An online blog for students enrolled in FRSM 1000 (Xavier, New Orleans & the World) on the intersections of food culture and popular culture.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Blog 12: Afterword: The Meaning of Mad Cow
What is Mad Cow Disease, how does it proliferate, and how can it be controlled? What dangers does it pose and what causes cattle to be infected with it? Is it a serious threat to humans?
Mad cow disease is a disease that humans can get from eating infected beef. Mad cow disease is an infectious disease that generates in the brain of cattle. The disease infects humans through digestion of tissue from diseased cattle. Humans will slowly gain a similar brain disease and die. The symptoms Cattle get the disease are withdrawal, change in behavior and attitude, uncoordinated movements, weight loss due to lack of an appetite, and decreases milk production from being fed infected food. The food they are fed is a combination of all kinds of things including dead animals, which ignites the whole process. The infected food causes the animals to get sick, which does not show immediately. This disease can be controlled first by feeding cattle food that is not infected. Meat should also be tested before it is distributed to companies and into the hands of consumers. The mad cow disease is a very deadly disease, which means it is definitely a big threat to humans’ lives. There are several ways to help prevent mad cow for entering the human body. The easiest way is to opt for a vegetarian diet. As a vegetarian, you avoid ingesting contaminated meats. However, that is easier said than done. Consequently, for meat eaters choose solid muscle cuts of meat instead of bone-in cuts. Bone-in cut meat has more contact with nervous tissue, which is the part that becomes contaminated. Therefore, it is best to avoid ground beef, sausage and hot dogs. These products are more likely to have contaminated nervous tissue ground inside. In addition, individuals should refrain from eating any type of meat in countries where outbreaks of contamination have occurred. I personally do not eat beef which gives me a slim to none chance of catching mad cow. I eat chicken, which means that I can still catch something but my chances are smaller.
Xavier Hill Mad cow disease is an incurable, fatal brain disease that affects cattle and even some other animals, such as goats and sheep. The medical name for mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE for short. It's called mad cow disease because it affects a cow's nervous system, causing a cow to act strangely and lose control of its ability to do normal things. BSE is not spread by animal-to-animal contact. It cannot infect another animal. It is spread in tissue from the central nervous system, some of which can be found in meat and bone meal. You can't kill it by cooking or freezing, disinfectants don't work, and It does not appear to have genetic information. To control the disease the USDA prohibited imports of live animals and animal products from Europe. They tested any cattle showing abnormal behavior for BSE. They inspected all cattle used for food for signs of neurological diseases. The FDA tested the blood and tissue of the animals. When people contract the disease it is called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or (vCJD). The disease has no cure. It becomes deadly overtime. The symptoms it produces are neurological. it may star out subtly with insomnia, depression, confusion, personality and behavioral changes, and problems with memory coordination, and sight. As it progresses, the person rapidly develops dementia and involuntary, irregular jerkin movements called myoclonus. In the final stage of the disease, the patient loses all mental and physical functions, and lapses into a coma, and eventually dies. Although mad cow disease is not well known of the threat of health risks it poses to humans is simply unwarranted.
Mad Cow Disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is an illness that causes nerve damage in animals. In cows, the brain and spinal cord wither away until they look like sponges filled with microscopic holes, causing the cow to act strangely and eventually lose mobility. In humans, the illness debilitates start with mental issues like memory loss and speech impediments. It then progresses until it becomes difficult forcertain movements caused by the brain, until the person is immobile. The person and animal can suffer for a month to eight years. In both humans and animals their immune system is compromised, making it very difficult for the body to fight off any viruses or bacteria. Because of this the person or animal dies from another disease due to complications from Mad Cow Disease. Cows usually contract it from eating the remains of other cows, even though they are herbivores. People usually contract the proteins that carry the disease from eating tainted meat. It is not like other viruses and bacteria because it does not die when freezing or cooking. When there was a large epidemic of Mad Cow Disease in the United Kingdom starting in the 1980s, UK officials issued an eradication program to control the spread of the disease, killing millions of cows and minimizing the amount of beef sold and a complete ban of all beef and beef products in the 1990s. Because of precautions taken today, Mad Cow disease no longer poses a strong threat to humans. Cows in the United States and The United Kingdom are no longer feed leftover scraps of animal products (Wikipedia).
Taylor Reuther Mad Cow Disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a neurodegenerative disease that can be fatal because it causes a spongy degeneration of the brain and spinal cord. This disease usually affects cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years of age. Only certain animals can get BSE — people don't actually get mad cow disease. The agent responsible for mad cow (and vCJD) is called a prion. It is a type of protein found in all mammals. When deformed, the prion creates tiny, sponge-like holes and eats away the cow's brain, which ultimately results in death. However, experts have found a link between BSE and a rare brain condition that affects people, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). vCJD is caused by an abnormal type of protein in the brain called a prion. When people have vCJD, cells in the brain die until the brain eventually has a "sponge-like" appearance. During this time, people with the disease gradually lose control of their mental and physical capabilities. There is still much debate in the scientific community regarding how BSE is spread. At the present time, BSE is thought to be spread in tissue from the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord) as well as distal ileum, some of which can be present in meat and bone meal. BSE is not spread by animal-to-animal contact. In other words, an animal infected with BSE cannot infect another animal with which it is penned or pastured. Little is known regarding the minimum amount of prion material that can cause an infection. The worst cases are found in Europe because there are so many of these cases. It obviously poses a threat to human beings because the human has no possible way of figuring out if the meat is contaminated or not, so they must trust the owner of the producer from which they are buying the meat from.
Mad Cow disease is also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). It is a disease that attacks the cattle’s nervous system. It causes the brain and spinal cord of the cattle to degenerate and develop small holes in the brain. The brain will soon develop a “spongy” type appearance. This would soon cause the cattle to use lose control of various functions. It makes sense, because the brain controls the functions of the body and when those specific areas of the brain are riddled with holes, function is lost. Mad Cow disease was caused by farmers feeding cattle what they are not supposed to be fed. Cattle are herbivores and should be fed grass. Instead, these cattle are fed the remains of slaughterhouses and meat of other dead, perhaps sick animals. Mad Cow disease cannot be spread by the physical contact of these cattle. Rather, it is spread by eating the infected meat of sick sheep. Mad Cow disease was controlled by killing many cows. The production and amount of beef sold was decreased. Mad Cow disease is a serious threat to humans, because what happened to the cows can happen to humans, also. When a human is infected with Mad Cow disease, it is called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In addition to that, a person has no way of knowing whether or not the meat that they bought or ate is infected with that disease. The only way people can know is if someone in their area has bought the meat, ate it, and became infected with Mad Cow disease. Furthermore, this disease does not have a cure, so it is extremely fatal to humans. It is a serious threat to humans; however, it does not pose a threat as of now.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), which is also called “Mad Cow Disease”, is a fatal brain disease that affects the cattle and sometimes other animals. A cow with BSE becomes mentally ill. Cows seem get BSE when the farmer doesn’t feed the cattle food they are not supposed to be eating, when they are to be eating grass. At slaughterhouses the cattle eats contaminate food, because they are fed in an environment where they are surrounded by feces. Mad Cow Disease infection causes a cow’s brain to waste away and become spongy. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy affects a cow nervous system, causing a cow to act odd and lose control of its ability to do normal things, such as not being able to walk normally. The cow’s brain and spinal cord will most likely contain BSE. BSE can’t be spread through animal to animal or human to human contact. Mad Cow Disease is a serious threat to humans, what happens to a cow can happen to a human. The way a human can get BSE is if he or she eats BSE infected beef. When a person eats BSE infected beef he or she will have a higher chance of getting a disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, which is extremely rare in the United States. When a person is affected with vCJD, cells in the brain die until the brain has a “spongy like” appearance. People with the disease gradually lose control of mental and physical capabilities. VCJD is not contagious among humans, the only a human can get it is from eating contaminated meat. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by an abnormal type of protein in the brain called a prion. Prion leads to brain damage and is always fatal. Mad Cow Disease does not have a cure, so it is extremely fatal to humans.
Mad Cow Disease is a deadly foodborne illness and a powerful symbol of all that is wrong about the industrialization of farm animals. It proliferates because slaughterhouses slaughter hundreds of thousands of cattle potentially infected wuth mad cow disease, also known as BSE. Mad cow disease, along with E. coli O157:H7 were often linked to the consumption of tainted ground beef, and the meatpacking industry’s refusal to deal effectively with the problem of fecal contamination seemed a good example of the weaknesses in America’s food safety system. E. coli O157:H7 have diminished since the publication of Fast Food Nation, but mad cow disease still remained. Mad cow disease now poses an even greater potential threat to anyone who loves hamburgers and to the companies that sell them. On March 29, 1996, Food and Drug Administration announced that in order to prevent an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States, the agency would expedite new rules of prohibiting the use of certain animal proteins in cattle feed. Mad cow disease was tentatively linked to the consumption of tainted beef. Cattle are infected with mad cow disease because they had eaten feed containing the remains of infected animals now seemed responsible for transmitting the pathogen to human beings. Mad cow disease should not be a serious threat to humans. Although every one of the deaths of mad cow disease was tragic and unnecessary, they must be viewed in a larger perspective. The same numbers of people die every say in the United States from automobile accidents. It is impossible to predict how many people will get the disease by eating tainted meat.
Mad Cow Disease is an illness that causes nerve damage in animals. It is also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy. When cows posses the disease their brain and spinal cord continue to deteriorate until they look like sponges. They are compared to sponges because the brain and spinal cord will develop a countless amount of tiny holes. The results of these holes are strange changes in behavior, disoriented movements, and extreme weight loss. When humans contract the illness through consumption of tainted meat they may develop memory loss, speech impediments, and other various mental issues. As the disease progresses, the immune system will eventually become compromised making it extremely difficult to fight off infections. Other complications include loss of mobility in the last stages of the fatal disease. Cows usually contract and are able to spread the disease because they are eating the remains of other animals. It is not a surprise that a herbivorous animal will develop problems when it is forced to meat. In my opinion, this is foolish on the part of the meat industry. Since the bacteria and disease producing proteins cannot be frozen or heated to death, in order to control the disease slaughterhouses and “farmers” raising cattle have ceased feeding the cows other animals. Mad Cow Disease is no longer a major threat to humans since its fatal characteristics have been exposed to the public.
Mad Cow Disease is an illness that affects a cow’s nervous system which causes cows to behave abnormally. Once cows are infected with this disease they tend to lose important bodily functions such as walking. Mad cow disease is also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE for short. Mad Cow Disease can be controlled by making stricter restrictions on what cattle eats. If the cattle eat regular feed then there would not be an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease. The major danger of the mad cow disease is that it affects the brain which is an important organ of the body. The mad cow disease also affects the nervous system. This disease causes problems with memory, coordination, and sight. Mad Cow Disease also causes the brain of the cattle also cause starts to wither way because of the BSE disease. Cattle become infected by eating feed that contains the remains of infected animals. Many of the cattle were being fed the decaying remains of other cattle which caused the cattle to become infected with the mad cow disease. The Mad cow disease is a serious threat to humans because it affects the nervous system. The mad cow disease causes humans to lose their sight, memory, coordination and other bodily functions. It seriously affect humans by also causing them to be infected by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD which causes the brains cells to die and since brains cells are un able to regenerate this means that Mad Cow Disease is detrimental to humans. The Mad Cow Disease is contracted in humans if they eat tainted or infected meat. When humans eat infected meat this is when they contract vCJD and their nervous system is starting to break down. There is not a cure for Mad Cow Disease or vCJD, but there are ways to prevent the spread of disease.
Mad Cow Disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a usually fatal disease of cattle affecting the central nervous system, causing agitation and staggering. It is thought to be caused by an agent such as a prion or a virino, and its possible connection with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans is still much debated. Only certain animals can get BSE, people however cannot actually get mad cow disease. However, experts have found a link between BSE and a rare brain condition that affects people, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). It is believe that people who eat beef from cows that have BSE are at serious risk of developing a form of vCJD. vCJD is caused by a prion, an abnormal type of protein in the brain. When people get vCJD, cells in the brain die until the brain has a “sponge-like” appearance. Once the brain has become “sponge-like” people with the disease gradually lose control of their mental and physical capabilities. The disease can be controlled by awareness. The type of protein that causes mad cow disease unfortunately cannot be removed or destroyed once beef is processed or cooked. The U.S. government has established several meat processing procedures to protect the public. One is removing the parts of the cow that are at highest risk of containing BSE such as the brain and spinal cord to reduce the chances of them contaminating the meat people eat. The FDA has also put into place safeguards to help protect people from BSE, such as the use of any high-risk cattle materials in the feed of any animal. Also the testing of animals regularly. Mad cow disease poses a danger to many animals and many humans. It is a very fatal disease. Cattle are infected with the disease by eating feed containing the remains of infected animals. Yes it is a serious threat to humans because it is fatal.
Mad cow disease is a strong disease that attacks the central nervous system of many animals. The disease started showing up in cows and caused the cows to lose many simple bodily functions. The disease is spread to other animals and humans because of the disease being spread through the meat that is processed or eaten by other animals. The main way that mad cow disease can be stopped or slowed down is by controlling what the cows eat. There are some things that cows eat currently that cause the disease to sprout out in the cows. If we feed the cows natural grains and grass, the cows will be healthier and have a smaller chance of contracting the mad cow disease. If mad cow disease is contracted by a human, similar affects would occur. The human that contracts the mad cow disease would lose bodily function, memory, and sight. There is currently no known cure for mad cow disease. Even though no known cure exists, there are many different and simple ways to prevent it.
Mad Cow Disease, know scientifically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a neurological disorder of a cow. The effects from this disease causes the cows brain and spinal cord to wither away up until the point where there are microscopic hole that causes the cow to act in a strange manner and causes them to eventually lose their ability to walk. In people, this disease causes issues with the brain such as loss of memory and loss of speech. It then moves further into the brain until the person loses their ability to walk. There is now exact time for the people or the animal to suffer. In both species the immune system becomes compromise to where their bodies won’t fight off the bacteria. The cause of this disease is caused by cattle eating the remains of other dead animals. Research by the CDC shows there is strong evidence that the outbreak was then amplified and spread throughout the United Kingdom cattle industry by feeding rendered, prion-infected, bovine meat-and-bone meal to young cows. The FDA is taking plans to stop the spread as of October 26, 2009. A regulation issued by FDA in April 2009 came into effect establishing an enhanced BSE-related feed ban in the United States. This enhanced ban will further harmonize BSE feed control measures in the U.S. with those in Canada. In addition, FDA continues to enforce its important 1997 mammalian-to-ruminant feed ban through its BSE inspection and BSE feed testing programs (CDC). To answer the question, yes it is harmful to humans. Cows are supposed to be herbivores and the meat industry is feeding them meat. This is not the way to mass produce any livestock. By learning the effects of mad cow disease I don’t want to eat any type of beef anymore because of the chance I might catch the disease.
One of the many fast food restaurant issues addressed in Fast Food Nations is about the “Mad cow disease.” The disease regards the distribution of the infected meat in the industries, which was extremely dangerous to the health of the society. Under stress from meat industries, the government would allow practices that are dangerous to consumers. Infectious meat like cows with cancer, for example, would still be kept, packaged, and distributed for profit by industries. Areas of the cow with cancer would be sliced off, in which the pus would be released, but the meat would still be packaged.
This would make the people of the community sick, because of the infected meat that was distributed by the companies. Mad cow disease is a serious threat and is dangerous to the people. Contaminated meat can affect one’s health in many ways and lead to serious consequences such as death. “Mad cow disease” can be prevented by multiple examinations of the meat before being processed by the factory. It can actually be caused by giving the cows “cannibalistic feed.”
Mad cow disease is a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and spinal cord in cattle. It is called mad cow disease because it affects a cows central nervous system, causing it to act strange and lose control of its abilty to do normal things such as walk. This infection causes its brain to waste away and become spongy. mad cow diseas can be prevented by examining and checking meats before it is digested. According to New York Times "The Food and Drug Administration proposed new rule to prevent the spread of mad cow disease by banning brains and spinal cords from older cows in all animal feed."
Mad cow disease is a serious threat to humans.If contaminated meat is digested by anyone it can be vital to ones health. One way a human can avoid this disease is by becoming a vegeterian. Vegeterians avoid eating meat meaning avoid any chances of eaing contaminated meat.
Mad cow disease is a brain disease which affects infected cows. Also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), it is a fatal brain disorder that occurs in cows. The disease causes holes to form inside the cows' brains and they die later on. The disease can spread from eating food from an infected specimen, or eating food-byproducts that have contaminated nerve tissue. Once infected, the disease can be unnoticed for 10-15 years without symptom. The agent which causes the infection cannot be removed from infected meat with disinfectants or cooking thoroughly, so this disease is quite dangerous. No one knows for sure what this disease is made of, but once you are infected, your behavior will start to change, and soon enough, you will die. The USDA has issued many warnings and has done many things to keep the public safe from this disease. The FDA has done the same and the NIH is researching the cause and treatments for it. Unfortunately the disease is incurable. There is also no way to see if the meat is contaminated or not so it's a gamble each time you eat meat.
Mad Cow Disease is the informal name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which is a fatal slow developing disease that affects the nervous system of the cattle. This type of disease has very severe results that cause the cow to lose the normal bodily functions. This disease does not only affect cows, but other animals as well. The holes that form throughout the brain and other organs causes a “spongy” appearance. When the “spongy” appearance takes place, all the various body functions are disabled. This disease is created by farmers who feed cattle food that should not be in the everyday diet. Due to the fact that cows are known and supposed to eat grass, when they are fed the leftovers and whatnot from slaughterhouses that consist of meat, it is possible for the disease to take place. Not only would the cattle be eating meat but the type of meat is unknown. The cow could be eating an animal that was died of sickness or just simply poorly sanitized meat. In order for an actual human being to contract this disease, one would have to consume it. If consumed, the risk of having the disease of the cow is possible for the human. Without being able to tell if the meat that a person has is infected or not, many are taking a chance at life with this product. Thankfully, there has not been many outbreaks of the Mad Cow Disease.
Mad cow disease is a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and spinal in cattle. People contract forms of mad cow disease by eating meat that comes from cows that are infected. The disease is also fatal in humans once they have gotten it. The symptoms in humans are memory loss, emotional instability, marked weakness, severe rapidly progressive dementia and death within a year of the onset symptoms. The cattle are usually fed all sorts of things including parts of slaughtered cattle which may be infected. By feeding cattle infected meat the disease spreads at a faster rate. Ways to control this disease are by testing the foods that cattle are fed to be sure that they are safe for the cattle. It would also help to make sure that all consumers are aware of what the disease is and look for any recalls on meat.
Mad cow disease is a disease that attacks the brain and nervous system of cows. Cows that have the disease may still get slaughtered and packaged. The meat of an infected cow is still contaminated inspite of. People get very sick from eating this meat. It’s fatal and very painful once contracted. The cow initially gets this disease from the food it gets fed, such as, meat. The cow is clearly an herbivore, though. The meat fed to them isn’t high quality either. More times than not, it’s just leftover meat from the slaughter houses. It’s either this or corn that cows are fed, however, corn isn’t as detrimental as the bad meat. Corn still isn’t the right food for a cow though. Cows were made to eat grass. This disease wouldn’t even have to be in existence if the animals we eat were taken good care of; fed the right way, in good living conditions, and cleaned properly. There aren’t too many cases of mad cow infections in humans but its just unfortunate that anyone had to die from carelessness of food production management.
In December 2003, mad cow disease was discovered in one cow in the United States. Before this cow was found to have the disease, the cow was slaughtered and its muscle meat was sent to be sold in grocery stores. But its organs and nerve tissue were not used for human food. Although mad cow disease cannot be spread through muscle meat, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) quickly traced the meat and removed it from grocery stores. When a cow is slaughtered, parts of it are used for human food and other parts are used in animal feed. If an infected cow is slaughtered and its nerve tissue is used in cattle feed, other cows can become infected. There is no evidence that people can get mad cow disease or vCJD from eating muscle meat-which is used for ground beef, roasts, and steaks-or from consuming milk or milk products.
Mad cow disease is a disease that affects the cow's nerveous system. In humans the disease is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Humans can get mad cow disease from eating infected beef. The syptoms in humans include depression,insomnia and anxiety. The person might seem confused, withdrawn and out of it. As the disease progress the person loses muscle control and coordination. The might also suffer from poor vision and memory lose. There is no treatment or cure for this disease. This a serious threat to humans. Humans can prevent this disease from choosing solid muscle cuts of meat rather than bone-in cuts. This can help because it will reduce your chance of contact with nervous tissue. Humans should avoid ground beef, hot dogs, and sausages. Humans also shouldn't eat beef in countries where outbreak has occuried in the past. Farmers should avoid feedings that have mammalian protein. Farmers should also follow the FDA's band on inports.
Schlosser not only gives examples of workers in the fast food industry, but he takes us into the diseases that occur due to food production in the industry. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad-cow disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years, all breeds being equally susceptible. The FDA has been working on solutions to treat this disease for many years. I personally am in support of the FDA and hope this disease can stop leaking into the bellies of ourselves and many of our family members. This disease is of course derived from cows, but occasionally we humans and consumers of fast food partake in some affects of the disease due to beef consumption in many burgers we eat. Animals are tested regularly for this disease. Many are in exile from the rest of the pack to prevent this disease from becoming an epidemic.
Chinedu Echebelem
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is a disease that humans can get from eating infected beef. Mad cow disease is an infectious disease that generates in the brain of cattle. The disease infects humans through digestion of tissue from diseased cattle. Humans will slowly gain a similar brain disease and die. The symptoms Cattle get the disease are withdrawal, change in behavior and attitude, uncoordinated movements, weight loss due to lack of an appetite, and decreases milk production from being fed infected food. The food they are fed is a combination of all kinds of things including dead animals, which ignites the whole process. The infected food causes the animals to get sick, which does not show immediately. This disease can be controlled first by feeding cattle food that is not infected. Meat should also be tested before it is distributed to companies and into the hands of consumers. The mad cow disease is a very deadly disease, which means it is definitely a big threat to humans’ lives. There are several ways to help prevent mad cow for entering the human body. The easiest way is to opt for a vegetarian diet. As a vegetarian, you avoid ingesting contaminated meats. However, that is easier said than done. Consequently, for meat eaters choose solid muscle cuts of meat instead of bone-in cuts. Bone-in cut meat has more contact with nervous tissue, which is the part that becomes contaminated. Therefore, it is best to avoid ground beef, sausage and hot dogs. These products are more likely to have contaminated nervous tissue ground inside. In addition, individuals should refrain from eating any type of meat in countries where outbreaks of contamination have occurred. I personally do not eat beef which gives me a slim to none chance of catching mad cow. I eat chicken, which means that I can still catch something but my chances are smaller.
Xavier Hill
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is an incurable, fatal brain disease that affects cattle and even some other animals, such as goats and sheep. The medical name for mad cow disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE for short. It's called mad cow disease because it affects a cow's nervous system, causing a cow to act strangely and lose control of its ability to do normal things. BSE is not spread by animal-to-animal contact. It cannot infect another animal. It is spread in tissue from the central nervous system, some of which can be found in meat and bone meal. You can't kill it by cooking or freezing, disinfectants don't work, and It does not appear to have genetic information. To control the disease the USDA prohibited imports of live animals and animal products from Europe. They tested any cattle showing abnormal behavior for BSE. They inspected all cattle used for food for signs of neurological diseases. The FDA tested the blood and tissue of the animals. When people contract the disease it is called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or (vCJD). The disease has no cure. It becomes deadly overtime. The symptoms it produces are neurological. it may star out subtly with insomnia, depression, confusion, personality and behavioral changes, and problems with memory coordination, and sight. As it progresses, the person rapidly develops dementia and involuntary, irregular jerkin movements called myoclonus. In the final stage of the disease, the patient loses all mental and physical functions, and lapses into a coma, and eventually dies. Although mad cow disease is not well known of the threat of health risks it poses to humans is simply unwarranted.
Mahalia Dees
ReplyDeleteMad Cow Disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is an illness that causes nerve damage in animals. In cows, the brain and spinal cord wither away until they look like sponges filled with microscopic holes, causing the cow to act strangely and eventually lose mobility. In humans, the illness debilitates start with mental issues like memory loss and speech impediments. It then progresses until it becomes difficult forcertain movements caused by the brain, until the person is immobile. The person and animal can suffer for a month to eight years. In both humans and animals their immune system is compromised, making it very difficult for the body to fight off any viruses or bacteria. Because of this the person or animal dies from another disease due to complications from Mad Cow Disease. Cows usually contract it from eating the remains of other cows, even though they are herbivores. People usually contract the proteins that carry the disease from eating tainted meat. It is not like other viruses and bacteria because it does not die when freezing or cooking. When there was a large epidemic of Mad Cow Disease in the United Kingdom starting in the 1980s, UK officials issued an eradication program to control the spread of the disease, killing millions of cows and minimizing the amount of beef sold and a complete ban of all beef and beef products in the 1990s. Because of precautions taken today, Mad Cow disease no longer poses a strong threat to humans. Cows in the United States and The United Kingdom are no longer feed leftover scraps of animal products (Wikipedia).
Taylor Reuther
ReplyDeleteMad Cow Disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a neurodegenerative disease that can be fatal because it causes a spongy degeneration of the brain and spinal cord. This disease usually affects cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years of age. Only certain animals can get BSE — people don't actually get mad cow disease. The agent responsible for mad cow (and vCJD) is called a prion. It is a type of protein found in all mammals. When deformed, the prion creates tiny, sponge-like holes and eats away the cow's brain, which ultimately results in death. However, experts have found a link between BSE and a rare brain condition that affects people, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). vCJD is caused by an abnormal type of protein in the brain called a prion. When people have vCJD, cells in the brain die until the brain eventually has a "sponge-like" appearance. During this time, people with the disease gradually lose control of their mental and physical capabilities. There is still much debate in the scientific community regarding how BSE is spread. At the present time, BSE is thought to be spread in tissue from the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord) as well as distal ileum, some of which can be present in meat and bone meal. BSE is not spread by animal-to-animal contact. In other words, an animal infected with BSE cannot infect another animal with which it is penned or pastured. Little is known regarding the minimum amount of prion material that can cause an infection. The worst cases are found in Europe because there are so many of these cases. It obviously poses a threat to human beings because the human has no possible way of figuring out if the meat is contaminated or not, so they must trust the owner of the producer from which they are buying the meat from.
Mad Cow disease is also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). It is a disease that attacks the cattle’s nervous system. It causes the brain and spinal cord of the cattle to degenerate and develop small holes in the brain. The brain will soon develop a “spongy” type appearance. This would soon cause the cattle to use lose control of various functions. It makes sense, because the brain controls the functions of the body and when those specific areas of the brain are riddled with holes, function is lost. Mad Cow disease was caused by farmers feeding cattle what they are not supposed to be fed. Cattle are herbivores and should be fed grass. Instead, these cattle are fed the remains of slaughterhouses and meat of other dead, perhaps sick animals. Mad Cow disease cannot be spread by the physical contact of these cattle. Rather, it is spread by eating the infected meat of sick sheep. Mad Cow disease was controlled by killing many cows. The production and amount of beef sold was decreased.
ReplyDeleteMad Cow disease is a serious threat to humans, because what happened to the cows can happen to humans, also. When a human is infected with Mad Cow disease, it is called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In addition to that, a person has no way of knowing whether or not the meat that they bought or ate is infected with that disease. The only way people can know is if someone in their area has bought the meat, ate it, and became infected with Mad Cow disease. Furthermore, this disease does not have a cure, so it is extremely fatal to humans. It is a serious threat to humans; however, it does not pose a threat as of now.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), which is also called “Mad Cow Disease”, is a fatal brain disease that affects the cattle and sometimes other animals. A cow with BSE becomes mentally ill. Cows seem get BSE when the farmer doesn’t feed the cattle food they are not supposed to be eating, when they are to be eating grass. At slaughterhouses the cattle eats contaminate food, because they are fed in an environment where they are surrounded by feces. Mad Cow Disease infection causes a cow’s brain to waste away and become spongy. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy affects a cow nervous system, causing a cow to act odd and lose control of its ability to do normal things, such as not being able to walk normally. The cow’s brain and spinal cord will most likely contain BSE. BSE can’t be spread through animal to animal or human to human contact. Mad Cow Disease is a serious threat to humans, what happens to a cow can happen to a human. The way a human can get BSE is if he or she eats BSE infected beef. When a person eats BSE infected beef he or she will have a higher chance of getting a disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, which is extremely rare in the United States. When a person is affected with vCJD, cells in the brain die until the brain has a “spongy like” appearance. People with the disease gradually lose control of mental and physical capabilities. VCJD is not contagious among humans, the only a human can get it is from eating contaminated meat. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by an abnormal type of protein in the brain called a prion. Prion leads to brain damage and is always fatal. Mad Cow Disease does not have a cure, so it is extremely fatal to humans.
ReplyDeleteAnh Phuong Dang
ReplyDeleteMad Cow Disease is a deadly foodborne illness and a powerful symbol of all that is wrong about the industrialization of farm animals. It proliferates because slaughterhouses slaughter hundreds of thousands of cattle potentially infected wuth mad cow disease, also known as BSE. Mad cow disease, along with E. coli O157:H7 were often linked to the consumption of tainted ground beef, and the meatpacking industry’s refusal to deal effectively with the problem of fecal contamination seemed a good example of the weaknesses in America’s food safety system. E. coli O157:H7 have diminished since the publication of Fast Food Nation, but mad cow disease still remained. Mad cow disease now poses an even greater potential threat to anyone who loves hamburgers and to the companies that sell them. On March 29, 1996, Food and Drug Administration announced that in order to prevent an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States, the agency would expedite new rules of prohibiting the use of certain animal proteins in cattle feed. Mad cow disease was tentatively linked to the consumption of tainted beef. Cattle are infected with mad cow disease because they had eaten feed containing the remains of infected animals now seemed responsible for transmitting the pathogen to human beings. Mad cow disease should not be a serious threat to humans. Although every one of the deaths of mad cow disease was tragic and unnecessary, they must be viewed in a larger perspective. The same numbers of people die every say in the United States from automobile accidents. It is impossible to predict how many people will get the disease by eating tainted meat.
Anthony Poche
ReplyDeleteMad Cow Disease is an illness that causes nerve damage in animals. It is also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy. When cows posses the disease their brain and spinal cord continue to deteriorate until they look like sponges. They are compared to sponges because the brain and spinal cord will develop a countless amount of tiny holes. The results of these holes are strange changes in behavior, disoriented movements, and extreme weight loss. When humans contract the illness through consumption of tainted meat they may develop memory loss, speech impediments, and other various mental issues. As the disease progresses, the immune system will eventually become compromised making it extremely difficult to fight off infections. Other complications include loss of mobility in the last stages of the fatal disease. Cows usually contract and are able to spread the disease because they are eating the remains of other animals. It is not a surprise that a herbivorous animal will develop problems when it is forced to meat. In my opinion, this is foolish on the part of the meat industry. Since the bacteria and disease producing proteins cannot be frozen or heated to death, in order to control the disease slaughterhouses and “farmers” raising cattle have ceased feeding the cows other animals. Mad Cow Disease is no longer a major threat to humans since its fatal characteristics have been exposed to the public.
Mad Cow Disease is an illness that affects a cow’s nervous system which causes cows to behave abnormally. Once cows are infected with this disease they tend to lose important bodily functions such as walking. Mad cow disease is also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE for short. Mad Cow Disease can be controlled by making stricter restrictions on what cattle eats. If the cattle eat regular feed then there would not be an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease. The major danger of the mad cow disease is that it affects the brain which is an important organ of the body. The mad cow disease also affects the nervous system. This disease causes problems with memory, coordination, and sight. Mad Cow Disease also causes the brain of the cattle also cause starts to wither way because of the BSE disease. Cattle become infected by eating feed that contains the remains of infected animals. Many of the cattle were being fed the decaying remains of other cattle which caused the cattle to become infected with the mad cow disease. The Mad cow disease is a serious threat to humans because it affects the nervous system. The mad cow disease causes humans to lose their sight, memory, coordination and other bodily functions. It seriously affect humans by also causing them to be infected by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD which causes the brains cells to die and since brains cells are un able to regenerate this means that Mad Cow Disease is detrimental to humans. The Mad Cow Disease is contracted in humans if they eat tainted or infected meat. When humans eat infected meat this is when they contract vCJD and their nervous system is starting to break down. There is not a cure for Mad Cow Disease or vCJD, but there are ways to prevent the spread of disease.
ReplyDeleteKierra Hitchens
ReplyDeleteMad Cow Disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a usually fatal disease of cattle affecting the central nervous system, causing agitation and staggering. It is thought to be caused by an agent such as a prion or a virino, and its possible connection with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans is still much debated. Only certain animals can get BSE, people however cannot actually get mad cow disease. However, experts have found a link between BSE and a rare brain condition that affects people, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). It is believe that people who eat beef from cows that have BSE are at serious risk of developing a form of vCJD. vCJD is caused by a prion, an abnormal type of protein in the brain. When people get vCJD, cells in the brain die until the brain has a “sponge-like” appearance. Once the brain has become “sponge-like” people with the disease gradually lose control of their mental and physical capabilities. The disease can be controlled by awareness. The type of protein that causes mad cow disease unfortunately cannot be removed or destroyed once beef is processed or cooked. The U.S. government has established several meat processing procedures to protect the public. One is removing the parts of the cow that are at highest risk of containing BSE such as the brain and spinal cord to reduce the chances of them contaminating the meat people eat. The FDA has also put into place safeguards to help protect people from BSE, such as the use of any high-risk cattle materials in the feed of any animal. Also the testing of animals regularly. Mad cow disease poses a danger to many animals and many humans. It is a very fatal disease. Cattle are infected with the disease by eating feed containing the remains of infected animals. Yes it is a serious threat to humans because it is fatal.
Mad cow disease is a strong disease that attacks the central nervous system of many animals. The disease started showing up in cows and caused the cows to lose many simple bodily functions. The disease is spread to other animals and humans because of the disease being spread through the meat that is processed or eaten by other animals. The main way that mad cow disease can be stopped or slowed down is by controlling what the cows eat. There are some things that cows eat currently that cause the disease to sprout out in the cows. If we feed the cows natural grains and grass, the cows will be healthier and have a smaller chance of contracting the mad cow disease. If mad cow disease is contracted by a human, similar affects would occur. The human that contracts the mad cow disease would lose bodily function, memory, and sight. There is currently no known cure for mad cow disease. Even though no known cure exists, there are many different and simple ways to prevent it.
ReplyDeleteMad Cow Disease, know scientifically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a neurological disorder of a cow. The effects from this disease causes the cows brain and spinal cord to wither away up until the point where there are microscopic hole that causes the cow to act in a strange manner and causes them to eventually lose their ability to walk. In people, this disease causes issues with the brain such as loss of memory and loss of speech. It then moves further into the brain until the person loses their ability to walk. There is now exact time for the people or the animal to suffer. In both species the immune system becomes compromise to where their bodies won’t fight off the bacteria. The cause of this disease is caused by cattle eating the remains of other dead animals. Research by the CDC shows there is strong evidence that the outbreak was then amplified and spread throughout the United Kingdom cattle industry by feeding rendered, prion-infected, bovine meat-and-bone meal to young cows. The FDA is taking plans to stop the spread as of October 26, 2009. A regulation issued by FDA in April 2009 came into effect establishing an enhanced BSE-related feed ban in the United States. This enhanced ban will further harmonize BSE feed control measures in the U.S. with those in Canada. In addition, FDA continues to enforce its important 1997 mammalian-to-ruminant feed ban through its BSE inspection and BSE feed testing programs (CDC). To answer the question, yes it is harmful to humans. Cows are supposed to be herbivores and the meat industry is feeding them meat. This is not the way to mass produce any livestock. By learning the effects of mad cow disease I don’t want to eat any type of beef anymore because of the chance I might catch the disease.
ReplyDeletePeter Huynh
ReplyDeleteOne of the many fast food restaurant issues addressed in Fast Food Nations is about the “Mad cow disease.” The disease regards the distribution of the infected meat in the industries, which was extremely dangerous to the health of the society. Under stress from meat industries, the government would allow practices that are dangerous to consumers. Infectious meat like cows with cancer, for example, would still be kept, packaged, and distributed for profit by industries. Areas of the cow with cancer would be sliced off, in which the pus would be released, but the meat would still be packaged.
This would make the people of the community sick, because of the infected meat that was distributed by the companies. Mad cow disease is a serious threat and is dangerous to the people. Contaminated meat can affect one’s health in many ways and lead to serious consequences such as death. “Mad cow disease” can be prevented by multiple examinations of the meat before being processed by the factory. It can actually be caused by giving the cows “cannibalistic feed.”
Unique Jacob
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and spinal cord in cattle. It is called mad cow disease because it affects a cows central nervous system, causing it to act strange and lose control of its abilty to do normal things such as walk. This infection causes its brain to waste away and become spongy. mad cow diseas can be prevented by examining and checking meats before it is digested. According to New York Times "The Food and Drug Administration proposed new rule to prevent the spread of mad cow disease by banning brains and spinal cords from older cows in all animal feed."
Mad cow disease is a serious threat to humans.If contaminated meat is digested by anyone it can be vital to ones health. One way a human can avoid this disease is by becoming a vegeterian. Vegeterians avoid eating meat meaning avoid any chances of eaing contaminated meat.
Minh Luan Nguyen
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is a brain disease which affects infected cows. Also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), it is a fatal brain disorder that occurs in cows. The disease causes holes to form inside the cows' brains and they die later on. The disease can spread from eating food from an infected specimen, or eating food-byproducts that have contaminated nerve tissue. Once infected, the disease can be unnoticed for 10-15 years without symptom. The agent which causes the infection cannot be removed from infected meat with disinfectants or cooking thoroughly, so this disease is quite dangerous. No one knows for sure what this disease is made of, but once you are infected, your behavior will start to change, and soon enough, you will die. The USDA has issued many warnings and has done many things to keep the public safe from this disease. The FDA has done the same and the NIH is researching the cause and treatments for it. Unfortunately the disease is incurable. There is also no way to see if the meat is contaminated or not so it's a gamble each time you eat meat.
Mad Cow Disease is the informal name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which is a fatal slow developing disease that affects the nervous system of the cattle. This type of disease has very severe results that cause the cow to lose the normal bodily functions. This disease does not only affect cows, but other animals as well. The holes that form throughout the brain and other organs causes a “spongy” appearance. When the “spongy” appearance takes place, all the various body functions are disabled. This disease is created by farmers who feed cattle food that should not be in the everyday diet. Due to the fact that cows are known and supposed to eat grass, when they are fed the leftovers and whatnot from slaughterhouses that consist of meat, it is possible for the disease to take place. Not only would the cattle be eating meat but the type of meat is unknown. The cow could be eating an animal that was died of sickness or just simply poorly sanitized meat. In order for an actual human being to contract this disease, one would have to consume it. If consumed, the risk of having the disease of the cow is possible for the human. Without being able to tell if the meat that a person has is infected or not, many are taking a chance at life with this product. Thankfully, there has not been many outbreaks of the Mad Cow Disease.
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and spinal in cattle. People contract forms of mad cow disease by eating meat that comes from cows that are infected. The disease is also fatal in humans once they have gotten it. The symptoms in humans are memory loss, emotional instability, marked weakness, severe rapidly progressive dementia and death within a year of the onset symptoms. The cattle are usually fed all sorts of things including parts of slaughtered cattle which may be infected. By feeding cattle infected meat the disease spreads at a faster rate. Ways to control this disease are by testing the foods that cattle are fed to be sure that they are safe for the cattle. It would also help to make sure that all consumers are aware of what the disease is and look for any recalls on meat.
ReplyDeleteTaiRhe Turner
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is a disease that attacks the brain and nervous system of cows. Cows that have the disease may still get slaughtered and packaged. The meat of an infected cow is still contaminated inspite of. People get very sick from eating this meat. It’s fatal and very painful once contracted. The cow initially gets this disease from the food it gets fed, such as, meat. The cow is clearly an herbivore, though. The meat fed to them isn’t high quality either. More times than not, it’s just leftover meat from the slaughter houses. It’s either this or corn that cows are fed, however, corn isn’t as detrimental as the bad meat. Corn still isn’t the right food for a cow though. Cows were made to eat grass. This disease wouldn’t even have to be in existence if the animals we eat were taken good care of; fed the right way, in good living conditions, and cleaned properly. There aren’t too many cases of mad cow infections in humans but its just unfortunate that anyone had to die from carelessness of food production management.
In December 2003, mad cow disease was discovered in one cow in the United States. Before this cow was found to have the disease, the cow was slaughtered and its muscle meat was sent to be sold in grocery stores. But its organs and nerve tissue were not used for human food. Although mad cow disease cannot be spread through muscle meat, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) quickly traced the meat and removed it from grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteWhen a cow is slaughtered, parts of it are used for human food and other parts are used in animal feed. If an infected cow is slaughtered and its nerve tissue is used in cattle feed, other cows can become infected.
There is no evidence that people can get mad cow disease or vCJD from eating muscle meat-which is used for ground beef, roasts, and steaks-or from consuming milk or milk products.
Ira'neshia
ReplyDeleteMad cow disease is a disease that affects the cow's nerveous system. In humans the disease is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Humans can get mad cow disease from eating infected beef. The syptoms in humans include depression,insomnia and anxiety. The person might seem confused, withdrawn and out of it. As the disease progress the person loses muscle control and coordination. The might also suffer from poor vision and memory lose. There is no treatment or cure for this disease. This a serious threat to humans. Humans can prevent this disease from choosing solid muscle cuts of meat rather than bone-in cuts. This can help because it will reduce your chance of contact with nervous tissue. Humans should avoid ground beef, hot dogs, and sausages. Humans also shouldn't eat beef in countries where outbreak has occuried in the past. Farmers should avoid feedings that have mammalian protein. Farmers should also follow the FDA's band on inports.
Dikeyta Bowser
ReplyDeleteSchlosser not only gives examples of workers in the fast food industry, but he takes us into the diseases that occur due to food production in the industry. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad-cow disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years, all breeds being equally susceptible. The FDA has been working on solutions to treat this disease for many years. I personally am in support of the FDA and hope this disease can stop leaking into the bellies of ourselves and many of our family members. This disease is of course derived from cows, but occasionally we humans and consumers of fast food partake in some affects of the disease due to beef consumption in many burgers we eat. Animals are tested regularly for this disease. Many are in exile from the rest of the pack to prevent this disease from becoming an epidemic.