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From: TSS (216-119-139-50.ipset19.wt.net)
Subject: MANDATORY DEER TESTING MAY CHANGE WHILE SCIENTIST PREDICT CWD WIPING OUT PORTIONS OF U.S. WILD DEER POPULATION
Date: November 21, 2003 at 12:37 pm PST

Mandatory deer testing may change

By Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News
November 21, 2003

State wildlife officials will propose in January that the Colorado Wildlife Commission change the rules on mandatory testing of deer and elk for chronic wasting disease in northeastern Colorado.

State Division of Wildlife spokesman Todd Malmsbury said Thursday: "We feel we are getting enough submissions on a voluntary basis for research purposes, and we want a standard policy throughout the state."

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal brain and nervous system disease that affects deer and elk. The cause and transmission of the disease is unknown, but there is nothing to show that it affects humans who eat infected animals.

Malmsbury said the change is not significant, although it is taking place in the so-called endemic area where the disease was first discovered and where the majority of animals that have tested positive have been found.

Mandatory and voluntary testing in the endemic area has varied over the years. "We are trying to make the rules universal throughout the state," Malmsbury said.

Elsewhere in Colorado, testing is voluntary. A hunter can pay $17 to have the head of the animal checked for the disease.

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2445504,00.html
Yet two lines of evidence suggest that humans could conceivable
develop a TSE by eating venison infected with PrPCWD. First, investigators
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) induced the conversion of human PrPC
to PRPCWD in a cell-free medium (Raymond et al., 2000). Second, as described,
BSE has crossed the species barrier from cattle to humans and has caused vCJD.
Finally, scientists have predicted that CWD could potentially wipe out portions of the
U.S. wild deer population if the epidemic is not curtailed (Gross and Miller, 2001).
These concerns justify robust surveillance for animal TSEs in the United States...

http://books.nap.edu/books/0309090601/gifmid/122.gif

TSS

• Advancing Prion Science: 2003

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