions.


http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=Consumer_Concerns.xml


Release No. 0048.08 Contact: Office of Communications (202)720-4623

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO.

Updated: March 07, 2008

USDA Actions

Recall Information

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Control Measures

Consumer Concerns

Humane Handling

International Trade


http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/02/0048.xml


USDA ET AL PROTECTING THEIR OWN $$$

Congress Wants More Info on Beef Recall By ERICA WERNER – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers demanded Thursday that the Agriculture Department disclose which retailers sold meat that was recently recalled in the nation's largest beef recall.

Richard Raymond, the department's undersecretary for food safety, told angry Democrats on the House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee that the information is proprietary and can't be made public.

Some 10,000 consignees — from producers to retail establishments — received the potentially tainted meat from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif., Raymond said. But he said he couldn't reveal which ones, and most of the meat had already been eaten because the recall stretched back two years.

Westland/Hallmark recalled 143 million pounds of beef last month after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video of cattle being abused and cows that couldn't walk being prodded to slaughter.

Democratic lawmakers said it was unacceptable for the public not to know where the meat went. So-called "downer" cattle pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella and other illnesses.

"This is not proprietary information. This is information that is directly engaged in the health and safety of the American people, which we have a responsibility, along with you, to protect," said Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.

Hinchey demanded a list of the retailers by next week. Raymond said he'd consult with Agriculture Department attorneys on whether he could comply.

The Bush administration has opposed publicizing retailers' names in meat recalls, but the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service proposed a rule change two years ago that would allow such disclosure.

The rule still hasn't been finalized. Raymond said it was in final review at the Agriculture Department before being sent to the White House budget office.

"It is in the final stages of clearance," he said.

Democrats contended the Bush administration was delaying the rule under pressure from industry.

California, unique among states, has its own law allowing for disclosure of the names of the retailers where recalled beef was available. The law took effect just last July. A 120-page list of retailers is posted on the California Department of Public Health Web site at http://dhs.ca.gov/ and is still being updated, California officials said.

The rules on public disclosure are different for meat that went into federal programs, which more than 50 million pounds of the Westland/Hallmark meat did, mostly school lunches. Individual state distributing agencies have their own approaches for disclosing information about the recalled meat.

Contacts for state distributing agencies are at

http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/contacts/sdacontacts.htm.


To date, of the 50.3 million pounds of Westland/Hallmark product in the federal food and nutrition programs, 31 million pounds have been consumed, 13.9 million pounds are on hold, and 6.5 million pounds are being traced, according to USDA.


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gjgIDJ5Z2xZSLp6TUi-kRcCFXmPgD8V855IG0


Animal Mortality Figures

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates 1.7103 million cattle and 2.3656 million calves died prior to slaughter in 2002, for a total of just under 4.1 million deaths.

snip...

Cattle, however, with their heavier body weights, comprise approximately 67 percent of the total weight of all mammalian livestock mortalities. In 2002, the total weight for cattle was 2.7 billion pounds. Beef cattle account for the largest proportion of farm, ranch, and feedlot mortality, in respect to weight.

snip...

Focus on Non-Ambulatory Cattle

Non-ambulatory cattle have been estimated by USDA to be approximately 200,000 head per year based on a 1999 American Association of Bovine Practitioners survey.(2) It is proposed that this estimate understates the condition by not fully accounting for feedlot cattle of younger ages commonly affected with metabolic and or respiratory disorders that often present neurological-like clinical symptoms and thus described as non-ambulatory. It is impossible to give accurate figures on incidence because of variations in nomenclature and the accuracy of diagnosis. Because it is a syndrome until an accurate diagnosis is confirmed, the exact incidence is speculative.


http://www.rendermagazine.com/October2004/TechTopics.html


MARCH 2002

Livestock Mortalities:

Methods of Disposal and Their

Potential Costs

USDA/National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates that in the year 2000,

approximately 4.1 million cattle died before they could be sent to slaughter (Table 2). Of these, 2.4 million were calves (under 500 lbs), with the balance of 1.7 million over 6 months of age (or, as reported, in excess of 500 lbs). ....END...TSS

NASS

Non-Ambulatory

Cattle and Calves

Released May 5, 2005, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department

of Agriculture. For information on Non-ambulatory Cattle and Calves call Mike Miller at 720-3040, office hours 7:30 a.m. to

4:30 p.m. ET.

Cattle and Calves: Non-Ambulatory Number,

by Region and United States, 2003-2004

ALL NON-AMBULATORY CATTLE 2003 = 465,000

ALL NON-AMBULATORY CATTLE 2004 = 450,000

SNIP...END...TSS

Non-Ambulatory

Cattle and Calves

Released May 5, 2005, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department

of Agriculture. For information on Non-ambulatory Cattle and Calves call Mike Miller at 720-3040, office hours 7:30 a.m. to

4:30 p.m. ET.

Non-Ambulatory Cattle and Calves

Non-ambulatory cattle and calves in the United States totaled 465,000 head during 2003 and

450,000 head during 2004. The number of non-ambulatory cattle 500 pounds or greater totaled

280,000 head in 2003 and 270,000 head in 2004. The number of calves under 500 pounds reported

as non-ambulatory totaled 185,000 head in 2003 and 180,000 head in 2004. ...SNIP...END

=======================================================

USDA states ;

>>>Human and animal health is protected by a system of interlocking safeguards, which also include the removal of specified risk materials—those tissues that studies have demonstrated could contain the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent in infected cattle—from the human food chain, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 1997 ruminant to ruminant feed ban. <<<


href="http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/EnforcementReports/2007/ucm120446.htm">http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/EnforcementReports/2007/ucm120446.htm



Subject: MAD COW FEED RECALL USA SEPT 6, 2006 1961.72 TONS IN COMMERCE AL, TN, AND WV Date: September 6, 2006 at 7:58 am PST PRODUCT a) EVSRC Custom dairy feed, Recall # V-130-6; b)

snip...

PLEASE SEE SOME OF THE REST OF THE MAD COW FEED BAN SRM VIOLATIONS ;

http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/02/specified-risk-materials-srm.html


>>>USDA STATES ; While the federal government has multiple regulations regarding BSE in place, the prevalence of the disease in the United States is extremely low. Since June 1, 2004, APHIS has sampled more than 759,000 animals and, to date, only 2 animals have tested positive for BSE under the program. <<<>400,000 tests in 2005 (Figure 4). Neither of the 2 more recently indigenously infected older animals with nonspecific clinical features would have been detected without such testing, and neither would have been identified as atypical without confirmatory Western blots. Despite these facts, surveillance has now been decimated to 40,000 annual tests (USDA news release no. 0255.06, July 20, 2006) and invites the accusation that the United States will never know the true status of its involvement with BSE.


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no12/06-0965.htm


PAUL BROWN COMMENT TO ME ON THIS ISSUE

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:10 AM

"Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA handling of the mad cow issue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and others sent lengthy detailed critiques and recommendations to both the USDA and the Canadian Food Agency."


http://lists.iatp.org/listarchive/archive.cfm?listID=147&startrow=1081




CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to them, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latest case indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for at least a decade.

The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA officials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.

These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a picture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it is thought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed they consume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal, incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminated with the mad cow pathogen.

"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer that."

Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive.

USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.

"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005 suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end


http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r


CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ... Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36, Room 4A-05, ...


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm


Geographical BSE Risk (GBR) assessments covering 2000-2006

Date : 01.08.2006


http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/Scientific_Document/GBR_assessments_table_Overview_assessed_countries_2002-2006.pdf


Audit Report

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program - Phase II

and

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III

Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006

Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle Still Remain

Our prior report identified a number of inherent problems in identifying and testing high-risk cattle. We reported that the challenges in identifying the universe of high-risk cattle, as well as the need to design procedures to obtain an appropriate representation of samples, was critical to the success of the BSE surveillance program. The surveillance program was designed to target nonambulatory cattle, cattle showing signs of CNS disease (including cattle testing negative for rabies), cattle showing signs not inconsistent with BSE, and dead cattle. Although APHIS designed procedures to ensure FSIS condemned cattle were sampled and made a concerted effort for outreach to obtain targeted samples, industry practices not considered in the design of the surveillance program reduced assurance that targeted animals were tested for BSE.

USDA/OIG-A/50601-10-KC Page 27

observe these animals ante mortem when possible to assure the animals from the target population are ultimately sampled and the clinical signs evaluated.

snip...


http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf


GAO-05-51 October 2004 FOOD SAFETY

over 500 customers receiving potentially BSE contaminated beef .....

* GAO-05-51 October 2004 FOOD SAFETY (over 500 customers receiving potentially BSE contaminated beef) - TSS 10/20/04

October 2004 FOOD SAFETY USDA and FDA Need to Better Ensure Prompt and Complete Recalls of Potentially Unsafe Food

snip...

REPORTS

1. Food Safety: USDA and FDA Need to Better Ensure Prompt and Complete Recalls of Potentially Unsafe Food. GAO-05-51, October 7.tss


http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0551.pdf


Highlights -


http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0551high.pdf


3. Mad Cow Disease: FDA's Management of the Feed Ban Has Improved, but Oversight Weaknesses Continue to Limit Program Effectiveness. GAO-05-101, Feb. 25.


www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-101


Highlights -


www.gao.gov/highlights/d05101high.pdf


SADLY, DEC 2005 SHOWS THAT WE STILL HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM WITH BSE/TSE MAD COW DISEASE FEED

GAO

GAO-06-157R FDA Feed Testing Program

October 11, 2005

SNIP...FULL TEXT 29 PAGES ;


http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06157r.pdf


Mad Cow Disease: An Evaluation of a Small Feed Testing Program FDA Implemented in 2003 With Recommendations for Making the Program a Better Oversight Tool. GAO-06-157R, October 11


http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-157R


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

BEEF RECALL NATIONWIDE - SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM UPDATE


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/02/beef-recall-nationwide-school-lunch.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

California lists possible recipients of recalled non-ambulatory 'DOWNER' (high potential for TSE) Hallmark beef


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-lists-possible-recipients-of.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

House committee subpoenas Hallmark/Westland CEO - i call for an investigation of the investigators


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/house-committee-subpoenas.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

USDA to Hallmark: We want our plaque back

Legal/Regulatory News


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-to-hallmark-we-want-our-plaque.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

To the hard working employees of USDA and their untiring efforts to protect our childrens food supply


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/to-hard-working-employees-of-usda-and.html


BEEF RECALL - USA (05) ********************** A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases


http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1001:3581618507331539::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,71607



THE USDA knows PERFECTLY WELL that no one would get sick right off the bat from mad cow disease. Every parent out there should be demanding answers, not these same lies. THE USDA should follow every single child that consumed any of these products for the rest of there lives. there is no way out of it now. the product is gone, consumed, and these kids, the elderly, and most everybody in between have been exposed. non-ambulatory i.e. DOWNERS are the most likely to have a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy. WE know it's here, we know why the USDA et al shut down the testing, they did not want to document any more. ...TSS

Science 23 November 2001: Vol. 294. no. 5547, pp. 1726 - 1728 DOI: 10.1126/science.1066838

Reports

Estimation of Epidemic Size and Incubation Time Based on Age Characteristics of vCJD in the United Kingdom

Alain-Jacques Valleron,1 Pierre-Yves Boelle,1 Robert Will,2 Jean-Yves Cesbron3

SNIP...

The distribution of the vCJD incubation period that best fits the data within the framework of our model has a mean of 16.7 years, with a standard deviation of 2.6 years. The 95% upper percentile of this distribution is 21.4 years. The 95% confidence interval (CI) of the estimates of the mean and standard deviation is relatively narrow: The 95% CI for the estimate of the mean incubation period is 12.4 to 23.2 years, and the 95% CI of the standard deviation is 0.9 to 8 years (10). The decrease in susceptibility to infection in exposed subjects older than 15 years, as estimated from the parameter , was found to be very sharp: 16% per year of age (CI: 12 to 23%). This means that, under the best fitting hypothesis, an individual aged 20 years in 1981 had 55% less risk of becoming infected than a child aged 15 years (99.9% for an individual aged 70).


http://www.sciencemag.org/


NOW, the price of poker in the USA may be shorter, due to the fact the strain of mad cow disease in the USA is more virulent to humans, thus, the incubation period, for the same titre log of infectivity, via same route and source, might be faster. ...TSS

Communicated by: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

[In submitting these data, Terry S. Singeltary Sr. draws attention to the steady increase in the "type unknown" category, which, according to their definition, comprises cases in which vCJD could be excluded. The total of 26 cases for the current year (2007) is disturbing, possibly symptomatic of the circulation of novel agents. Characterization of these agents should be given a high priority. - Mod.CP]

[see also:

snip...

************************************************************ Become a ProMED-mail Premium Subscriber at

************************************************************ Visit ProMED-mail's web site at .


http://pro-med.blogspot.com/2007/11/proahedr-prion-disease-update-2007-07.html


SEE STEADY INCREASE IN SPORADIC CJD IN THE USA FROM 1997 TO 2006. SPORADIC CJD CASES TRIPLED, with phenotype of 'UNKNOWN' strain growing. ...


http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/resources-casereport.html


There is a growing number of human CJD cases, and they were presented last week in San Francisco by Luigi Gambatti(?) from his CJD surveillance collection.

He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which display selectively SPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins.


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/1006-4240t1.htm


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4240t1.pdf


PLEASE SEE !

P02.35 Molecular Features of the Protease-resistant Prion Protein (PrPres) in H- type BSE

Biacabe, A-G1; Jacobs, JG2; Gavier-Widén, D3; Vulin, J1; Langeveld, JPM2; Baron, TGM1 1AFSSA, France; 2CIDC-Lelystad, Netherlands; 3SVA, Sweden

Western blot analyses of PrPres accumulating in the brain of BSE- infected cattle have demonstrated 3 different molecular phenotypes regarding to the apparent molecular masses and glycoform ratios of PrPres bands. We initially described isolates (H-type BSE) essentially characterized by higher PrPres molecular mass and decreased levels of the diglycosylated PrPres band, in contrast to the classical type of BSE. This type is also distinct from another BSE phenotype named L-type BSE, or also BASE (for Bovine Amyloid Spongiform Encephalopathy), mainly characterized by a low representation of the diglycosylated PrPres band as well as a lower PrPres molecular mass. Retrospective molecular studies in France of all available BSE cases older than 8 years old and of part of the other cases identified since the beginning of the exhaustive surveillance of the disease in 20001 allowed to identify 7 H- type BSE cases, among 594 BSE cases that could be classified as classical, L- or H-type BSE. By Western blot analysis of H-type PrPres, we described a remarkable specific feature with antibodies raised against the C-terminal region of PrP that demonstrated the existence of a more C-terminal cleaved form of PrPres (named PrPres#2 ), in addition to the usual PrPres form (PrPres #1). In the unglycosylated form, PrPres #2 migrates at about 14 kDa, compared to 20 kDa for PrPres #1. The proportion of the PrPres#2 in cattle seems to by higher compared to the PrPres#1. Furthermore another PK–resistant fragment at about 7 kDa was detected by some more N-terminal antibodies and presumed to be the result of cleavages of both N- and C- terminal parts of PrP. These singular features were maintained after transmission of the disease to C57Bl/6 mice. The identification of these two additional PrPres fragments (PrPres #2 and 7kDa band) *** reminds features reported respectively in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and in Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS) syndrome in humans.

FC5.5.1 BASE Transmitted to Primates and MV2 sCJD Subtype Share PrP27-30 and PrPSc C-terminal Truncated Fragments

Zanusso, G1; Commoy, E2; Fasoli, E3; Fiorini, M3; Lescoutra, N4; Ruchoux, MM4; Casalone, C5; Caramelli, M5; Ferrari, S3; Lasmezas, C6; Deslys, J-P4; Monaco, S3 1University of Verona, of Neurological and Visual Sciences, Italy; 2CEA, IMETI/SEPIA, France; 3University of Verona, Neurological and Visual Sciences, Italy; 4IMETI/SEPIA, France; 5IZSPLVA, Italy; 6The Scripps Research Insitute, USA

The etiology of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), the most frequent human prion disease, remains still unknown. The marked disease phenotype heterogeneity observed in sCJD is thought to be influenced by the type of proteinase K- resistant prion protein, or PrPSc (type 1 or type 2 according to the electrophoretic mobility of the unglycosylated backbone), and by the host polymorphic Methionine/Valine (M/V) codon 129 of the PRNP. By using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and imunoblotting we previously showed that in sCJD, in addition to the PrPSc type, distinct PrPSc C-terminal truncated fragments (CTFs) correlated with different sCJD subtypes. Based on the combination of CTFs and PrPSc type, we distinguished three PrPSc patterns: (i) the first was observed in sCJD with PrPSc type 1 of all genotypes,;

(ii) the second was found in M/M-2 (cortical form); (iii) the third in amyloidogenic M/V- 2 and V/V-2 subtypes (Zanusso et al., JBC 2004) . Recently, we showed that sCJD subtype M/V-2 shared molecular and pathological features with an atypical form of BSE, named BASE, thus suggesting a potential link between the two conditions. This connection was further confirmed after 2D-PAGE analysis, which showed an identical PrPSc signature, including the biochemical pattern of CTFs. To pursue this issue, we obtained brain homogenates from Cynomolgus macaques intracerebrally inoculated with brain homogenates from BASE. Samples were separated by using a twodimensional electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) followed by immunoblotting. We here show that the PrPSc pattern obtained in infected primates is identical to BASE and sCJD MV-2 subtype. *** These data strongly support the link, or at least a common ancestry, between a sCJD subtype and BASE.

This work was supported by Neuroprion (FOOD-CT-2004-506579)

************************************************** *****

USA MAD COW CASES IN ALABAMA AND TEXAS

***PLEASE NOTE***

USA BASE CASE, (ATYPICAL BSE), AND OR TSE (whatever they are calling it today), please note that both the ALABAMA COW, AND THE TEXAS COW,both were ''H-TYPE'', personal communication Detwiler et al Wednesday, August 22, 2007 11:52 PM. ...TSS




2009 UPDATE ON ALABAMA AND TEXAS MAD COWS 2005 and 2006



http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2006/08/bse-atypical-texas-and-alabama-update.html




Wednesday, November 18, 2009

R-CALF: 40 Groups Disagree With USDA's Latest BSE Court Submission


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2009/11/r-calf-40-groups-disagree-with-usdas.html




**************************************************

FC5.5.2 Transmission of Italian BSE and BASE Isolates in Cattle Results into a Typical BSE Phenotype and a Muscle Wasting Disease

Zanusso, G1; Lombardi, G2; Casalone, C3; D’Angelo, A4; Gelmetti, D2; Torcoli, G2; Barbieri, I2; Corona, C3; Fasoli, E1; Farinazzo, A1; Fiorini, M1; Gelati, M1; Iulini, B3; Tagliavini, F5; Ferrari, S1; Monaco, S1; Caramelli, M3; Capucci, L2 1University of Verona, Neurological and Visual Sciences, Italy; 2IZSLER, Italy; 3IZSPLVA, Italy; 4University of Turin, Animal Pathology, Italy; 5Isituto Carlo Besta, Italy

The clinical phenotype of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been extensively reported in early accounts of the disorder. Following the introduction of statutory active surveillance, almost all BSE cases have been diagnosed on a pathological/molecular basis, in a pre-symptomatic clinical stage. In recent years, the active surveillance system has uncovered atypical BSE cases, which are characterized by distinct conformers of the PrPSc, named high-type (BSE-H) and low-type (BSE-L), whose clinicopathological phenotypes remain unknown. We recently reported two Italian atypical cases with a PrPSc type similar to BSE-L, pathologically characterized by PrP amyloid plaques. Experimental transmission to TgBov mice has recently disclosed that BASE is caused by a distinct prion strain which is extremely virulent. A major limitation of transmission studies to mice is the lack of reliable information on clinical phenotype of BASE in its natural host. In the present study, we experimentally infected Fresian/Holstein and Alpine/Brown cattle with Italian BSE and BASE isolates by i.c. route. BASE infected cattle showed survival times significantly shorter than BSE, a finding more readily evident in Fresian/Holstein, and in keeping with previous observations in TgBov mice. Clinically, BSE-infected cattle developed a disease phenotype highly comparable with that described in field BSE cases and in experimentally challenged cattle. On the contrary, BASE-inoculated cattle developed an amyotrophic disorder accompanied by mental dullness. The molecular and neuropathological profiles, including PrP deposition pattern, closely matched those observed in the original cases. This study further confirms that BASE is caused by a distinct prion isolate and discloses a novel disease phenotype in cattle, closely resembling the phenotype previous reported in scrapie-inoculated cattle *** and in some subtypes of inherited and sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Oral Abstracts 14

snip...

P04.27

Experimental BSE Infection of Non-human Primates: Efficacy of the Oral Route

Holznagel, E1; Yutzy, B1; Deslys, J-P2; Lasmézas, C2; Pocchiari, M3; Ingrosso, L3; Bierke, P4; Schulz-Schaeffer, W5; Motzkus, D6; Hunsmann, G6; Löwer, J1 1Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Germany; 2Commissariat à l´Energie Atomique, France; 3Instituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy; 4Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease control, Sweden; 5Georg August University, Germany; 6German Primate Center, Germany

Background:

In 2001, a study was initiated in primates to assess the risk for humans to contract BSE through contaminated food. For this purpose, BSE brain was titrated in cynomolgus monkeys.

Aims:

The primary objective is the determination of the minimal infectious dose (MID50) for oral exposure to BSE in a simian model, and, by in doing this, to assess the risk for humans. Secondly, we aimed at examining the course of the disease to identify possible biomarkers.

Methods:

Groups with six monkeys each were orally dosed with lowering amounts of BSE brain: 16g, 5g, 0.5g, 0.05g, and 0.005g. In a second titration study, animals were intracerebrally (i.c.) dosed (50, 5, 0.5, 0.05, and 0.005 mg).

Results:

In an ongoing study, a considerable number of high-dosed macaques already developed simian vCJD upon oral or intracerebral exposure or are at the onset of the clinical phase. However, there are differences in the clinical course between orally and intracerebrally infected animals that may influence the detection of biomarkers.

Conclusions:

Simian vCJD can be easily triggered in cynomolgus monkeys on the oral route using less than 5 g BSE brain homogenate. The difference in the incubation period between 5 g oral and 5 mg i.c. is only 1 year (5 years versus 4 years). However, there are rapid progressors among orally dosed monkeys that develop simian v CJD as fast as intracerebrally inoculated animals.

The work referenced was performed in partial fulfilment of the study “BSE in primates“ supported by the EU (QLK1-2002-01096).


http://www.prion2007.com/pdf/Prion%20Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf



Subject: Aspects of the Cerebellar Neuropathology in Nor98

Date: September 26, 2007 at 4:06 pm PST

P03.141

Aspects of the Cerebellar Neuropathology in Nor98

Gavier-Widén, D1; Benestad, SL2; Ottander, L1; Westergren, E1 1National Veterinary Insitute, Sweden; 2National Veterinary Institute, Norway

Nor98 is a prion disease of old sheep and goats. This atypical form of scrapie was first described in Norway in 1998. Several features of Nor98 were shown to be different from classical scrapie including the distribution of disease associated prion protein (PrPd) accumulation in the brain. The cerebellum is generally the most affected brain area in Nor98. The study here presented aimed at adding information on the neuropathology in the cerebellum of Nor98 naturally affected sheep of various genotypes in Sweden and Norway. A panel of histochemical and immunohistochemical (IHC) stainings such as IHC for PrPd, synaptophysin, glial fibrillary acidic protein, amyloid, and cell markers for phagocytic cells were conducted. The type of histological lesions and tissue reactions were evaluated. The types of PrPd deposition were characterized. The cerebellar cortex was regularly affected, even though there was a variation in the severity of the lesions from case to case. Neuropil vacuolation was more marked in the molecular layer, but affected also the granular cell layer. There was a loss of granule cells. Punctate deposition of PrPd was characteristic. It was morphologically and in distribution identical with that of synaptophysin, suggesting that PrPd accumulates in the synaptic structures. PrPd was also observed in the granule cell layer and in the white matter. *** The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

http://www.prion2007.com/pdf/Prion%20Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf


full text ;

ATYPICAL NOR-98 SCRAPIE LOCATION UPDATE ON 5 DOCUMENTED CASES THIS YEAR ;

The flocks of origin are WY, CO, CA, IN, and MN.

personal communication USDA et al. ...TSS

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/



never forget what deepthroat told me in 2000-2001. this person was high official in USDA. ...tss


============================================================


The most frightening thing I have read all day is the report of Gambetti's finding of a new strain of sporadic cjd in young people.........Dear God, what in the name of all that is holy is that!!! If the US has different strains of scrapie.....why????than the UK...then would the same mechanisms that make different strains of scrapie here make different strains of BSE...if the patterns are different in sheep and mice for scrapie.....could not the BSE be different in the cattle, in the mink, in the humans.......I really think the slides or tissues and everything from these young people with the new strain of sporadic cjd should be put up to be analyzed by many, many experts in cjd........bse.....scrapie Scrape the damn slide and put it into mice.....wait.....chop up the mouse brain and and spinal cord........put into some more mice.....dammit amplify the thing and start the damned research.....This is NOT rocket science...we need to use what we know and get off our butts and move....the whining about how long everything takes.....well it takes a whole lot longer if you whine for a year and then start the research!!! Not sure where I read this but it was a recent press release or something like that: I thought I would fall out of my chair when I read about how there was no worry about infectivity from a histopath slide or tissues because they are preserved in formic acid, or formalin or formaldehyde.....for God's sake........ Ask any pathologist in the UK what the brain tissues in the formalin looks like after a year.......it is a big fat sponge...the agent continues to eat the brain ......you can't make slides anymore because the agent has never stopped........and the old slides that are stained with Hemolysin and Eosin......they get holier and holier and degenerate and continue...what you looked at 6 months ago is not there........Gambetti better be photographing every damned thing he is looking at.....

Okay, you need to know. You don't need to pass it on as nothing will come of it and there is not a damned thing anyone can do about it. Don't even hint at it as it will be denied and laughed at.......... USDA is gonna do as little as possible until there is actually a human case in the USA of the nvcjd........if you want to move this thing along and shake the earth....then we gotta get the victims families to make sure whoever is doing the autopsy is credible, trustworthy, and a saint with the courage of Joan of Arc........I am not kidding!!!! so, unless we get a human death from EXACTLY the same form with EXACTLY the same histopath lesions as seen in the UK nvcjd........forget any action........it is ALL gonna be sporadic!!!

And, if there is a case.......there is gonna be every effort to link it to international travel, international food, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. They will go so far as to find out if a sex partner had ever traveled to the UK/europe, etc. etc. .... It is gonna be a long, lonely, dangerous twisted journey to the truth. They have all the cards, all the money, and are willing to threaten and carry out those threats....and this may be their biggest downfall...

Thanks as always for your help. (Recently had a very startling revelation from a rather senior person in government here..........knocked me out of my chair........you must keep pushing. If I was a power person....I would be demanding that there be a least a million bovine tested as soon as possible and agressively seeking this disease. The big players are coming out of the woodwork as there is money to be made!!! In short: "FIRE AT WILL"!!! for the very dumb....who's "will"! "Will be the burden to bare if there is any coverup!"

again it was said years ago and it should be taken seriously....BSE will NEVER be found in the US! As for the BSE conference call...I think you did a great service to freedom of information and making some people feign integrity...I find it scary to see that most of the "experts" are employed by the federal government or are supported on the "teat" of federal funds. A scary picture! I hope there is a confidential panel organized by the new government to really investigate this thing.

You need to watch your back........but keep picking at them.......like a buzzard to the bone...you just may get to the truth!!! (You probably have more support than you know. Too many people are afraid to show you or let anyone else know. I have heard a few things myself... you ask the questions that everyone else is too afraid to ask.)


================================================================


2008

considering the BASE strains of atypical BSE are more virulent to humans, considering the BASE resembles that of the some subtypes of sporadic CJD and GSS, considering all this, IF i were the USDA et al, i would be more worried about getting all the potentially tainted mad cow blood back, than the damn plaque. ..

P.S. Gambetti et al recently said that the BASE atypical BSE are more virulent to humans. other scientists have said the same thing. however Gambetti claims it does not resemble sCJD, but every other scientist says it does. you be the judge.........

Evaluation of the Human Transmission Risk of an Atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Prion Strain

J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.02561-07

Minimal brain spongiosis and long incubation time are observed in the BASE-infected Tg mice. These results suggest that, in humans, BASE is a more virulent BSE strain and likely lymphotropic.


http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/JVI.02561-07v1?papetoc


for those interested, further into this study, it gets very interesting ;


http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/02/evaluation-of-human-transmission-risk.html


CJD QUESTIONNAIRE


http://cjdquestionnaire.blogspot.com/


[Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf


suppressed peer review of Harvard study October 31, 2002


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/BSE_Peer_Review.pdf


APHIS-2006-0041-0006 TSE advisory committee for the meeting December 15, 2006


http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064801f3413&disposition=attachment&contentType=msw8


Attachment to Singeltary comment

January 28, 2007

Greetings APHIS,

I would kindly like to submit the following to ;

BSE; MRR; IMPORTATION OF LIVE BOVINES AND PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM BOVINES [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0041] RIN 0579-AC01

[Federal Register: January 9, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 5)] [Proposed Rules] [Page 1101-1129] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09ja07-21]


http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064801f8152


BSE; MRR; IMPORTATION OF LIVE BOVINES AND PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM BOVINES [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0041] RIN 0579-AC01 Date: January 9, 2007 at 9:08 am PST


http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064801f3412


Web posted Friday, January 23, 1998 5:49 a.m. CT

TSS

Witness testifies some ill cattle sent to rendering plant

By CHIP CHANDLER Globe-News Staff Writer

snip...

Mike Engler -- son of Paul Engler, the original plaintiff and owner of Cactus Feeders Inc. -- agreed that more than 10 cows with some sort of central nervous system disorder were sent to Hereford By-Products.

The younger Engler, who has a doctorate in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University, was the only witness jurors heard Thursday in the Oprah Winfrey defamation trial. His testimony will resume this morning.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report from which Winfrey attorney Charles Babcock quoted, encephalitis caused by unknown reasons could be a warning sign for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

Encephalitis was indicated on the death certificates -- or ``dead slips'' -- of three Cactus Feeders cows discussed in court. The slips then were stamped, ``Picked up by your local used cattle dealer'' before the carcasses were taken to the rendering plant.

snip...


http://www.amarillonet.com/


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Statement May 4, 2004 Media Inquiries: 301-827-6242 Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

Statement on Texas Cow With Central Nervous System Symptoms On Friday, April 30 th , the Food and Drug Administration learned that a cow with central nervous system symptoms had been killed and shipped to a processor for rendering into animal protein for use in animal feed.

FDA, which is responsible for the safety of animal feed, immediately began an investigation. On Friday and throughout the weekend, FDA investigators inspected the slaughterhouse, the rendering facility, the farm where the animal came from, and the processor that initially received the cow from the slaughterhouse.

FDA's investigation showed that the animal in question had already been rendered into "meat and bone meal" (a type of protein animal feed). Over the weekend FDA was able to track down all the implicated material. That material is being held by the firm, which is cooperating fully with FDA.

Cattle with central nervous system symptoms are of particular interest because cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," can exhibit such symptoms. In this case, there is no way now to test for BSE. But even if the cow had BSE, FDA's animal feed rule would prohibit the feeding of its rendered protein to other ruminant animals (e.g., cows, goats, sheep, bison).

FDA is sending a letter to the firm summarizing its findings and informing the firm that FDA will not object to use of this material in swine feed only. If it is not used in swine feed, this material will be destroyed. Pigs have been shown not to be susceptible to BSE. If the firm agrees to use the material for swine feed only, FDA will track the material all the way through the supply chain from the processor to the farm to ensure that the feed is properly monitored and used only as feed for pigs.

To protect the U.S. against BSE, FDA works to keep certain mammalian protein out of animal feed for cattle and other ruminant animals. FDA established its animal feed rule in 1997 after the BSE epidemic in the U.K. showed that the disease spreads by feeding infected ruminant protein to cattle.

Under the current regulation, the material from this Texas cow is not allowed in feed for cattle or other ruminant animals. FDA's action specifying that the material go only into swine feed means also that it will not be fed to poultry.

FDA is committed to protecting the U.S. from BSE and collaborates closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on all BSE issues. The animal feed rule provides crucial protection against the spread of BSE, but it is only one of several such firewalls. FDA will soon be improving the animal feed rule, to make this strong system even stronger.

####


http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01061.html



Beef - Westland/Hallmark Recall OF BEEF WITH DEADSTOCK DOWNER COWS, THE MOST HIGH RISK CATTLE FOR BSE/TSE AKA MAD COW DISEASE


Additional Products Listing 5-20-08



http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20Addl%20Prod052008.pdf




http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HEALTHINFO/Pages/FDB%20Beef-WestlandHallmarkRecall.aspx



TOTAL DISTRIBUTION LIST



http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20All%20Dist042008.pdf



ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS CONTAINING RECALLED BEEF



http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20Addl%20Prod052008.pdf




SEE FULL LIST OF ALL RECALLED SUSPECT DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW PRODUCTS HERE ;



http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HEALTHINFO/Pages/FDB%20Beef-WestlandHallmarkRecall.aspx




>>>In the papers, the government alleges the meatpacking plant slaughtered and processed downer cows for nearly four years — from January 2004 to September 2007 — <<<



>> 95%) downer or dead dairy cattle and a few horses. Sheep had never been fed.





We believe that these findings may indicate the presence of a previously unrecognized scrapie-like disease in cattle and wish to alert dairy practitioners to this possibility.

snip...

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL WESTERN CONFERENCE FOR FOOD ANIMAL VETERINARY MEDICINE, University of Arizona, March 17-19, 1986




http://web.archive.org/web/20030331063559/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09a/tab01.pdf






http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf




IN CONFIDENCE

PERCEPTIONS OF UNCONVENTIONAL SLOW VIRUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS IN THE USA


http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf






TSS