Latest BSE news from UK

[ianben]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art
icle-1347003/How-mad-cow-disease-spread-
air.html

[ianben]

Hi all
Link post before I wrote anything.

This report appeared in newspaper
yesterday if you scroll down and read
the comments may give you some idea of
public opinion here.

Remember these people will see BSE and
GM as the same.

Still lots of passion regarding long
term risk despite very low numbers of
infection.

This is the fear that has to be overcome
before GM can be introduced in EU and
why zero is the only option at the
moment.

This news did not make headlines or TV
yet but only due to Oz floods and bi
election. A poor news day and the whole
debate could have been resurected on
such poor science in my view.

Why create a scenario which is never
likely to happen to prove a point.

[charliep]

ianben - You must have a Mac and suffer the same problems as the rest of us. Will repost and put in a link.

< href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1347003/How-mad-cow-disease-spread-air.html">mad cow disease</a>

[charliep]

try again

[URL="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1347003/How-mad-cow-disease-spread-air.html"]link[/URL]

[charliep]

Kind of a strange question but I wonder is a new biotechnology process like fermentation were being developed today, would it pass the scientific and public opinion rigor of today?

Highways would be safer. Lot less important conversation and world problem solving after sporting events.

[dalek]

Charliep somewhat related, a friend from my childhood is now a toxicologist. When he was doing his Ph.D as a research project he looked at what would happen if he submitted the existing research on an existing product as a "new" product and put it through the Health Canada process. End result was, there was no way it would ever have been approved for human consumption in Canada under any circumstances. The product was coffee.

[FarmRanger]

That article is funny. They infect mice with pryons in a manner that doesn't occur in the real world, but which guarantees they receive large dosages of the prions, and then act like its a revelation that they develop variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
Here's their proof that we're in danger:

>

[ianben]

Thanks again Charlie for sorting me out.

I was trying to direct people to the
comments section at to bottom which shows
the public response to this news and shows
passion BSE still invokes here.

One guy has done the maths 0.00002 chance
of dying for BSE makes your breakfast
scary by comparison.

[charliep]

It was a good article about people's perseption of food risk and the
impact of media/science. Also the impact of social media (including the
discussion on Agriville).

From my own personal life, I have a God son in new Zealand. His Mother
and I have a different view of the recent earthquakes and the potential
impact on his safety.

My case - part of the adventure and unlikely to have a major impact on his
journey. Suspect at least a few of us have been there and earthquakes are
always a part of that world. Could happen but more likely to be hit by a
car because he looked the wrong way crossing a street.

His mother - Earthquake high risk event. If occurred (she will admit not
high probability), no likely to come home - at least in one piece.
Something to worry about.

Motorcycle rider so maybe that says something. Ianben - not likely a
motorcycle guy but Triumph had the best new models at the motorcycle
show here. Sprint GT and the new 800 triple cross country. Only $23,000
and I could own a Norton 961 limited production. From my own wish list,
the Kawasaki Concours wasn't as tall as I thought it was and could actually
get feet on the ground better than I thought. Way off topic.

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie,

The bigger the boys...

Good for you!

[parsley]

I've been known to speed just a tad, charliep. But it's MY chosen risk.

% of BSE in meat coming from offal is the Government's calculated risk it is willing to take with the public in order that money will be saved by utilizing offal instead of paying to dispose of it.

Yes, well.

The first question comes to mind is: is BSE contamination a risk that should be taken in the first place?

Read the book, Dying for a Hamburger. The stats from an author coroner in Toronto, who slices brains as often as you eat eggs, should provide a more "hands on" glimpse of BSE in Canada than a 25 year old economist calculating the public's risk risk on a computer program model.

Go to the library and order it, will you? January is a good time of year to read. Oxygen laden air could help you broaden your view. Pars

[charliep]

Perhaps you are right.

In daily consumption of food, which will more likely have an impact on
me - food born pathagins E Coli/salmonella or BSE? Which has killed
more people - salmonella, Ecoli or CJD. I guess we could go into which
death is more unpleasant but I suspect none are good way to go and
death is death.

I will bring closer to home. Mycotoxins/Ochratoxins are becoming more
of a concern in cereal products. What is happening in the agricultural
industry to deal with molds in cereal products introduced at the farm
level?

[charliep]

Perhaps everything in food safety is process.

[URL="http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/On-your-radar/Organics/E.-coli-in-organics-depends-on-manure-treatment-say-scientists"]ecoli[/URL]

[ianben]

Pars
I am a bit of a sceptic since I met
a guy who had done lots of good research
on herbicide resistance in wild oats.
His funding had run out and was
really desperate to find something
someone would fund.
He persuaded the government to buy
him 400acres to study sustainable
farming.He has never really come up with
anything conclusive, learnt that last
time,just more questions to keep the
money coming.

So does your brain slicing guy enjoy his
work and have a family to feed ?
"Dying for a burger" is a good title if
you want it to sell.

Are their motives any different than
Monsanto's?

How do we decide who we believe?

Charlie must admit I have never been
into bikes.
4 wheels for me and front wheel drive
too, good fun on our narrow bendy roads.

Follow F1 motor racing too. How do those
guys get back in the car after a big
crash!!

We all see risk differently including
the scientists doing the research.

[parsley]

The book was co-authored. Dr. Murray Waldheim (ei or ie??my memory fails me)was the name of the chief pathologist at Toronto's largest hospital who wrote the book. Post mortems is what he does for a living, so I don't know what precipitated his reason for writing the book. But he really didn't mske the CFIA look very good, so perhaps it was a political exclamation. But his own observations were real life. It was loaned to me by a friend.I read it twice. Pars