BSE origin confirmed

[topper]

You make a good point there grassfarmer, I suppose if the placenta was infecious it would infect the calf automatically and that doesn't seem to be the case in past testing.

[ALICIA]

Don't forget the spontaneou thery. This is what I am leaning towards.

[cowman]

I wonder how the placenta can be infectious but the blood and meat can't be? I was listening to this show about the blood test thing coming down the pipes and the scientist said there are no prions in the blood. They can test the blood because there are genetic markers that indicate the presence of prions in the brain.
I think we need to do a whole lot more research on this disease. You would think the scientists in Britain would pretty well have it figured out but it seems like there are a lot of "maybes" or "its possible" or "we're just not sure" when it comes to BSE.
How come the scientific community dismisses Purdys theories although some scientists say he might have something there? Like some big top gun Harvard scientist? Or is the science being led by politics to cover up a scandal...the English warble treatment???
How come we have all these weird new diseases? Were they always there just waiting for modern agriculture to concentrate them? Or are they the result of us polluting our environment and food with toxic chemicals?

[grassfarmer]

I believe that science is being ruled by politics Cowman, The UK Gov. can not afford the liability suit that would follow if the truth was told. Besides it is all forgotten about in Europe now and no-one wants to go back and stir up more BSE trouble - Governments or farmers. Which is kind of hilarious given that the UK is still getting 2 cases of BSE a WEEK.

[cowman]

grassfarmer: So how are they weeding out those BSE cases? I assume they are still incinerating everything over 30 months? And who picks up the bill for that? In fact how has the industry survived? I mean no one can take nothing for their culls and survive.
When they reintroduce the older cattle back into the food chain how will it be done? Will they just inch the age up or crank it wide open?

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, I assume the UK is now testing all OTM (over thirty months) cattle prior at incineration but I'm not sure on that as they certainly weren't in 2000. I don't know if the cases are found at slaughter or on farm. During the height of the crisis many were identified on farm which is something that we could expect to find here if there is more BSE in the cattle population.(this presumably is when the option to SS&S comes in)
The UK taxpayer has paid to incinerate every OTM animal since 1996 at huge cost but now the Government wants to save that money. They were planning to start to put OTMs back into the food chain 1st January 04 but that has been delayed until June I think. The market and farmers are uneasy about the move to do this as they don't know how it will work financially. Farmers there would have preferred the gradual lifting of the age limit of cattle for incineration starting several years back but the Goverenment wouldn't go for it. Bearing in mind we put the most rigorous feed bans and rules in place in '96 the cattle born since 2000 that are getting incinerated every week are a sheer waste.
Talk about using a scientific approach -if they believe they know what causes BSE and act accordingly why do they not really, entirely believe the meat from OTMs is safe even now?