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TSE flock killed in the US by Anton Erasmuson Mad cow disease and similar ailments continue to be in the news. A Reuters report of 17 July stated that some 376 sheep from Europe now in Vermont in the USA are to be killed and incinerated. The farmers involved have objected to the slaughter. Tests showed that the sheep were carrying transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. (TSE) According to a New Scientist report (29 July, p7) there was a temporary stay of execution on the 21 July. There is a court challenge over the validity of the tests. This followed an 8th July report that the bovine form of the disease (BSE) has been found in a cow born in Britain after the stringent controls were brought in. Supposedly the source of infection was no longer present. Addendum: In the latest Reuters report ( BRUSSELS, Aug 4) - Belgium has asked the U.S. agriculture officials to return alive the TSE positive sheep. Belgium's Agriculture Minister Jaak Gabriels wants the sheep brought back to Europe, where they would be monitored. "Given the recent press excitement, it is very important for the United States as well as the European Union that we know for certain if the sheep have been contaminated with a transmissible brain disease." The sheep would be kept out of the food chain. This most likely also includes any milk products. A U.S. federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the USDA had the right to seize the sheep, saying they were a substantial potential threat to public health. However, it could take years to prove if the sheep really have a new variation of a TSE. The expected disease form in sheep is scrapie, which does not jump the species barrier to humans. Either the Vermont animals are apparently a first case, or the US tests are not as good as claimed. Meat from BSE infected cattle has been blamed for a higher incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease which has killed more than 50 people in Britain. Comment: The key worry is that TSE diseases are hard to identify, and there is no effective control other than complete slaughter then high temperature incineration. This is practical only on a small scale. Humans, their food plants and their domesticated animals now form an homogeneous disease media spread over the whole planet. Biologically, severe infection by something will occur sometime. Currently the use of antibiotics has made many people over-confident. A growing resistance to antibiotics makes this confidence misplaced. Worse, there are diseases such as BSE which cannot be treated by chemicals. The situation is unstable. What is also apparent is a political gap between Europe and the US on the subject of food safety. Like the anabolics argument, this is likely to simmer for years. In this case, the request for the return of the animals is implicitly a request to put a US testing decision under prolonged scrutiny. Those wanting a briefing on BSE could try a www.google.com search, using "spongiform encephalopathy" Useful government info can be sourced from the US Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Britain's MAFF. ** This material is distributed for research and educational purposes only. ** Feedback to: <welcome@ecoglobe.org.nz>

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28 July ecoglobe news 2000

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