Research Paper On Mad Cow Disease

Proteinaceous Infectious Particles, commonly known as Prions, are extremely rare misfolds of the protein PrPc, which cause fatally neurodegenerative diseases, and are theorized to be infectious only by the protein itself (U.S National Library of Medicine, 1998). This “protein-only theory” is still heavily debated today, as some scientists deny the theory, and there isn’t a significant amount of evidence on each side to qualify the theory or disprove it (Soto, C. 2011). The base “Prion” protein is encoded in the gene PRNP, while being non-infectious. Prions are most commonly found in human prion diseases, but they can also be in other animals in the form of Mad Cow Disease and Chronic Wasting Disease, classified as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathies

Horse slaughter has been going on for a long time now and humans have increased their horsemeat consumption because of the mad cow disease. Mad cow disease is issued from the fattening foods farmers give to their cattle. In the food are sheep’s’ bones grinded into tiny, tiny bits. Ignorant till the outburst, makers didn’t know that in sheep bones there is the virus of the dreaded disease. The disease doesn’t affect sheep as it is only in their bones but when the cows eat it, it gets into their systems and is passed on through their meat to humans.

Humans have to deal with many different diseases and the ones most disliked are the ones with no cures. Like cancer, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies have no cure, but they are more rare. These diseases are prion diseases which cause the brain to deteriorate. Prions are proteins that sometimes behave like viruses, which mean that they should have some form of nucleic acid, but since they don’t, they cause abnormalities. The nervous system contains many normal prions, but when an abnormal prion comes along, it transforms all the normal prions into abnormal ones. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is found in cattle, but it can be transmitted to humans.

Mad cow disease is to serious and deadly that it is not worth the risk of eating beef from a feedlot. Michael Pollan stated, "Mad cow is a brain disease that is always fatal. It is spread by eating the brains of infected animals" (56). Clearly mad cow disease will kill anyone that gets infected so it is not worth the risk to eat CAFO beef. In addition, "Ground-up cattle brains were put into cattle feed and some of those cows got mad cow disease. Human beings who ate infected beef also got the disease..." (Pollan and Chevat 56). This shows how completely unnatural CAFOs are and why people should not eat or buy CAFO meat. It also illustrates just how dangerous mad cow disease is; that people should be cautious by boycotting CAFO beef. However, an author for the Los Angeles Times, Paul Roberts said, “there has never been a confirmed case of mad cow disease connected with anyone eating U.S. beef" (Rodgers). Evidently getting mad cow disease in the U.S. is unlikely. Pollan retaliated by saying "Then people in England began dying of a sickness called mad cow disease" (55-56). This shows that although people have not eaten infected beef in the U.S. they have in other places. Therefore if people want to stay safe then they should not eat the beef produced in CAFOs so that they do not get mad cow

     Mad Cow Disease, scientifically referred to as (BSE) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, is a disease that affects those humans who eat the meat from infected cows. Mad Cow Disease is one of several fatal brain diseases called (TSE) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy. (USDA) There was evidence of a new illness resembling the sheep disease scrapie. It was technically named BSE but quickly acquired the mad cow tag because of the way infected cattle behave. (CNN) In 1997, there was an award given to Stanley Prusiner, for concluding that a distorted protein called a prion was responsible for Mad Cow Disease, noted the long incubation period made it difficult to distinguish (Bryant).

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The conditions in which meat livestock live in is not exactly that of a large open green field in which they are free to roam and be merry. In the Economist article, Cows down: The beef business (2008) the effects of the ill conditions cows talks of how a

BSE is a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that is transmitted when cattle consume feed that contains other animal protein from infected animals such as scrapie in sheep (CDC,

What is Mad Cow Disease? Mad Cow Disease "is a normally extremely rare neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system of an animal and a human. The disease infested brain of the animal or human is slowly, progressively, and severely damaged. It has been categorized as a disease, which falls into the category of a disease known as Spongiform Encephalopathy. Having Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is an over-dramatized way of specifying that one has diseased brain tissue which is; spongy, porous, and no

Sickness – Sickness can occur at any stage of the animal’s life. Sickness can have numerous effects on a beef cow, ultimately leading to a changed appetite, decreased energy, and if not treated could spread to the rest of the herd or lead to death.

Mad Cow Disease Bovine spongiform encephalophathy ( BSE), which is mainly known as mad cow disease has infected the society and has put the lives of individuals at risk. This was very frightening to the people that ate meat during that time. The terrified people would not even want to eat hamburgers at MacDonald, steak at restaurant and much more. What also alarmed the people was the fact that there was a possibility of getting the human form of mad cow disease. This was called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) which is through tainted blood, but this was only a theory which

"I suspect any worries about genetic engineering may be unnecessary. Genetic mutations have always happened naturally, anyway." - James Lovelock

BSE has been seen to progress very slowly in relation to other diseases, however is very contagious and fatal for not only cattle, but

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are neurodegenerative diseases that are thought to be caused by the misfolding of prion proteins. Prions are able to replicate in the absence of nucleic acids. TSEs include: scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease, and Fatal Familial Insomnia. They can affect many different animals, including humans. Currently, there are no ways to diagnose, treat, or cure TSEs, as much more research is needed before these diseases are completely understood.

Prion diseases are caused by proteinaceous infectious particles (more commonly referred to as prions). According to the CDC the term prion “refers to abnormal, pathogenic agents that are transmissible and are able to induce abnormal folding of specific normal cellular proteins.” Prions are always contracted one of three different ways. They can develop sporadically through a sudden genetic mutation. They can be inherited; prions are autosmol dominant, meaning that children of the infected have a fifty percent chance of inheriting the disease. Finally, prions can be ingested: either through consumption of infected meat or after exposure to poorly cleaned medical instruments.