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From: TSS ()
Civic Groups Halt X-Ray Inspection of US Beef By Kim Yon-se A protester holds an effigy symbolizing imported U.S. beef at a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Thursday. An opposition party has launched a campaign to buy up and destroy U.S. beef that will soon go on sale after 3-year import ban. / AP-Yonhap An NGO chief said that there is no domestic regulation that allows for X-ray testing of beef. He added that the distribution of X-rayed beef without a revision of the law is risky. Amid the protests, the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service, the state-run agency in charge of the inspection decided to delay it. The beef was part of the consignment that arrived in Korea last month. Korea decided to resume the import of U.S. beef last January. A ban was imposed in December 2003 after mad cow disease cases were reported. The Korea Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights, a medical-pharmaceutical lobby group, has argued that there is no way for inspectors to detect specified risk material (SRM), including spinal cord, so the tests were not effective. SRMs are the animal parts most likely to contain the mad cow disease ``prion,¡¯¡¯ a protein particle that lacks nucleic acid, which can cause the deadly variant Cruetzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. The federation alleged that the ministry intentionally delayed the X-ray inspection date for the first beef shipment to Nov. 16 from its scheduled date of Nov. 7. In its letter to the U.S. on Nov. 9, Korea said it would not regard three parts _ cartilage, breast-bone and bone chips _ as SRMs. The decision means that the Korean government will not ban U.S. beef imports again even if bone chips are found in the product. Korea is only allowed to ban imports from U.S. slaughterhouses that exported beef with bones. A ministry official agreed that the X-ray system could not detect all risky parts. ``We plan additional inspections by selecting samples,¡¯¡¯ the official said. kys@koreatimes.co.kr 11-16-2006 22:40 He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which display selectively SPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins. Location: Virus and Prion Diseases of Livestock Project Number: 3625-32000-073-07 Project Type: Specific C/A Start Date: Sep 15, 2004 End Date: Sep 14, 2007 Objective: The objective of this cooperative research project with Dr. Maria Caramelli from the Italian BSE Reference Laboratory in Turin, Italy, is to conduct comparative studies with the U.S. bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) isolate and the atypical BSE isolates identified in Italy. The studies will cover the following areas: 1. Evaluation of present diagnostics tools used in the U.S. for the detection of atypical BSE cases. 2. Molecular comparison of the U.S. BSE isolate and other typical BSE isolates with atypical BSE cases. 3. Studies on transmissibility and tissue distribution of atypical BSE isolates in cattle and other species. Approach: This project will be done as a Specific Cooperative Agreement with the Italian BSE Reference Laboratory, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, in Turin, Italy. It is essential for the U.S. BSE surveillance program to analyze the effectiveness of the U.S diagnostic tools for detection of atypical cases of BSE. Molecular comparisons of the U.S. BSE isolate with atypical BSE isolates will provide further characterization of the U.S. BSE isolate. Transmission studies are already underway using brain homogenates from atypical BSE cases into mice, cattle and sheep. It will be critical to see whether the atypical BSE isolates behave similarly to typical BSE isolates in terms of transmissibility and disease pathogenesis. If transmission occurs, tissue distribution comparisons will be made between cattle infected with the atypical BSE isolate and the U.S. BSE isolate. Differences in tissue distribution could require new regulations regarding specific risk material (SRM) removal. http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?ACCN_NO=408490 Page 5 of 98 8/3/2006 snip... http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf [Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk 03-025IFA THE SEVEN SCIENTIST REPORT *** Full Text Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Singeltary, Sr et al. JAMA.2001; 285: 733-734. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=dignosing+and+reporting+creutzfeldt+jakob+disease&searchid=1048865596978_1528&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=jama BMJ P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
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