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From: TSS (216-119-139-97.ipset19.wt.net)
Subject: Re: BSE aka MAD COW UPDATE (USA still not looking to find$$$)
Date: February 18, 2003 at 6:15 pm PST

In Reply to: Re: BSE aka MAD COW UPDATE (USA still not looking to find$$$) posted by fernando luna on February 16, 2003 at 4:42 pm:

hello Fernando,

i did not post it cause i figured it to be useless since the
USDA/APHIS have refused to rapid test cattle for TSEs for the
last 13 to 14 years since the inception of the _extensive_;-)
BSE surveillance system they claim to have. they just forgot
to tell anyone about it and you can read about that in the
BSE 50 State Emergency Conference Call Jan. 9, 2001 referenced
below...

9/17/2002 USDA Reviewing New Rapid Mad Cow Test; May Also Apply to Scrapie, CWD -

Among the tests being evaluated is the co-called "lateral flow strip test" for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, developed by Prion Developmental Laboratories Inc., a firm connected with biotech specialist Genesis Bioventures Inc.

The PDL strip test is an easy-to-use, patent-pending rapid test, similar to a home pregnancy test, for detecting BSE that can be deployed on-site using bovine brain tissue. The test takes less than 20 minutes to complete and delivers accurate, easily interpreted results, according to the manufacturer.

To date, there are no rapid tests that can be performed at the packing plant to ensure that BSE-infected cattle do not enter the human food chain.

"We are confident that the review will result in a pilot program that will bring assurance to consumers that the meat they are eating is safe," said David Grosky, president of PDL.

PDL and its sister company, Virotek LLC have developed and are testing a unique device for the production of the tissue homogenate used in the diagnostic test. The device will enable the user to prepare the sample without additional equipment and provides a greater degree of protection from the potentially contaminated tissue. The device will facilitate movement of the test from centralized reference laboratories to sites in or near the meat processing facility.

In February 2002, USDA reported that it would be testing twice as many cattle for BSE than were tested last year, including deceased cattle from farms. The target for the entire year is 12,500, compared with 5,200 in 2001.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently provided funding for USDA to research testing technology for BSE and BSE-related diseases, specifically directing USDA to undertake a review of PDL's testing technology. Upon satisfactory completion of the review, USDA will establish a pilot program using this technology, according to the company.

Researchers at PDL recently identified a new pair of antibodies for the detection of prions that appear to be superior to the original antibody pair used in testing. Initial research indicates that the antibodies could also detect scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and chronic wasting disease. Scrapie is a common prion disease found in sheep; CJD is a human form of prion disease; and CWD has recently infected numerous deer and elk, including 24 white tail deer that tested positive for CWD in Wisconsin just in the past six months.

For more information, contact Genesis Bioventures at 604/542-0820 or via e-mail at irinfo@gnsbio.com or online at www.gnsbio.com

Genesis Bioventures Announces USDA Review Of Mad Cow Test
(Dow Jones Newswires)

NEW YORK -- The U.S. government has approved appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate new rapid tests for detection of prion-infected animals, including the lateral flow strip test for Mad Cow Disease developed by one of Genesis Bioventures Inc.'s (GBI) investee companies, Prion Developmental Laboratories Inc.

In a news release, Genesis said the Prion strip test is an easy-to-use, patents-pending rapid strip test for detecting Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease. It is similar to a home pregnancy test and will be used on-site using brain tissue, taking less than 20 minutes to complete with "accurate, easily interpreted results."

It noted that, to date, there are no rapid tests that can be performed at the slaughterhouse that will ensure that BSE infected cattle don't enter the human food chain.

Genesis said Prion and its sister company, Virotek LLC, have developed and are testing a device for the production of the tissue homogenate used in the diagnostic test. The device will enable the user to prepare the sample without additional equipment and provides a greater degree of protection from the potentially contaminated tissue. The device will facilitate movement of the test from centralized reference laboratories to sites in or near the meat processing facility.

In February, the USDA reported that it would be testing twice as many cattle for BSE than were tested last year, including deceased cattle from farms . The target for the entire year is 12,500 compared to 5,200 last year, Genesis said.

Genesis also said the Prion researchers recently identified a new pair of antibodies for the detection of prions that appears to be more sensitive than the pair now in use. Prion believes that these antibodies will be superior to the original antibody pair and initial research indicates that they will also work in tests for scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Chronic Wasting disease. Scrapie is a common prion disease found in sheep, while CJD is a human form of prion disease. CWD, although present for decades, has recently made headlines as deer and elk are being infected at an alarming rate across North America, Genesis said.

Genesis said it's in late-stage talks with Prion to provide additional funding for the prion disease research. Further funding would result in the company obtaining a controlling equity interest in Prion, it noted. It didn't elaborate.

Genesis is a biomedical development company focusing on the development and marketing of novel diagnostics and therapeutics. 9/16/02

GENESIS BIOVENTURES, INC. - 10-QSB QUARTERLY REPORT, MARCH 31, 2002

PRION DISEASES - Prion diseases are a family of fatal neurodegenerative diseases that are caused by a prion, an "infectious proteinaceous particle". Prion diseases have become a major health concern since the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy ("BSE") or "Mad Cow Disease". BSE was first discovered in the United Kingdom but has now spread to many other countries in Europe as well as Japan. BSE is believed to be transmitted among cattle through feed that contains protein rendered from infected cattle and it is thought to be transmitted to humans through eating beef or beef products from infected cattle. In humans, the prion infection results in a neurological disorder known as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease ("nvCJD"). Both "Mad Cow Disease" and nvCJD are slow developing but invariably fatal diseases, with the brain becoming spongy and filled with tangled protein plaques.

Prion diseases are difficult to diagnose and the only diagnostic tests currently available for "Mad Cow Disease" are based on analysis of post-mortem brain samples from cattle, a procedure that is relatively slow and expensive. As a result, tests can only be conducted on cattle suspected of being infected or on a random sample basis.

Currently there is no simple test available to check human blood or tissues before they are used to treat another person. There is an urgent need for a more rapid and sensitive diagnostic that could detect the presence of infectious prions at an earlier stage of the disease and provide accurate results without requiring post-mortem brain samples.

The scientists at PDL have developed an easy-to-use, patents pending rapid strip test for detecting BSE and the Company is currently in late-stage discussions with a European pharmaceutical company to provide them with this test. It is similar to a home pregnancy test and will be used on-site using brain tissue taking less than five minutes to complete with accurate, easily interpreted results. Preliminary tests demonstrate comparable sensitivity of the PDL strip test with a more time consuming test currently in use in Europe and other countries.

To date, there are no rapid tests that can be performed at the slaughterhouse that will ensure that BSE infected cattle do not enter the human food chain. In addition to BSE, the PDL test platform has also been used to successfully detect prion diseases in human and other animal brain tissue.

In the United States each year over 37 million head of cattle are slaughtered and 25 million units of human blood are collected. This prion test will be designed to detect BSE before the overt symptoms appear in cattle, with the objective of ensuring that infected meat or cattle by-products are removed from the market.

Using its proprietary reagents, PDL has now validated the recent discovery of prions in urine, a finding that was previously thought to be improbable. Studies to date have shown that the protein can be found in urine well before symptoms appear. Research is currently underway to adapt the PDL test for analysis of urine samples, which would provide the world's first practical pre-mortem diagnostic test for BSE. Once the test has been proven in cattle, development and completion of a similar test for humans and other animals would be accelerated, ensuring safe blood products, donor tissue and surgical instruments.

SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION - Among the key scientists involved in the product development program are Drs. Pierluigi Gambetti, MD and Man-Sun Sy, PhD of Case Western Reserve University; and Drs. Richard Kascsak, PhD, and Richard Rubenstein, PhD of the Institute for Basic Research. Dr. Gambetti is a Director of the U.S. National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center. As a key component in its product development strategy, PDL has established collaborations with two major research institutions that are considered leading centers in both prion diseases and diagnostic test development. The members of this product development team are:

- Case Western Reserve University ("CWRU") in Cleveland, Ohio, a leading center for neurological research in human prion diseases; and

GENESIS BIOVENTURES, INC. - 10-QSB QUARTERLY REPORT, MARCH 31, 2002

- The Institute for Basic Research and Developmental Disabilities (IBR) in Staten Island, New York, a major research center for animal prion diseases.

PDL is utilizing the combined expertise of the research teams at both centers to develop a proprietary, rapid diagnostic for prion disease that can detect the presence of infectious prions before symptoms appear. In addition, researchers have identified an antibody that should yield increased detection of scrapie in sheep.

MARKET POTENTIAL - The two major international markets for the PDL prion diagnostic are the cattle industry and the human blood products industry. As a result of the BSE outbreak in the United Kingdom, the rest of the European market banned export of British beef. The financial consequences of this in the UK were estimated to be in excess of $2.5 billion in 1998. Since then, BSE has been detected in a number of European countries and most recently in Japan.

The strip test, utilizing PDL's patents pending proprietary reagents and assay technology has been proven to be simple yet accurate and inexpensive. It is anticipated that the test will be reviewed and evaluated in Europe in the first half of 2002 prior to being certified for commercial release in the massive global cattle industry. The vitality of the beef industry worldwide depends on the development of such a test. The ultimate size of the world market for a post-mortem test is nearly 100 million head of cattle per year. The Company has projected that if this diagnostic were used to test cattle prior to slaughter (estimated at 40 million cattle per year in the United States), the potential gross revenues from this application could be in excess of $50 million in the United States alone.

In the human blood and tissue products market, the fear of prion infection from whole blood or purified blood products has led to withdrawal of purified blood components by major pharmaceutical companies. In addition, tissue transplants such as corneal grafts have been proven to transmit prion diseases. Based on estimates of the market opportunity for a simple test to detect prions in human blood and tissue supplies, PDL projects that annual revenues in excess of $50 million can be obtained from the U.S. market and that significantly higher revenues could be obtained if the test is marketed worldwide.

Through December 31, 2000, PDL funded research, beginning with payments to the University of Maryland of $1,000,000, a payment to the Case Western Reserve University of $500,000, and a payment to the Institute for Basic Research in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities of $150,000 to begin development of a test that can be used to detect prion diseases, such as "Mad Cow Disease", primarily for use on animals, and to a lesser extent, on humans. PDL had raised $2,000,010 during 2000, through sales of shares of its stock to GBI. GBI exercised its stock option for $400,000 during the year ended December 31, 2001; however, PDL has expended most of these funds through its research and development funding and as a result of other administrative expenses. There can be no assurance that such tests will be developed and approved by the appropriate regulatory bodies or that they can be successfully and profitably marketed.

In order to fund its research and development, PDL is dependent on additional sales of stock to investors. If it is unsuccessful in attracting new investors, there is no assurance that PDL can remain in business.

CURRENT INVESTMENT - In 2000, GBI invested a total of $2.0 million in PDL under an investment agreement, which provides GBI with a 25% ownership in this company. In August 2001, the GBI invested an additional $400,000 to increase its ownership interest to 33%.

CORPORATE STRUCTURE - Founded in 1999, PDL is a privately held company incorporated in Maryland, with head offices and a manufacturing facility located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. The parent company of PDL is Efoora, Inc., a private company developing novel diagnostic tests and offering contract manufacturing services for medical devices.

GENESIS BIOVENTURES, INC. - 10-QSB QUARTERLY REPORT, MARCH 31, 2002

CORPORATE DEVELOPMENTS - PDL continues to work on the development of its test for the rapid detection of infection prions and has also begun the initial patent protection process for its tests. PDL has also broadened its mission to include other neurodegenerative diseases.
===========================================================

Fernando,

the only problem is, the USDA/APHIS/FSIS/FDA/feds refuse
to use any rapid TSE test to find any TSEs.
in 14 years of what they call extensive surveillance,
they have only tested 36,594 cattle. in any given year
we have approx. 100 MILLION cattle and we slaughter
some 37 MILLION in any given year. in my opinion, the
USDA/APHIS are waiting for a rapid test that will identify
the TSE agent, without revealing the source of that agent.
they might in the future admit CWD transmitting to man
(it transmits to primates and there has never been transmission
study done on man), but the USA Federal Government will never
admit BSE/TSE in the USA cattle, and they will never test to find,
simple as that. i feel for smaller countries struggling to
fight this agent, while the USA ignores it. they would rather
hide behind the CWD. just my opinion, but here is more on
rapid testing if you are interested;

October 21 2002. ScienceDaily News Release: UCSF-Led Team Reports New
... of a manual or automated version to test large numbers of animals may profoundly improve testing of animals for prion disease (this is Prusiners group)

April 30, 2002, Prionics do a deal with Prionsense. Exactly what one would expect because they want to own a proportion of the israeli company
April 10, 2002. Genesis Bioventures announce that their strip test works
March 25, 2002, Abbott laboratories announce their agreement with Prionics of Zurich for the development of a diagnostic test for BSE and CJD. Prionics have had many agreements with many companies and so Abbott's one must be be looked on as one of many. Their agreement with Enfer and their hope to look for exceptionally small amounts of PrPsc using Prionics antibodies must be accepted as research currently.
March 20, 2002, Gottingen University group announce that they are to develop a test for BSE in live animals. The problem is that the small marker in the blood that they have found is difficult to check in many cattle because of the difficulty in getting hold of the blood of cattle early in the incubation period of the disease.
February 19, 2002, Disease Sciences, Inc., announces 'sensitive detection of prion protein in about 1 mL of human urine' (press release, cited organicconsumers.org)
February 18, 2002, Gradiflow show their attempts to concentrate PrP from blood at the Cambridge Healthcare meeting in Washington.
February 17, 2002, Microsens Biophage Ltd announce their method to separate PrPc from PrPsc using a specific chemical (seprion).
February 15, 2002, Bio-Rad launch their second generation BSE test 'for a more reliable and effective method'
February 14, 2002, Bio-Rad Laboratories announce a 'fully automated testing sytem' for BSE (for more see News)
February 4, 2002, Xinhua News Agency reported that tons of German beef had to be destroyed after 'faulty' BSE testing (cited in organicconsumers.org)
December 5, 2001, Genesis Bioventures, Inc. announced that one of its portfolio companies, Prion Developmental Laboratories, Inc. (PDL) is currently in late-stage discussions with a European pharmaceutical company to provide them with an easy-to-use, patents pending rapid strip test for detecting Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
October 9 2001, Public Meeting, Washington DC, organised by US Advisory Committee on Blood Safety, speakers from industry, government and academia
September, 2001, Immunoblot high sensitivity method published in lancet
July 1, 2001, Journal of Biological Chemistry article showing that PrPsc, in an altered form, is present in urine prior to symptoms in the animal. Work done by Gabizon's group in Jerusalem.
Jun 14, 2001, Nature reported a sensitive method developed by Serono Pharmaceuticals for the multiplication of prion crystalloids in vitro (see press page)
June 8, 2001, Oxford University and Vitex agree to use aptamers as part of prion diagnostics.
June 6, 2001, Disease Sciences Inc. takes on former experts from Geron to be involved in prion test development.
May 28, 2001, Article in the Washington Post saying that many new companies are going into the field. See: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A88799-2001May28.html
May, 2001, Johnson and Johnson make agreement with Caprion.
May, 2001, Prion Development Corp approach Gallo at Univ Maryland for advice and directions concerning diagnostics.
May, 2001, Gossip that BioRad have been interacting with Prusiner's group at UCSF for the production of a second generation test for PrPsc. Also claims are that Johnson and Johnson have now made an agreement to do this with another research group.

March 15th, 2001, Abbott sign agreement with Enfer to sell internationally the post mortem test for BSE.

March, 2001, Article in Nature Medicine showing that lower levels of an erythroid development regulation factor is found early in TSEs. Miele G, Manson J, Clinton M. A novel erythroid-specific marker of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.Nat Med 2001 Mar;7(3):361-364
"Lack of understanding of the molecular
mechanisms underlying disease pathogenesis, particularly in non-CNS
tissues, means that there are currently no effective strategies for early
diagnosis or therapeutic intervention of TSEs. Here we report the first
identification of a molecular marker that is easily detectable in readily
accessible tissues. We demonstrate that a dramatic decrease in
expression of a transcript specific to erythroid lineage cells is a common
feature of TSEs. Our findings indicate a previously unrecognized role for
involvement of the erythroid lineage in the etiology of TSE pathogenesis
and should provide a new focus for research into diagnostic and
therapeutic strategies."

February 2001. Article circulated from Geoff Barnard concering DELFIA testing for PrPsc in brain tissue: Barnard G, Helmick B, Madden S, Gildbourne C, Patel R. The measurement of prion protein in bovine brain tissue using differential extraction and DELFIA as a diagnostic test for BSE. Luminescence 2000;15:357-62. The article basically shows that it can be done much better than was originally considered using the method and that this should be in competition with ELISA methods.

February 14-16, 2001, Hinxton Hall, Cambridge, UK. Meeting called by the UK major Government bodies and research funding agencies to discuss agressive research into diagnostic tests in to BSE and other TSEs.

Information from the European Commission on this subject can be found from a number of sites:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/bse/bse12_en.pdf
http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet/1999/7-1999/fs-07-08-99-01.txt

Information from the WHO on this subject:
http://www.who.int/technology/biologicals/Reports/Blood/BTSE99mar22.pdf It does not really involve the business side, and is now a bit out of date, but gives a useful list of the people that are interested from academia...

snip...

http://www.priondata.org/

sporadic CJD is _NOT_ a strain.
it is potentially multiple strains,
of many different routes/sources and
the USA Federal Gov. is covering this
up big time...

Subject: re-BSE prions propagate as either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 10:23:43 -0000
From: "Asante, Emmanuel A"
To: "'flounder@wt.net'"

Dear Terry,

I have been asked by Professor Collinge to respond to your
request. I am a Senior Scientist in the MRC Prion Unit and the lead
author on the paper. I have attached a pdf copy of the paper for your
attention. Thank you for your interest in the paper.

In respect of your first question, the simple answer is, yes. As you
will find in the paper, we have managed to associate the alternate
phenotype to type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD.

It is too early to be able to claim any further sub-classification in
respect of Heidenhain variant CJD or Vicky Rimmer's version. It will
take further studies, which are on-going, to establish if there are
sub-types to our initial finding which we are now reporting. The main
point of the paper is that, as well as leading to the expected new
variant CJD phenotype, BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype
can lead to an alternate phenotype which is indistinguishable from type
2 PrPSc.

I hope reading the paper will enlighten you more on the subject. If I
can be of any further assistance please to not hesitate to ask. Best wishes.

Emmanuel Asante

<>
____________________________________

Dr. Emmanuel A Asante
MRC Prion Unit & Neurogenetics Dept.
Imperial College School of Medicine (St. Mary's)
Norfolk Place, LONDON W2 1PG
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 3794
Fax: +44 (0)20 7706 3272

PLEASE SEE FULL TEXT OF THIS ARTICLE;

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912118.html

ROUND TABLE ON BSE -- WASHINGTON -- 27-28 JUNE 1989

snip...

The summary does tend to give a particular slant to the epidemiology of
BSE which is not totally sound. It is a possibility that the agent of
BSE may be in the cattle population in a number of countries already
apart from the USA and that clinical cases are occurring on rare
occasions. It is also important to off the possibility of the
relationship between BSE and certain low-temperature rendering systems.
For that reason a number of other countries apart from the USA and
France are at risk and, in particular, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Germany and Belgium. For these reasons it would be wise to move to an
international ban on the feeding of ruminant protein to ruminants.

Clearly the summary also needs to refer to the incidence of BSE in the
UK and not solely to Great Britain. No doubt this has been tidied up
in your comments on the summary conclusions. It is a pity that more of
the comments put forward by Dr. Kimberlin have not been included in the
summary since his views on page 13 are succinct and valuable...

snip...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1989/08/29003001.pdf

Is there a Scrapie-like disease in cattle ?

IN CONFIDENCE

R.F. MARSH

snip...

re-mink rancher 'Wisconsin' dead stock feeder using >95%
downer or dead dairy and a few horses...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1987/06/10004001.pdf

Part of the Proceedings of an International Roundtable on Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, June 27-28, 1989.

The possibility of infection with BSE in the United States, as defined
by studies on the disease in Great Britain, is judged to be low on the
basis of the following: (1) meat and bonemeals imported into the United
States from Great Britain between 1980 and 1988 were used mainly in
poultry, not ruminant feed; (2) the Scrapie Eradication Program had
reduced the prevalence of scrapie in the United States compared with
that in Great Britain; and (3) little, if any, rendered animal products
are used for protein supplements in cattle feed in the United States.
However, there is some evidence that there may already be a scrapie-like
disease in cattle in the United States. This evidence comes from
epidemiologic studies on an incident of transmissible mink
encephalopathy (TME) in Stetsonville, Wis, in 1985. This mink farmer
used no commercially available animal by-product mixtures in his feed,
but instead slaughtered all animals going into the mink diet, which
included mostly (>95%) "downer" dairy cows, a few horses, but never
sheep. To examine the possibility that cattle may have been the source
of this incident of TME, two 6-week-old Holstein bull calves were
inoculated intracerebrally with mink brain from the affected farm. The
bulls developed neurologic disease 18 and 19 months after inoculation.
Both brains had spongiform degeneration at necropsy and both were
transmissible back to mink by either intracerebral (incubation period of
4 months) or oral (incubation period of 7 months) inoculation
Whereas TME has been thought to be caused by feeding scrapie-infected
sheep to mink, this theory has no conclusive evidence. Experimental oral
inoculation of mink with several different sources of sheep scrapie has
never been successful, and an incubation period of less than 12 months
has never (sic) produced by intracerebral inoculation. Transmissible
mink encephalopathy can develop naturally by infection with incubation
periods of less than 12 months.
There is reason to believe that scrapie has not been transmitted in the
United States from sheep to cattle by rendered protein concentrates as
it was in Great Britain. However, some circumstantial evidence exists
that cattle may be a source of some TME infections. It is recommended
that we increase our surveillance for a BSE-like disease in American
cattle by encouraging state diagnostic laboratories to formalin-fix
specimens of midbrain and brain stem from bovine brains submitted for
rabies testing. If results of these tests are negative, these fixed
tissues can then be examined for evidence of spongiform degeneration of
the gray matter.

-Comments on bovine spongiform encephalopathy
J Am Vet Med Assoc 197 (4): (1990)

Letter to the Editor, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association, August 15, 1990
In my article, "Bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United States"
(JAVMA, May 15, 1990, p 1677), I stated that "little, if any, rendered
animal products are used for protein supplements in cattle feed in the
United States." I have since learned that this is incorrect, because of
the recent trend of using less assimilated "by-pass" proteins in cattle
feed. A large amount of meat-and-bone meal is being fed to American
cattle, and this change in feeding practice has greatly increased the
risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) developing in the United
States.
Epidemiologic studies on BSE in Great Britain have indicated that the
disease originated in cattle by exposure to the heat-resistant
transmissible agent in compounded feed containing rendered animal
protein. The most likely source of infection was assumed to be
meat-and-bone meal prepared from scrapie-infected sheep, but it is also
possible that a heretofore unrecognized scrapie-like infection of cattle
could have been spread in the same manner.
Because of concern for the possible development of BSE in the United
States, the American rendering industry discontinued the processing of
fallen and sick sheep last December. In my opinion, this was a prudent
policy, but one that will not prevent the possible transmission of BSE
from cattle to cattle. As emphasized in my article, there is some
evidence that BSE-like infection may already exist in American cattle.
The current practice of feeding meat-and-bone meal to cattle solidifies
the most important means to perpetuate and amplify the disease cycle.
In Great Britain, BSE has produced a great economic and emotional
burden. We must take all reasonable measures to prevent BSE from
developing in the United States. Therefore, the practice of using animal
protein in cattle feed should be discontinued as soon as possible.
Waiting until the first case of BSE is diagnosed in the United States
will certainly be "closing the barn door after the horse is gone." With
a disease having a 3- to 6-year incubation period, thousands of animals
would be exposed before we recognize the problem and, if that happens,
we would be in for a decade of turmoil.
R. F. Marsh, DVM, PhD
Madison, Wis
=============

PAGE 25

Transmission Studies

Mule deer transmissions of CWD were by intracerebral inoculation
and compared with natural cases resulted in a more rapidly
progressive clinical disease with repeated episodes of synocopy
ending in coma. One control animal became affected, it is believed
through contamination of inoculam (?saline). Further CWD
transmissions were carried out by Dick Marsh into ferret, mink
and squirrel monkey. Transmission occurred in _all_ of these
species with the shortest incubation period in the ferret.

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/lyman/messages/7536.html

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/lyman/messages/7535.html

FULL TEXT OF GOA REPORT BELOW (takes a while to load)

2. Mad Cow Disease: Improvements in the Animal Feed Ban and Other
Regulatory Areas Would Strengthen U.S. Prevention Efforts. GAO-02-183,
January 25.

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-183
=============================================

Subject: SCRAPIE 'USA' ANNUAL REPORT (105 newly infected flocks 2002) &
CWD IN USA
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 08:17:17 -0600
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
To: flounder@wt.net

Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 21:21:10 -0600
Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Sender: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
Subject: SCRAPIE 'USA' ANNUAL REPORT (105 newly infected flocks
2002) & CWD IN USA

As of September 30, 2002, there were 45 scrapie infected and source
flocks (figure 3). There were 105 newly infected flocks, reported in
FY2002 (figure 4). In addition, 379 scrapie cases were confirmed and
reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in FY
2002 (figure 5) and (figure 6). Five cases of scrapie in goats were
reported in FY 2002 (figure 7), the last of which was confirmed in
August 2002. New infected and source flocks numbers and the number of
these flocks released in FY 2002 are depicted in chart 4. One hundred
(100) flocks which is 67 percent of the scrapie infected and source
flocks present in FY 2002 were released or put on clean-up plans in FY2002.

Slaughter Surveillance

Slaughter Surveillance is currently in Phase II which is intended to
determine the prevalence of scrapie in the US culled sheep population.
Through September 2002 samples from 3,269 sheep were submitted to NVSL
for testing. Samples from a total of 6,795 sheep have been submitted
since the beginning of Phase II on April 1, 2002. Surveillance regions
are depicted in (figure 8).

Scrapie Testing

During FY 2002 11,751 animals have been tested for scrapie which
includes: 2,711 regular necropsy cases, 1,343 third eyelid biopsies for
the test validation project, 546 third eyelid biopsies for the
regulatory program, and approximately 7,151 animals for Phase I & II of
SOSS (chart 5). Laboratory testing has been taking 10 - 11 days on
average with a range of 3 - 34 days.

Ear Tag Orders

During FY 2002 9.9 million plastic and 6.0 million metal tags were
distributed by APHIS (chart 6).

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/scrapie/annual_report/annual-report.html

NEW SCRAPIE INFECTED AND SOURCE FLOCKS

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/scrapie/annual_report/figure04.gif

DISTRIBUTION OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE THROUGHOUT THE STATES (as of
Oct. 2002)

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/cwd-distribution.html

CWD USA surveillance

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/cwd-state.html

CJD WATCH

http://www.fortunecity.com/healthclub/cpr/349/part1cjd.htm

CJD Watch message board

http://disc.server.com/Indices/167318.html

TSS MADCOW

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/index.html

Moms death from hvCJD

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/lyman/messages/7252.html

'MOMS AUTOPSY REPORT'

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/lyman/messages/7548.html

http://www.testcowsnow.com

with 100 MILLION cattle in the USA in any given year,
with 37 MILLION cattle slaughtered every year.
with 190,000 DOWNERS ever year.
with Scrapie running rampant
with CWD running rampant

and the fact the USA has now made SECRET ALL ruminant-
to-ruminant feed ban violations since may 2002.

i ask, why CJD is not reportable nationally?

i ask, why 1 MILLION cattle annually is not rapid tested
for 5 years, to find the truth, if that is truly what
they are seeking?

the token numbers they are now testing, even with the
increase in 2002, is no where near enough. the EU
is testing MILLIONS. much smaller countries with
much smaller cattle pop. are testing millions.
the USA has had the same rendering, the same feeding
practices, and the same type cover-up the UK did for
years, and this will simply spread the agent.

please take heed.......

Cattlemen to finalize BSE research contracts (WHAT'S THE RUSH, LET'S
WAIT ANOTHER 30 YEARS) - TSS 1/17/03 (0)

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912335.html

'MOMS AUTOPSY REPORT'

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/lyman/messages/7548.html

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease T. S. Singeltary,
Sr; D. E. Kraemer; R. V. Gibbons, R. C. Holman, E. D. Belay, L. B.
Schonberger

http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n6/ffull/jlt0214-2.html

kind regards,
Terry S. Singeltary Sr, Bacliff, Texas USA

Subject: BSE--U.S. 50 STATE CONFERENCE CALL Jan. 9, 2001
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 16:49:00 -0800
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE-L

http://vegancowboy.org/TSS-part1of8.htm

#Docket No. 01-068-1 Risk Reduction Strategies for Potential BSE
Pathways Involving Downer Cattle and Dead Stock of Cattle and Other
Species - TSS 1/21/03 (2)

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912348.html

In Reply to: Docket No. 01-068-1 Risk Reduction Strategies for Potential
BSE Pathways Involving Downer Cattle and Dead Stock of Cattle and Other
Species [TSS SUBMISSION] January 21, 2003

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912358.html

Re: Docket No. 01-068-1 -- (200,000 USA DOWNERS ANNUALLY) TSS 1/21/03

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912360.html

Re: Docket No. 02N-0273 – Substances Prohibited From Use In Animal Food
Or Feed;

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912338.html

# Docket No: 02-088-1 RE-Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of
2002; [TSS SUBMISSION ON POTENTIAL FOR BSE/TSE & FMD 'SUITCASE BOMBS'] -
TSS 1/27/03 (0)

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912395.html

# Re: [Docket No. 99-017-2] Blood and Tissue Collection at Slaughtering
Establishments [TSS SUBMISSION]

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/9912402.html

TEST 1 MILLION CATTLE ANNUALLY FOR FIVE YEARS,
or the USA just does not want to know...

http://www.testcowsnow.com

i hope this helps...

kindest regards,
terry

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