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From: TSS ()
##################### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy ##################### Water Board finalizing stance By KEVIN DARST A Water Board subcommittee said Wednesday there's no evidence that city water is in danger because of the proximity of the research site, 4330 W. LaPorte Ave., which is across the street from the water plant, but that it makes sense to create a "buffer" around the treatment plant. "Do we really want sick animals of any kind around our water supply?" subcommittee and Water Board member Gina Janette asked. At its outdoor facility, the DOW studies chronic wasting disease, a brain-wasting disease in deer and elk. Sick and healthy animals - including deer, elk, cattle and bighorn sheep - live in separate pens, and work at the site has led to much of the current knowledge about the illness. Chronic wasting disease is related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy - also called mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. The Water Board likely will decide today which recommendations to give to the City Council. Two vocal residents, one from Boulder and one from Wellington, have questioned whether it's safe to have the research facility next door to the treatment plant, which produces drinking water for about 200,000 customers in the Fort Collins area. They say the malformed proteins, called prions, that cause chronic wasting disease and similar illnesses could blow from the research site into open ponds at the treatment plant that supply a small amount of water to city customers. Research done at the DOW facility indicates the disease can live in the soil. Experts say the risk of infection is miniscule and that a species barrier makes it unlikely that chronic wasting disease would jump from deer and elk to humans. Colorado State University owns the land the research facility is on and began its own animal research at the site in the mid-1960s. The water treatment plant began operation in 1968. Short-term recommendations from the water subcommittee Wednesday included continual evaluation of new chronic wasting disease research and prion-monitoring technology. Prions currently can't be detected in water. The committee also recommended that the DOW use the best management practices available to minimize the risk of prions escaping the research site. The Larimer County Board of Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment have said there is no evidence that the research site threatens public health. Committee members said Wednesday that the city should pursue a buffer around its treatment plant, regardless of chronic wasting disease concerns. "It's in the interest of the city that they move," said committee and Water Board member Johannes Gessler, who also said the issue was not an "immediate crisis." http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050526/NEWS01/505260321/1002 > recommended in long term what's the rush, why not just expose everyone to this agent...TSS SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Draft minutes of the open session of the 87th meeting held on 21st April 2005 At The Conference Centre Holiday Inn Bloomsbury Coram Street London WC1N 1HT snip... - 20 - 69. Dr Adkin added that it had been assumed that there was no degradation of prion protein during the assumed 3 week non- 2 Arnold M. and Wilesmith J.W. (2003) Modelling studies on BSE occurrence to assist in the review of the over thirty months rule in Great Britain. Proc Roy Soc Lond B 270, 2141-2145 grazing period. Members considered that should TSE agents persist in soil, infectivity could accumulate over time. Dr Adkin indicated that the accumulation of infectivity over time was not addressed, as an exposure assessment had not been carried out. In order for such accumulation to occur TSE infectivity would have to be applied on multiple occasions to the same location, which may be unlikely. One study indicated there would be 98% decay of the agent over 3 years3. Dr Matthews observed that accumulation would be against a backdrop of decreasing TSE prevalence. Mr Wyllie added that Defra- and EU-funded research is being conducted to investigate the behaviour and degradation of TSE agents in soil. 70. A member considered that, since the TSE agent is a protein, it was likely to decay quickly due to the pH of, and bacteria present in, soil. However, a member pointed out good evidence suggesting that the Chronic Wasting Disease agent persisted in the environment. Dr Matthews informed members that a VLA project on infectivity in sheep exposed to the farm environment indicated that material on pasture is infectious for at least 2 months. Members agreed that in view of the resistance of PrPsc to degradation, evidence from CWD and the VLA studies, it was safer to assume survival of the agent in soil for a significant amount of time. 71. In response to members' questions about the field spreading of fertiliser, Alan Brewer (Defra) informed the committee that some dust can arise from the activity, both from the fertiliser distribution process (that depends on the type of spreading mechanism) and from tractor wheels kicking up soil in arable situations. But it was not possible to indicate whether there was any likelihood of dust particles containing fertiliser drifting onto adjoining fields. He added that it was recognised as good practice for farmers not to spread fertiliser into hedges and watercourses. snip... http://www.seac.gov.uk/minutes/draft87.pdf TSS #################### https://lists.aegee.org/bse-l.html ####################
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